TOPEKA—The Johnson County District Court will implement electronic case filings for civil cases beginning September 19, it was announced today.
In doing so, that court will join Shawnee County as one of two courts in the state to have limited electronic case filings in place. Meanwhile, a statewide program of electronic case filings is on the drawing board.
"Moving from hard copy case filings to the modern electronic filing system ultimately will result in savings of both time and money," according to Justice Dan Biles, who serves as liaison between the Supreme Court and the statewide Judicial Branch Electronic Filing Committee.
"We will offer statewide electronic filing of court cases as soon as there are resources available to implement it," Biles said. "E-filing has been proven to enhance the efficiency of processing cases for the litigants, attorneys, and courts," he added. "It is something the state of Kansas needs to meet the expectations of those who use our court system."
The Johnson County electronic filing program is being implemented effective September 19 for civil case filings. The District Court next will develop a criminal e-filing program, followed by juvenile, Children in Need of Care, and probate matters.
The Johnson County program announcement follows several years of engineering, programming and re-programming, meetings with the Supreme Court, district court judges, staff and members of the bar, studying best practices and listening to input from design team volunteers from the practicing bar. Links to the system may be found at www.kscourts.org or at the Johnson County District Court website at www.jococourts.org.
Attorneys in Shawnee County have been able to e-file limited actions civil cases, some types of regular civil cases, traffic cases and some pleadings in domestic relations cases since 1997.
At the state level, the E-Filing Committee is working to implement an e-filing system in local pilot courts and the appellate courts.