E-Filing in

Florida Courts

E-Filing in

Florida Courts

Thomas D. Hall

Clerk, Florida Supreme Court

Jon Wheeler

Clerk, First District Court of Appeal

Bob Inzer,

Clerk, Leon County1

Chapter 2009-61 directed that clerks of court begin implementation of e-filing no later than 10/1/09Same bill requested Fla. S. Ct. establish e-filing standards.

• S. Ct. Administration Order AOSC09-30 adopted e-filing standard

• Essential part of new Standard is Florida Courts E-Portal, “a single uniform point of access.”

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• “All electronic court filings shall be processed through the E-Portal once it is established.”

• “Any other electronic filing access methods must be approved by Florida Court Technology Commission E-Filing Committee.”

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• Court system is working on ITN or RFP for portal

• Courts/Clerks are free to E-File, if approved, prior to implementation of the E-Portal

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Two important collateral consequences of move to electronic filing

• Privacy• ADA

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Proposed New Rule: Rule 2.420. Public Access to Judicial Branch Records

Proposed New Rule: Rule 2.420. Public Access to Judicial Branch Records

(i) Chapter 39 records relating to dependency matters, termination of parental rights, guardians ad litem, child abuse, neglect, and abandonment. § 39.0132(3), Fla. Stat.

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Filers must identify the following information if contained within anything

filed with the Court:

(ii) Adoption records. § 63.162, Fla. Stat.(iii) Social Security, bank account, charge, debit and credit card numbers in court records. § 119.0714(1)(i)–(j), (2)(a)-(e), Fla. Stat. (Unless redaction is requested pursuant to 119.0714(2), this information is exempt only as of January 1, 2011.)

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(iv) HIV test results and patient identity within the HIV test results. § 381.004(3)(e), Fla. Stat.(v) Sexually transmitted diseases - test results and identity within the test results. § 384.29, Fla. Stat.(vi) Birth and death certificates, including court-issued delayed birth certificates and fetal death certificates. §§ 382.008(6), .025(1)(a), Fla. Stat.

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(vii) Identifying information in petition by minor for waiver of parental notice when seeking to terminate pregnancy. § 390.01116, Fla. Stat.(viii) Identifying information in clinical mental health records under the Baker Act. § 394.4615(7), Fla. Stat.

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(ix) Records of substance abuse service providers which pertain to the identity, diagnosis, and prognosis of and service provision to individual clients of substance abuse service providers. § 397.501(7), Fla. Stat.(x) Identifying information in clinical records of detained criminal defendants found incompetent to proceed or acquitted by reason of insanity. § 916.107(8), Fla. Stat.

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(xi) Estate inventories. § 733.604(1), Fla. Stat.(xii) Victim’s address in domestic violence action on petitioner’s request. § 741.30(3)(b), Fla. Stat.(xiii) Information identifying victims of sexual offenses, including child sexual abuse. §§ 119.071(2)(h), .0714(1)(h), Fla. Stat.(xiv) Gestational surrogacy records. § 742.16(9), Fla. Stat.

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(xv) Guardianship reports and orders appointing court monitors in guardianship cases. §§ 744.1076, .3701, Fla. Stat.(xvi) Grand jury records. Ch. 905, Fla. Stat.(xvii) Information acquired by courts and law enforcement regarding family services for children. § 984.06(3)-(4), Fla. Stat.

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(xviii) Juvenile delinquency records. § 985.04(1), .045(2), Fla. Stat.(xix) Information disclosing the identity of persons subject to tuberculosis proceedings and Records of the Department of Health in suspected tuberculosis cases. §§ 392.545, .65, Fla. Stat.

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ADA Accessibility – Proposed Rule of Judicial Administration (no number yet)ADA Accessibility – Proposed Rule of Judicial Administration (no number yet)

Accessibility. All documents that are transmitted to a court in any electronic form shall be formatted in a manner that complies with all state and federal laws requiring that electronic judicial records be accessible to persons with disabilities, including without limitation the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 508 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as incorporated into Florida law by section 282.603(1), Florida Statutes (2009), and any related federal or state regulations or administrative rules.

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Committee NoteCommittee Note

2009 Amendment. Normally, any document filed in “Word” format, with the correct internal document formatting will satisfy the requirements of this rule. Such formatting includes appropriate coding for certain material, including but not limited to non-text, graphics, charts, and other specialized material, and pdf documents, so that readily available software can make such material accessible to persons with disabilities. The Florida Supreme Court website or materials made available by the Florida Supreme Court should be consulted for further technical information regarding document formatting in compliance with this rule.

