by Sean McManus
Staff Writer
When Duval County catches up with the rest of the 4th Judicial Circuit and launches the open documents portion of the MyFlorida.com website Monday, it will not only signal a move toward more advanced technology at the county clerk’s office, but a new wave of public sector client service.
With the new system, anyone with access to the Internet can retrieve public records, including liens, mortgages, foreclosures, pending court actions, court calendars, or any official records through their home computer. The system then allows customers to pay for and request delivery of a certified copy. The larger website, a governor’s initiative designed to make it easier for Floridians to take advantage of the Sunshine Law, has been in place for a few years, but until now Duval County’s documents were unavailable online.
“The new online access meshes well with Jim’s [Fuller] goal of making the lives of Florida taxpayers and the people in his own office easier,” said Jack Sparrow, the clerk’s computer whiz who is involved in investigating and networking new computer systems. “In this day and age, why should people have to drive to the clerk’s office and find a parking spot when you can get practically everything else on earth on the web?”
The next step, according to Sparrow, is to develop a system where the clerk’s office can engage in seamless electronic document transfers and eventually a paperless office.
The idea behind electronic documents, or what Sparrow calls workflow, would be that once an attorney files paperwork with the clerk’s office, it could then be scanned and posted on a system-wide intranet. Relevant parties could then access the documents without calling the clerk’s office and documents could be e-mailed to a judge’s office quickly.
“Manatee County is using a system like this that is really neat,” said Sparrow, who stays in touch with clerk’s offices throughout the state and the nation to update his office on the latest trends. “It’s definitely a priority.”
The next step in the evolution of a more advanced clerk’s office would be the introduction of e-filing, which allows attorneys to use the Internet to file paperwork online. Already in place in pockets throughout the country, e-filing is subject to heavy scrutiny from most state supreme courts and requires extensive testing before the final product can launch in a particular county.
“About a year ago we did a pilot program for e-filing with asbestos cases,” said Sparrow. And while he said there were some kinks that needed to be worked out, eventually e-filing will make the entire process of filing documents less expensive and more efficient.
Fuller said he will be attending an e-filing conference soon where vendors will be able to showcase the different programs and courthouses will be able to share with buyers how they used e-filing effectively.
“We know lawyers really want this thing,” said Fuller. “It will save everybody time and money.”
Sparrow said that some of the programs he’s seen even allow law offices to establish escrow accounts where the clerk can withdraw the cost of filing when the paperwork comes through electronically.
“The goal here is to make it as easy as possible to move the process along,” said Sparrow.
Sidney Lewis, a collections attorney with an office across the street from the courthouse, said he doesn’t even know how to turn on a computer. That’s why he has seven assistants who are filing anywhere from 15-20 suits a week at the county courthouse.
“Right now, the federal bankruptcy court allows access to documents online,” said Lewis, “but the county courts do not.”
Lewis said that it would be of immeasurable benefit to be able to print out county court files from his office.
“That would be awesome,” said Carla Davis, one of Lewis’ paralegals who has worked in his office for 22 years. “Mr. Lewis probably goes to court six times a day. That would make our job so much easier.”
Davis said the initial filing isn’t quite as much of a problem, considering their location, but it’s the follow-up that creates headaches.
“We have to call the clerk if we have a question and they have to pull the file,” she said. “It takes a while.”
In 1996, The Florida Bar took a poll of Internet use by attorneys. That year, only 30 percent of those who responded had used the Internet themselves in the previous three months. In a new survey this year, 95 percent of attorneys said they had used the Internet within the past three months.
“The overarching apprehension about all of this is privacy issues,” said Sparrow. “Florida law makes all of this legal, but we want to be very careful with all the information we place online.”
Fuller echoed that theme.
“Situations arise where Social Security numbers or credit card information goes on the documents and all of a sudden a person is vulnerable to theft,” said Fuller. “So we will make sure we purchase products that flag sensitive information and bring it to our attention.”
Sparrow said juvenile cases are the most sensitive. “That’s a whole other ball game,” he said. “Yes, there are security programs that require major password protection to access a juvenile file. But until we hear further, we’re not putting any of that information online.”
Eventually, Duval County hopes to have online ticket payment and every other government office connected via the Internet. Until that time, they are watching closely to make sure they don’t overstep.
Fuller said he hopes to start the beginning stages of implementing these large scale projects by next year and move Duval County into the world of the modern clerk. He also said overall cost for a these new systems would easily reach into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.