Supreme Court authorizes circuits to pilot the concept of ‘online court’ for small claims cases
Responding to a Bar taskforce recommendations, the Florida Supreme Court is authorizing judicial circuits to pilot the concept of an “online court” for resolving small claims cases.
The July 18 order by Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz refers to a May 2022 report by the COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery Task Force.
“Specifically, the Task Force proposed the provision of online judging to final resolution in a largely asynchronous manner without requiring the parties to appear in a physical courtroom,” Muniz wrote.
Proponents initially envisioned a statewide automated platform that could help pro se litigants resolve disputes of $1,000 or less.
However, the order goes on to note that the taskforce “recognized that the concept poses a number of legal, operational, and technological challenges” and would “necessitate additional analysis.”
The order authorizes judicial circuits to “pilot the concept of ‘online court’ in small claims cases, such as by including engagement of judges in an ODR [online dispute resolution] platform, or by exploring other platforms, to facilitate entirely or largely online resolution of cases – asynchronously or with a combination of asynchronous and synchronous judging.”
Muñiz stresses, however, that litigants must participate voluntarily, and be allowed to opt out “prior to being charged a fee by a service provider.”
Participating circuits would be required to first submit a detailed plan to the Supreme Court, and a six-month performance evaluation “with clear metrics.”
Former President Michael Tanner ordered the task force to study the feasibility of a “fully automated online platform administered by the state courts system for the complete management and resolution of small-value civil claims.”
At the time, he envisioned a system that would serve litigants with disputes of less than $1,000, cases that lawyers cannot manage economically, but litigants find too frustrating to pursue in the traditional small claims process.
“This is profoundly problematic for our society because the less our citizens see our justice system as a functioning institution that is readily available to serve their needs, the less value they will place on it and on the rule of law itself,” Tanner wrote in a Bar News column.
The order also ends the “pilot” status of ODR programs that the Supreme Court authorized in a March of 2021 Administrative Order, “Online Dispute Resolution in the Trial Courts,” AOSC21-10. The order authorized approved “pilot case types” for civil traffic infractions, small claims, and dissolution of marriage cases that do not involve children.
The ODR pilot programs allowed litigants to use web-based technology to progress through a series of questions and responses.
The circuits piloting ODR report “varying degrees of success,” Muñiz notes.
“Some have encountered technical challenges, such as integrating an ODR platform with other case-related systems. Further, the onset of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic and the resulting adoption of virtual court proceedings expanded the landscape of the online options available to address the needs of court users.”
Nevertheless, the order states, “ODR remains among the available and viable tools to allow courts to serve a variety of needs by leveraging technology.”
The latest order is “In Re: Online Dispute Resolution in the Trial Courts; Piloting Online Court,” Case No. AOSC23-41.