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Leon County TechnologyLeon County Technology

E-Recording

Statewide Integrated System

E-Filing in Courts

In Court Processing

E-RecordingE-Recording

E-Recording is available today in Leon County

There are no paper Official Records

Central Portal for Statewide E-Recording under development

All 67 Counties have their Official Records on the Web (minimum of 20 years)

•Statewide Access/Standards•Case Management Reporting•Statewide Reporting•Integration with Partners

Statewide Integrated Court System – Current Capability

Replaces 3 Delivery Methods•In Person•Mail•E Documents-faxes & Scanned Doc.

ECF XML

Statewide ePortal•Under Construction

67 Clerks of Court Case Maintenance Systems•Case Initiation, Indexing, Docketing•Official Court Record/Document Prep•Fee Collection and Accounting

Local/Statewide Integration•Judicial•Law Enforcement•State Attorney/Public Defender

Comprehensive Case Information System--CCISComprehensive Case Information System--CCIS

Established in 2002 by Legislature to provide access to statewide court information to governmental usersIs a repository of all court information for all circuit and county cases 90 million casesOver 11,000 active users including: Dept. of Home Land Security, FDLE, Dept. of Corrections, Juvenile Justice, Dept. of Revenue, SAO, PD, and JudiciaryLinks related cases for defendantsProvides images of documentsProvides law enforcement ability to locate sexual predators and individuals with outstanding warrants

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CCIS is an Internet Portal used for accessing Clerk Court Data StatewideCCIS is an Internet Portal used for accessing Clerk Court Data Statewide

67 Clerks of the Court

CCIS User Interface

User Login and Security

Single Name Search

Case Search

Court Calendars

Ad-Hoc Reports

Broward CountyCase Maintenance

Data (Up to 6 Data Sources)

Columbia CountyCase Maintenance

Data (Up to 6 Data Sources)

Charlotte CountyCase Maintenance

Data (Up to 6 Data Sources)

64 Other CountiesCase Maintenance

Data (Up to 6 Data Sources)

StatewideCaseIndex

Links to other Data Sources

Clerk Web Sites

State Agency Web Sites

E-FilingE-Filing

Clerks have been advocates of E-filing

Clerks offered to build E-Filing Portal in Nov 2007

Clerks believe E-filing will:• Improve Customer Service

• Reduce Costs

• Drive Efficiency

• Improve Data Quality

E-FilingE-Filing

Legislature mandated E-Filing

Courts to provide guidance for Clerks E-filing System by July 1,2009

Clerks to begin E-filing implementation by October 1, 2009

Clerks to report to Legislature by March 31, 2009 if they are not E-filing

Nov 2007 clerks offered to build an E-filing portal

ePortal Project ePortal Project

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ePortal Project SummaryePortal Project Summary

• The ePortal will consist of:• eFiling and eRecording Capability– Single statewide login for all users– Single web access used to submit documents– Automated interfaces with other submitter systems– Provide for transmissions to/from the local

case/recording systems– Provide electronic notifications and service

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ePortal Project SummaryePortal Project Summary

• ePortal will be based on existing national standards for eRecording and eFiling

• ePortal will be integrated with existing statewide systems (CCIS, MyFloridaCounty)

SB 1718 – eFiling DeadlinesSB 1718 – eFiling Deadlines

7/1/2009• Supreme Court to set statewide standards for

electronic filing to be used by the Clerks of Court

10/1/2009• Clerks of Court shall begin implementation

3/1/2010• CCOC shall report on the status of

implementing electronic filing

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Electronic Filing in the First District Court of

Appeal

Electronic Filing in the First District Court of

Appeal

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Section 17, Chapter 2009-61, Laws of Florida

• Pilot project for electronic filing in the 1st DCA in cooperation with the Office of Judges of Compensation Claims

• In part to reduce costs to the Worker’s Compensation Trust Fund

• Compatibility of new system with OJCC’s system

• Authorization to use credit cards to pay court filing fees

• 1st DCA Chief Judge to report on progress 9 months after system operational

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Legislative DirectiveLegislative Directive

Legislative Directive (cont.)Legislative Directive (cont.)

