Page 32 - November 2018 | Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Journal

BarJournal BUSINESS LITIGATION

JULY/AUGUST 2015
FEATURE The EGADS! OF E-FILING

BY KENDRA DAVITT & JUDGE JANET R. BURNSIDE

awn! You may be considering Prior to e-filing, the parties’ appearances and system (e-filing) which allowed parties to
skipping this article, but docket entries were generated and maintained submit their civil filings directly to the court.
you owe it to yourself, your by the Court and the Clerk by hand and by The e-filing of criminal filings followed quickly.
support staff, and your clients human intervention. In the old days, the Court E-filing lessened the involvement between the
Y not to turn the page yet. would write its journal entries on forms called filing parties and the clerk. This direct route
Maybe you are not the person in your office “half sheets” and the clerk would transpose of placing filings on to the docket has many
e-filing papers with the Court — you should that information into the official court record. benefits. We say “direct route” because e-filing
read this and then pass it on to the people Eventually, the Court obtained electronic puts the filed document onto the docket with
who do, because they might have a lot to software, CJIS, and journalizing and docketing little or no human oversight.
learn. Your support staff may not realize electronically by the Court and Clerk Litigators are able to file documents quickly
that the Ohio clerks of court are required became more common. The with the court, saving expense and time; the
to maintain the Courts’ dockets or why docket was still documents are served automatically on other
e-filing matters. For the Court of Common built manually, parties; and parties receive almost immediate
Pleas, the docket includes the information and litigants were notice of filings by their adversaries. This
historically included in the appearance still required to e-filing system, however, also shifted much
docket, trial docket, and journal. file papers with of the burden on docket building to the filing
Ohio Sup. R. 26.03. the clerk, but it parties. The docket entries are generated
was easier for the automatically based on the information
court to review the provided by the e-filer through the Attorney
docket and compile Portal and E-filing system. The state of the
information for docket, therefore, has become increasingly a
statewide reporting burden for the litigants to manage, and this
purposes. shift can create some significant problems.
In 2013, the Chief among them, an incorrect, misleading,
Clerk of Courts and non-transparent docket in contravention
implemented the to Ohio law.
electronic filing
WHY DOES THE STATE OF THE
DOCKET MATTER TO YOU?
Many reasons. Having a clear docket increases
the clarity of what is happening in the case
for everyone. In complicated cases with
hundreds of filings and documents,
being able to access the
proper deposition,
motion, or pleading
easily is imperative for
the Court and litigators.
It also helps an appellate court
decipher what has happened in the
case if your case is appealed. Your clients
also check the docket and need to have a clear
and concise docket.
When you enter the Attorney Portal
and E-filing system, you select the case in
which a filing is to be made, and then select
whether your filing is to be docketed and
filed or submitted as a proposed order. If you
32 | CLEVELAND METROPOLITAN BAR JOURNAL CLEMETROBAR.ORG