E-filing arrives in Hennepin

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Six Twin Cities law firms are participating in pilot project

Electronic filing and service – technologies that have been spreading to courts throughout the country – are about to get a test run in Hennepin County.

Several dozen lawyers, judges, clerks and other support staff took a spin through the new e-filing system at the Hennepin County Government Center last week. The tour was presided over by representatives of the judicial branch and from Texas-based Tyler Technologies, the 4th Judicial District’s tech partner in the initiative.

“We’re moving into the training stage of e-file and serve,” said John Erar, information technology manager for the 4th District. He said that a limited pilot program, during which six unidentified Twin Cities law firms will try out the e-filing system, is set to begin Oct. 18.

“The purpose of a demonstration like this is to make the process tangible,” Mark Twedt, a consultant with Tyler Technologies.

User-friendly system

The e-file and serve process isn’t much more complicated than buying a book on Amazon.com, or any of the many other interactive Internet activities most of us engage in every day. Once logged in, filers are greeted by an interface screen that lets them access a case they’re involved in, or create a page for a new case. Once they’ve selected a case, they can either use the page to file only, serve only, or both.

“You can use a service list built by other attorneys to serve parties, or you can add parties yourself,” said Twedt. “All you do is put in a working email address for the party being served. You’re just fulfilling your duty to communicate with the other party’s representation.”

After the case is selected, pull-down menus let users pick the type of filing, such as a motion to dismiss; select the applicable fee involved; set up a mailing envelope via the designated administrator; fill in e-mail addresses for recipients of courtesy copies of the document being uploaded; and upload the document – which could include virtually anything that can be saved as a Word, WordPerfect, text, PDF or TIF file.

All files, to which the courts will have access, will be uploaded to the court system’s MNCIS (Minnesota Court Information System), the case management system for the district courts of Minnesota.

The system will allow filers to designate documents as confidential, and court staff will be able to seal documents on court order. While e-filing will be restricted to court documents, attorneys and other parties in a case can use the system to serve documents. The system will have a record of any document received, and if it’s rejected, the filing party will receive it back with instructions for re-submittal.

To initiate a new case, users select the location, category (civil or criminal), and case type. Multiple plaintiffs can be added, and a field is provided to describe the filing. Courts will eventually use these forms to write orders and create judicial assignments.

Work in progress

On the court’s side, clerks can see all information and documents submitted electronically by parties in a case. That will enable clerks to make sure that all submissions have the correct filing fee, case number and other necessities.

During times of especially heavy filing, such as tax season at the state tax court, the judicial branch will revisit temporary staffing options, said Anna Lamb, senior manager of the 4th District’s Civil Division.

Law firms can register for a webinar training session via the courts’ website (http://www.mncourts.gov/is); the 4th District will also schedule training sessions based on demand.

The implementation of e-file and serve is the first step toward what Erar called “the vision of the paperless court system, which is our ultimate goal.”

During the pilot period of the e-file and serve system, documents can still be filed either electronically or on paper, with electronic filing likely to someday be mandatory. When an e-file goes up on appeal, the appellate court will also have access to MNCIS and the document management system containing all pertinent documents, so parties shouldn’t have to re-transmit files related to an appellate case. The judicial branch is discussing a change to the appellate rules that would eliminate the need for documents to be submitted to the court in the form of hard copies.

The 2nd Judicial District is expected to follow closely behind the 4th in getting a pilot program up and running, followed by other districts throughout the state.

“This is very much a work in progress,” said Twedt. “It’s basically the same system used in other states, so it’s a proven solution.”