Under same chapter, the legislature directed the Florida Supreme Court to promulgate electronic filing standards for the circuit courtsFlorida courts are heading towards an electronic, paperless system

• a question of when, not IF

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Developing Electronic Filing System eDCA

Developing Electronic Filing System eDCA

Not Florida’s appeals courts’ first efforts at electronic filing

Working hard to develop a system for electronic filing in Workers’ Compensation cases pursuant to legislative directive

At same time, creating system that can be used by all litigants at the 1st DCA - eDCA

Eventually seeking a system in which all litigants can file all pleadings electronically and have instant access to all filings in that case

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Current Electronic Filingat the First DCA

Current Electronic Filingat the First DCA

The only electronic filing is of briefs, petitions, responses to petitions, and replies to petitions pursuant to Administrative Order 07-1

Documents are attached to an email and emailed to the court

In addition to paper original and copies Paper original must be signed Date of filing determined by the date paper

original filed Electronic copy must be in Word or Word Perfect

format

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Current Electronic Filingat the First DCA (cont.)

Current Electronic Filingat the First DCA (cont.)

Electronic documents compared to original documents to ensure they are the same

The document is downloaded from the email and placed into a court directory not accessible by litigants

Currently, only other electronic documents in case files are court’s orders and opinions

Just starting to convert lower tribunal’s paper record to electronic records with in-house staff

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New Electronic Filing System (eDCA)

New Electronic Filing System (eDCA)

Registration

• Attorneys and Pro Se litigants will be required to register prior to filing electronically

• Emailed copies of brief will not be accepted but will require filing electronically after registration

• Registration accomplished on court’s web page

• Must provide basic information – address, phone number, bar number, email address, etc.

• Will probably require attorneys’ addresses to be same as listed with the Florida Bar for registration

• With registration, the individual provides a user name and password

• Attorney or litigant’s responsibility to safeguard their user name and password

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New Electronic Filing System (cont.)

New Electronic Filing System (cont.)

• In the beginning, will require electronic filing through eDCA in addition to paper original and copies (as required now), but can file 24/7 with eDCA

• Eventually, once eDCA has been tested, the court hopes to eliminate the requirement of filing paper copies and then paper filings altogether

• For those registered under eDCA, we hope to have orders/opinions or notices of orders/opinions available electronically, with a link in the email notification

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New Electronic Filing System vs. Current Requirement

New Electronic Filing System vs. Current Requirement

• Unlike current electronic filing requirement, eDCA will allow users to upload their brief directly through the court’s website (rather than by email)

• Unlike current electronic filing requirement, documents filed through eDCA will be required to be filed in PDF format (not Word or Word Perfect)

– PDF prepared either by scanning or converting directly from word processing

• Under eDCA attorneys will be able to access electronic copies of pleadings filed in their cases

– No access to pleadings in cases in which you are not an attorney of record

– However, access to all non-restricted cases available through a public terminal at the court house

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Visions for New ElectronicFiling System

Visions for New ElectronicFiling System

Eventually, the goal is to have all pleadings by attorneys filed electronically through eDCA without paper originals or copies

If filed by registered party/attorney, the user’s name and password, will constitute their signature

Be able to have all orders, opinions, and mandates of the court available electronically through eDCA using email notice of the posting

Allow pro se litigants to file through eDCA, but any paper only pleadings that are received will be scanned and put into eDCA

Have vision of getting Department of Corrections to allow prisoners to file documents through eDCA as a cost saving measure

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Visions for New ElectronicFiling System (cont.)

Visions for New ElectronicFiling System (cont.)

Electronic Forms• Have step-by-step forms to file pleadings such

as motions and briefs– Fill in blanks– Reminder of rule requirements (style, font, page

limits, etc)– Docketing statements

• Especially useful for pro se litigants

• Establish system for payment of fees by credit card

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Other Visions for New Electronic Filing System

Other Visions for New Electronic Filing System

Electronic filing of the lower tribunal record on appeal

• Records directly uploaded to the court through eDCA by agencies and lower courts

• Electronic copies of records go to attorneys as well (or access through eDCA)

• Lower tribunal records will be searchable and allow copying and pasting from the record

• The idea is to have records electronically indexed so users can jump directly to a particular part of a document

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Advantages of Electronic FilingAdvantages of Electronic Filing

Save money for the District Court, lower courts, attorneys and litigants

• Paper

• Postage

• Preparation of copies (employee time)

Increases efficiency

24/7 access for filing

Increased accessibility to court records for litigants

Allows for permanent retrieval of court documents

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