Portal filings dip in July
Portal Program Manager Carolyn Weber, who is responsible for tracking submission data for the Florida Courts E-Filing Authority, summarized it best after releasing E-Filing Portal’s recent progress report.
“I’m afraid that July is probably our slowest month of the year,” Weber said in an email.
The authority released its July report and the total number of documents filed stood at 2.71 million (in 1.86 million submissions). Those numbers dipped nearly 8% from June and nearly 15% lower than the record high in March.
July’s data represents the peak of the ‘summer swoon,’ which can be attributed to several factors, including attorney time spent away from the office on vacation and getting kids ready for back to school.
Despite the expected downturn in activity, Portal submission volume is on the rise in 2023 and the data is showing impressive numbers. Last month’s data outpaced July 2022 by nearly 12%.
Back in June, Karen Rushing, the Sarasota clerk and chair for the authority’s board of directors, said there continues to be an increase in Portal filings throughout 2023.
“While there are some seasonal effects such as a holiday, generally speaking we’ve seen continued growth in the Portal,” Rushing said. “There’s been some fluctuation, but we’re seeing that growth continue in 2023.”
The average number of weekday submissions in July came in at 94,995, down slightly from June’s 95,122.
Filing activity for the appellate courts also dipped sharply last month. District courts of appeal saw 11,557 submissions in July, down 7% from the June total. Submissions to the Florida Supreme Court dipped a bit more. The 304 cases received by the high court were down 13% from the previous month.
Should the Portal’s year to year trends continue, increased traffic should begin during the month of August. Last year, the Portal set a then record high in the total number of documents filed in August 2022, which were 20% higher than July of 2022.
The August 2022 record stood for seven months until March where the passage of HB 837, the comprehensive changes to the state’s tort laws, produced a plethora of new submissions.
