by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
The Duval County Clerk’s Office may be transitioning to a paperless, electronic filing system, but the move doesn’t mean it won’t still take paper documents.
“I want to clear something up,” said Duval County Clerk of Court Jim Fuller. “We will no longer spend money to create new paper case files, but we will accept documents that are brought to us. We will scan them into the system and give them back to you.”
Fuller spoke at the second continuing legal education seminar on electronic filing, or e-filing, offered by The Jacksonville Bar Association. The seminars have provided a brief outline of the new and future technology changes for filing documents electronic with the Clerk of Court’s office. The topics covered included new case search and an explanation of the application that will be replacing Showcase, the current case filing system. A short demonstration of navigating the clerk’s website and filing an e-file transaction was given.
The transition to a paperless system was supported by the Florida Legislature, which, in 2008, mandated a transition to the e-filing of court records and requested the Florida Supreme Court to set standards. Those standards were set on July 1, 2009, and one provided that a statewide electronic filing portal – an “e-portal” – would be developed under the direction of the Supreme Court.
According to the Office of the State Courts Administrator:
“The electronic filing portal will be a uniform public electronic gateway to be used for the transmission of electronically filed documents from filers to the courts. It will be governed by the courts. The e-portal will provide for e-filing of court documents in all five district courts of appeal and the Florida Supreme Court as well as in all 20 judicial circuits. The electronic filing portal will provide parties with a common entry point for filing and viewing court documents that are electronically filed.”
Though it may be a little quieter at the Clerk of Court’s office, Fuller looked forward to a more efficient and cost-effective system.
“This way you can view a file and pay for files electronically, so you don’t have to come to the courthouse,” said Fuller, “Even though I like people stopping by to see me.”
Fuller has made sure that his staff is well educated in the new advances in filing, sending staff to Sarasota and Lake City to study how their systems are operating.
“I know some people today are just taking their iPad or their laptop to the court room and they are not coming by to pick up the files. All the files they need are on their iPad or their laptop,” said Fuller. “That’s what we want you to be able to do. I know there are a lot of questions and we want your questions, so we can make this system better.”
Questions can be sent to the clerk’s office at www.duvalclerk.com/bar.
One of the goals of the system is to allow people to submit an electronic filing to the portal at any time of the day or night, 24-hours a day, seven days a week. The portal places a time/date stamp on the document. It will not be official record until it has been stored on the clerk’s case maintenance system.
The portal will accept filings in Word, WordPerfect, or PDF.
The Duval County Clerk’s office is also working on a system to notify attorneys when new files are available. For example, a notification would be sent when a judge responded to a motion an attorney had filed, according to Jill Misra, applications and development manager for the clerk’s office.
Fuller explained to the about 130 people in attendance at the May 18 meeting he understands that there are some “dead” spots in the current Duval County Courthouse for Wi-Fi connectivity, but his staff is working to improve access in those areas.
The problem should not be present in the new courthouse as the entire building will offer Wi-Fi access.
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