Ian drives e-filing numbers down, portal board sets public access system implementation date
Hurricane Ian’s landfall contributed to a substantial dip in September’s E-Filing Portal submissions, according to the latest statistics from the Florida Courts E-Filing Authority.
Total documents filed through the Portal in September were 2.88 million (in 1.61 million submissions), dropping 18% from August’s record high of 1.97 million submissions.
“It’s quite a drop, but we also saw a hurricane and a court-appointed holiday in September so it’s not completely uncommon to see that kind of a drop,” Portal Program Manager Carolyn Weber said during the October 10 E-Filing Board of Directors meeting.
The downtick in submissions has not affected the work of the clerks as Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers CEO Chris Hart told the Bar News during a September 29 interview.
“The E-Filing Portal can still accept filings in all courts, 24/7,” he said. “Even if the clerk’s office is closed, those filings are going to be time stamped when they’re filed, and they’re going to be held in an electronic queue for the clerk.”
The average number of weekday submissions was 85,261 during September with September 12 standing as the highest volume day at 95,696 submissions.
Filing activity for the appellate courts was also slightly lower last month. District courts of appeal saw 10,376 submissions, down 16% from August. Submissions to the Florida Supreme Court also dropped. The 367 cases received by the high court were down 5% from the previous month.
The board also took steps on the road to implement a public access system. The new feature of the Portal gives the public access to non-confidential and circuit civil complaints and stems from the settlement of a federal lawsuit.
The board gave Weber and her team the green light to create the public access system during its last meeting on September 16. On October 10, the board finalized the name of the system and the launch date.
The public access system will be called the “Statewide Non-Confidential Circuit Civil Filing System.”
“We need to have full disclosure on what this public access system does,” said board Chair and Sarasota County Clerk Karen Rushing. “The name [of the system] needs to describe to the public exactly what they’re getting because they’re not getting everything.”
Regarding the implementation of the system, the federal case settlement gives the authority until 2023 to get it up and running. The board, however, set an internal date of October 29 for implementation.
“If the information is ready for release, then we want to go ahead and release it sooner rather than later,” said Clay County Clerk Tara Green.
