Inefficient and costly recordkeeping systems, as well as one specific instance in which processing mistakes resulted in the release of a man before his case had been examined, prompted West Virginia counties to go paperless. The Supreme Court of Appeals issued the directive to start scanning records and e-filing.
Currently, 14 counties are working through the transition process before all 55 adopt the unified case management and online document storage system. E-filing and accessing will be free at courthouses. The public will be able to search records for free at each clerk’s office. Court records retrieved on business, vacation time or at home will require a monthly subscription.
The state hopes to be fully functioning in about two years, according to a State Journal article.
This is yet another example of court systems — clerks, lawyers, judges, law firms and offices — realizing the importance and benefits of electronic document imaging and storage. It will allow the courts to file faster and with fewer mistakes. Also, more than one person can view case documents online at a time. And courthouse space that was dedicated to storage of paper documents can now be used for other purposes.
In most cases, storage was located off-site; therefore, it was a tedious process to fetch and to locate case filings.
Currently, only one county accepts civic cases electronically. Though by the time the system is fully implemented statewide, West Virginia believes they’ll have one of the “most advanced and efficient systems in the country,” states a justice in the article.
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