|
A. Purpose
The purpose of the Electronic Court Project is to convert the entire litigation record system from paper media to electronic media. This Project exceeds electronic filing, which is the current focus of most Ohio courts. The main focus of the Electronic Court Project is to replace paper case files with electronic case files. Electronic filing is merely the means by which documents are placed into the electronic case files.
B. Benefits
1. Delays inherent in paper systems are eliminated. The Court opens approximately 15,000 paper files every year. With a staff of 30 people, the problem of misplaced files and misfiled documents cannot be avoided. Also, only one person can use a paper file at any one time. With electronic files, the file is always where it should be in the computer and every document is automatically assigned a document number and can be located even if placed in the wrong electronic file. Any number of people can view an electronic file simultaneously.
2. Storage space is greatly reduced in an electronic Court. The Supreme Court prescribes the number of years that certain files must be preserved. The minimum number of years is 2 for criminal minor misdemeanor cases and 25 years for serious criminal cases. Some records must be kept permanently. Due to lack of storage space, the Clerk must purge records yearly and physically sort and move approximately 15,000 paper files per year to make space for the new year’s files. The Court has spent up to $2,000.00 in one year to safely destroy paper files. The expense, manpower, and storage space problems are totally eliminated by use of electronic records. Also, all records can be retained indefinitely and for the same period of time.
3. Use of electronic records enhances public access to the Court. If any litigant or member of the public wants information about a case, they must come to the courthouse to view the paper file or must make a written request to the Clerk to mail or fax the requested information to him or her and pay copy charges. The delay and the charges are eliminated with electronic records. The electronic images of most documents are viewable over the Internet.
4. Security of records is greatly enhanced. Any natural or man-made disaster such as fire, flood or terrorist act, would completely destroy paper records. Electronic records can be easily and inexpensively duplicated and preserved. 5. Redundancy in data entry is greatly reduced in the Criminal/Traffic Division. The Court serves nine law enforcement agencies and seven Mayor’s Courts. In 2002, the Court received 16,428 traffic charges. The police officer hand writes each charge on a traffic ticket and give the ticket a police clerk to enter into the police department’s computer case management system. In all municipalities other than Garfield Heights, the police clerk delivers the traffic ticket to the Mayor’s Court Clerk who enters it into a separate case management system. The Mayor’s Court Clerk delivers the traffic ticket to the Municipal Court Clerk who enters it into the Court’s case management system. This means that a single traffic charge is entered into three separate computer systems. In Garfield Heights where there is not Mayor’s Court, the police officer hand writes the ticket. A police records clerk enters the ticket into the police case management system and delivers it to the Municipal Court where it is re-entered. By transmitting information electronically to the Municipal Court, the redundancy is eliminated.
C. Vendor
The Court vendor was Henschen & Associates when the Court decided to pursue an electronic court. The vendor demonstrated that it had the appropriate staff, knowledge, experience and commitment to design and implement the electronic records system and was retained for that purpose.
D. Cost of Implementation
The entire cost of design and implementation of the system is paid for through court costs assessed against litigants for technology implementation. No taxpayer dollars are being spent for implementation.
E. Design Process
The Plan
In 2000, the Judges agreed to implement an electronic court. In an age dominated by electronic media, Ohio courts are dinosaurs. To meet the demands of modern society and meet the expectations of the court users, an electronic court is essential.
The Judges hired a Network Administrator, David Soros, in 2000 expressly for the purpose of overseeing the design and implementation of an electronic court. He first designed and put into service the Court’s website at www.ghmc.org.
The design process began in 2000 and continued through 2001 when the Ohio Supreme Court adopted Rule 26 of the Rules of Superintendence and the General Assembly modified the Civil, Criminal and Traffic Rules of Procedure to permit use of electronic media and digital signatures.
The Court is in the final stages of design and implementation. Judge Nicastro converted cases assigned to her to electronic files in October 2004 and is now operating in the electronic environment.
Equipment
The first phase was to evaluate current hardware and purchase any additional equipment that would be necessary.
Security
The second phase was to design a security plan. Two servers were installed at different locations. The court server is in the Clerk’s Office and the disaster server is at a remote location connected to the Court by fiber optic cable. This disaster server is updated automatically and in real time which mirrors the court's live server.
Police Departments and Mayor’s Courts
The next phase was to involve the seven Mayor’s Courts and nine law enforcement agencies in designing a method whereby their computer systems could transfer digital information electronically to the Court. Six Mayor’s Courts opted to participate in the design phase. The police departments are waiting to see the outcome of the Mayor’s Courts’ test.
Currently, the Mayor’s Courts send all the data contained in a traffic ticket via email to the Court where a clerk uploads it to a temporary location within the Court’s case management system. When the clerk enters the agency’s name, all electronic filings waiting for processing are displayed. The Mayor’s Courts also deliver the paper tickets to the Court. The clerk checks the electronic filing against the paper ticket. When an error between these two sources occurs, the electronic filing is rejected and the reporting agency is notified of the error(s). The agency then corrects the filing and resubmits it to the Court. Once both the paper and electronic data match, the electronic filing is assigned a court case number and admitted into the Court’s case management system. The reporting agency receives a report with the Court’s case number for future reference. The purpose of this first phase is to educate all Mayor’s Court personnel about proper submission of information; develop consistent coding; identify any design errors; and to reduce the redundancy in data entry between the Mayor’s Courts and the Court.
