Clark, Harrison, Shelby, & Hamilton County Move to E-filing
The Indiana Supreme Court announced March 21 that four Indiana counties (Clark, Harrison, Shelby, and Hamilton) have transitioned to e-filing. By the end of the year, eight more are scheduled to follow: Henry, Floyd, Hendricks, Franklin, Morgan, St. Joseph, Wells, and Tipton. Announced in 2014, the e-filing project aims for all Indiana counties to be filed entirely online by the end of 2018. This is exciting news for our team and clients. E-filing will allow us to work on cases more efficiently by reducing time wasted on tasks necessitated by paper filings, such as mailing court documents via US mail. It also ensures that important legal documents are not subject to being lost, misfiled, or stolen.
As each county moves to the new system, it is more important than ever to retain an attorney who is committed to staying current with technology. E-filing may be a challenge for lawyers who are uncomfortable embracing new tools and processes. Our office maintains fully electronic files for all clients, allowing us to get case updates in clients’ inbox the same day we do. We look forward to being at the forefront of using e-filing to increase efficiency and improve client experience. Below is a list of terms and definitions related to the new e-filing system. (Definitions were pulled from Trial Rule 86 and edited for clarity).
(1) Conventional Filing: Filing paper documents with the clerk or court (current system for most Indiana courts).
(2) Electronic Filing (“E-Filing”): Method of filing documents with the clerk of an Indiana court by electronic transmission utilizing the Indiana E-Filing System. E-Filing does not include transmission by facsimile or by email.
(3) Indiana E-Filing System: The system of networked hardware, software, and service providers approved by the Supreme Court for the filing and service of documents via the Internet into the Case Management Systems used by Indiana courts.
(4) Case Management System: Computer software courts use to keep track of case events, documents, and parties. Ex) CourtView, Odyssey
(5) E-Filing Service Provider: Computer software (usually a website) that an attorney or litigant uses to start a case or respond to a case over the internet. Three service providers have been certified for use in Indiana so far: Efile, GreenFiling, and Doxpop.
(6) E-Filing Manager: Computer software that serves as the go-between, allowing an e-filing service provider to connect to a case management system.
(7) Electronic Service (“E-Service”): Method of serving documents by electronic transmission on any User in a case via the Indiana E-Filing System.
(8) Notice of Electronic Filing: The notice generated automatically when a document is submitted and transmitted through the Indiana E-Filing System. This sets forth the time of transmission, the name of the court, User, party/attorney transmitting the document, the title of the document, the type of document, and the name of the court, attorney, party, or other person meant to receive the Notice. The time noted in a Notice of Electronic Filing will be the time at the location of the court where the case is pending. A Notice of Electronic Filing will appear immediately on the User’s screen upon submission of the document for E-filing.
(9) Public Access Terminal: A publicly accessible computer provided by clerk or court that allows a member of the public to access the Indiana E-Filing System and public court records.
(10) User Agreement: An agreement in a form approved by the Division of State Court Administration that establishes obligations and responsibilities of the User within the Indiana E-Filing System.
(11) User: A Filing User or Registered User.
a. Filing User: Includes court and clerk staff, unrepresented litigants, and attorneys. Also includes agents who an attorney has designated to make a filing on the attorney’s behalf and who has an Indiana E-Filing System user ID, password, and limited authority to file documents electronically. b. Registered User: A person or entity with a user ID and password assigned by the Indiana E-Filing System who is authorized to use the Indiana E-Filing System for the electronic filing or service of documents.
