Paperless courts? County set to give it a try

Starting this winter in Plymouth County, that's going to change.

The county's clerk of courts office was chosen for a pilot project that would electronically file every document coming into the courts.

"We're changing the way we do business in the court system," said Leesa McNeil, district court administrator for the region. "It's probably the largest change to the court system I've witnessed in my 26 years with the courts."

Currently, for every criminal and civil case in the county, a file with anywhere from a few sheets of paper to a 4-inch stack is stored on the shelves in the Plymouth County clerk of courts' office.

Right now that's about 17,400 files.

Every step of each case requires more papers, filed by the attorney, a judge, or others, to be added to the shelves.

With this new system, all that will change.

"Once the pilot project begins, everything new will be filed electronically," said Charlene Petersen, clerk of courts.

Instead of submitting documents on paper, attorneys, judges, and others related to each case will log into a secure Internet-based program to file documents with Petersen's office.

Most members of the public won't use the system -- their attorneys will file documents for them.

Only about 15 people each month file their own legal documents without an attorney, usually for small claims cases, Petersen said.

"For example, one guy sells his car to another guy, but finds out the other guy's check bounces. He'll have to file a claim with us to try to get that money back," Petersen said. "At the clerk's office, we'll help them file what they need."

Anyone can register as a user for the electronic filing system, but they can only view court files for cases they are a party in.

Court files that are open public records will still be available for public viewing, but the system will change.

Right now, people can see the actual paper file kept in the clerk of courts' office.

Once the new system kicks in, public access will be by computer.

"It'll be a kiosk with a touch screen monitor and a keyboard," said Bob Johnson, of the Iowa Court Information Systems. "The public can go to the courthouse's kiosk and look at any public document."

Those cases that were opened before the electronic filing program started will continue to be paper files.

This is all in the future, however.

No kiosk yet exists in the Plymouth County Courthouse. The actual electronic filing project doesn't go live until near the end of this year or the beginning of 2010.

"The first electronic filing will probably be after the first of the year," said Marsha Fox, also of the Iowa Court Information Systems.

Both Fox and Johnson were in Plymouth County this week to start unveiling the system.

The pilot project was originally slated to run for about two months, but may be three or longer, Johnson said.

"We're going to make sure we have everything right and working like it should as much as we can before we move on to the next county," he said.

After the pilot project is going well in Plymouth County, the electronic filing system will be introduced to Story County's clerk of courts office, then Iowa's appeal courts.

For other counties in Iowa, electronic filing is likely at least a year away, Johnson added.

Electronic filing has been used for large areas like Orlando, Fla., but never a county with a smaller population base like Plymouth County.

"We're the first place in the country to do this," Johnson said.