The next phase for the Mayor’s Court will be to add the digital image of the ticket to the data being electronically filed. When the police departments convert to E-Tickets, these interim steps will be eliminated. Instead of emailing the data and images, the police or Mayor’s Courts would upload E-tickets directly into a temporary location in the Court’s case management system through the Website. The clerk will check the images against the electronic data. When all data matches and the electronic filing is assigned a case number, the image would be electronically time stamped and linked within the case management system. The Judge’s disposition of each case will be returned electronically to the filer.
Probation Department
In 2002, the Probation Department became the test sight for the Court’s electronic records system. These are some examples of the tasks performed by the system. A probationer is required to read and sign the terms of probation from the computer. A signature pad is provided for the probationer to sign his/her name. After signing, the digital signature appears on the document and a copy is printed out for the probationer.
A Judge must approve and sign notices of probation violation and probation termination notices. The Probation officer prepares the document and electronically transfers it to the Judge. A pop-up window appears to notify the Judge when documents are waiting for her signature. The Judge affixes a digital signature to the document. It is automatically time stamped, a DjVu image is created and it is linked within the case management system. The unalterable image is returned to the Probation Officer electronically for further processing. The Probation Department is 90% paperless but continues to maintain paper files until the entire court system is converted to the electronic system.
The Probation Department regularly communicates with various treatment programs via fax. These treatment programs include batter’s intervention programs and drug treatment programs. Each program liaison faxes written reports to the Probation Officer. Faxing software, which was already in place, was re-programmed to process these faxes as “tif” images. When the fax is received, it goes directly into the Probation Department’s case management system, is time-stamped, converted to a DjVu image, is directed the Probation Department secretary, who sends it to the appropriate Probation Officer.
As of March 2004, Judge Nicastro’s Probation Officer converted a, Mark Mattern, successfully converted to and is operating completelyin the electronic environment.
E-Filing for the Civil Division
Building on the design of the probation electronic records system, the Court is now ready to receive for filing, create, maintain and preserve records electronically in the Civil Division. All systems are now in place but no litigant is permitted to file electronically until the Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on Technology and the Courts approves Local Rules of Court. Upon receipt of approval, the following e-filing procedure will be implemented. After the system is working properly in the Civil Division, it will be implemented in the Criminal/Traffic Division.
E-FILING PROTOCOL
Filers will be required to purchase “.tif” generating program at an approximate cost of $50.00 in order to convert documents to the “.tif” format. The Clerk will conduct training sessions independently and through the Cuyahoga County Bar Association for attorneys and pro se litigants.
The first step by the filer is to register with the Court and be assigned an account name and temporary password. The filer can change the passwordatanytime to ensure security.The filer will be required to provide an email address, which will be verified by the Court.
The Court will encourage all filers to use credit cards to pay filing fees although cash and checks will be accepted. The document will not be deemed filed until the filing fees are received.
The filer will have two choices for filing documents. The filer may choose from forms prepared by the Court on found the Court Website or use Word or other word processing program to create a document.
The filer will complete an online form similar to the fax cover sheet recommended by the Advisory Committee for fax filing. The Court calls this an On-line Document Description Form. The filer will create a Word document or complete the Court prepared form, convert the document to a “.tif” image, and attach the image to the On-line Document Description Form. The filer will then upload the image to the Court’s Website. The filer will view the actual image that is intended for filing. If the filer sees an error or wishes to change the image, he or she may cancel the image and resubmit a new image. If the image is correct, the filer will click a button to process the image and submit it to a temporary location in the Court’s case management system. At this point the image is time stamped and the filer receives a document number for tracing the document.
Upon receipt of the image, the clerk reviews it for any errors. If errors are found, the clerk rejects it and notifies the filer of the problem. If the clerk accepts the image, it is processed and linked to the case management system. If the image requires action by the Judge, it is electronically delivered to the Judge. Upon receipt, the Judge is notified of incoming mail and may prepare a judgment entry. The Judge electronically transfers the judgment entry image to the clerk for processing and linking to the case management system. The clerk will also transmit the image of the judgment entry to all parties in the case and it will appear on the Website.
F. Local Rule 7 – Electronic Filing
Judge Deborah Nicastro has been studying electronic court systems from the judge’s and litigant’s perspective since 1999. To prepare Local Rule 7, she reviewed as many of the Court Websites from other states, which currently permit electronic filing, and studied other local rules in Ohio’s state and federal courts. She used the Standards for Electronic Filing Processes of the National Consortium for State Court Automation Standards as a template for Local Rule 7. After the first draft of Rule 7 was completed, it was reviewed by the Clerk of Court and the Network Administrator and modifications recommended. The Judges then met to debate and resolve conflicts in policy. The Judges submitted Local Rule 7 in March 2003 to the Advisory Committee for approval.
In drafting Rule 7, Judge Nicastro incorporated all mandatory requirements of Civil Rule 5, Criminal Rules 3 and 12(B), and Traffic Rule 3. | 
