www.the-papers.com
Tuesday, April 13, 2021
Serving Elkhart County and parts of Noble, LaGrange & Marshall Counties Know Your Neighbor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2➤ Speak Outs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Good Neighbor. . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Vol. 49 No. 1
Goshen (574) 534-2591
134 S. Main, Goshen, Indiana 46526
The paper chase reaches the end of the road
7851,1* '2:1 7+( 92/80( ³ (ONKDUW &RXQW\ &OHUN &KULV $QGHUVRQ GLVSOD\V WKH SDSHU ZRUN JHQHUDWHG IURP D VLQJOH WD[ VDOH FDVH ÀOHG LQ $OO DWWRUQH\V DUH QRZ UHTXLUHG WR ÀOH GRFX PHQWV HOHFWURQLFDOO\ 3KRWR E\ 5D\ %DORJK %\ 5$< %$/2*+ 6WDII :ULWHU Legend has it outsized sheets of paper were first used for official court documents during the reign of King Henry VIII. In the United States, attorneys invariably used legal-sized paper — 8 1/2-inchby-14-inch sheets, 3 inches longer than standard paper — until the federal judiciary banned its use in 1983 and state and local courts followed suit shortly thereafter. For four decades attorneys were confined to using standard paper for court filings. Not anymore. According to Elkhart County Clerk Chris Anderson, the county courts partially transitioned to e-filing in 2016 and 2017. “We moved forward from there,” he said, and now “attorneys have to e-file all their cases, with some minor exceptions.” The judges have also gone paperless. “They have everything on their laptop or on the computer on the bench,” Anderson said.
The migration of paper pulp to pixels makes a significant positive environmental contribution. According to www.in.gov, approximately 2 million lawsuits are filed in Indiana each year, and Anderson estimated those case files average 25 sheets of paper each. E-filing eliminates a yearly stack of paper towering just over 3 miles high. Pro se litigants — individuals who represent themselves in court — are still allowed to file paper pleadings, primarily small claims, divorces and evictions. All pleadings, exhibits and other case documents are secured in Odyssey, the state’s searchable data management and scheduling system. “They are stored in an archival digital format so they can’t be altered,” said Anderson. Computers in the county courthouses in Goshen and Elkhart allow the public to search for a case by cause number, party name or attorney, but some information is off limits. “Bank account and Social Security numbers are confidential, so they are not available on the system, and for the most part, the public cannot download
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documents,” Anderson said. “Otherwise, access to the documents is the same as it would be in a paper file.” The volume of cases didn’t change after the transition, but Anderson noted, “We have realized some efficiencies from e-filing.” For example, “sometimes we couldn’t immediately find a file because it was being transferred to the judge’s desk or sent to a clerk to make an entry. Now the file is always accessible.” The increased efficiency carries a couple of downsides. “We miss the attorneys,” said Tori Benton, supervisor of the circuit court clerk’s office. “And we used to have six clerks in this office. Now we have four.” Benton acknowledged, however, the transition “makes it a lot easier to input case numbers on new cases. The new system took a little getting used to but it has been for the good.” Anderson said the change in Elkhart County was “fairly seamless. Some attorneys and some judges fell right into place. Others around the state resisted a little bit but finally fell into place.”
The new system also saves time for non-litigants who interface with the court. Anderson said marriage license applicants can “start it online, then call or email our office to make an appointment. The process used to take 20 to 30 minutes at the counter. Now you can do most of it at home in your pajamas and be in and out of the courthouse in 10 minutes.” He urged, as a general rule, “If you can handle any court business online, please do.” Anderson oversees 43 employees in the various clerk’s offices, four in voter registration and five in archives and microfilm. For information on: • Court matters, call (574) 535-6430 • Marriage licenses, call (574) 535-6445 • Voter registration, call (574) 535-6775 • Elections, call (574) 535-6469 The county’s health department, (574) 523-2283, handles inquiries about birth and death certificates. To search for a case, visit www.public. courts.in.gov/mycase. For more information about the clerk’s office, visit www. clerk.elkhartcounty.com.