In 2018, the e-filing program of the New York State Unified Court System (UCS) continued its transformation of the way in which attorneys conduct litigation and the operations of the courts and County Clerk offices in New York State.
This report complies with the mandate of Judiciary Law § 212 (2)(u)(i)(A) for an annual report that evaluates the state’s experience with e-filing programs in the courts. The growth of the electronic filing program continued in 2018. One million cases were e-filed through the New York State Courts Electronic Filing System (“NYSCEF”) between the authorization of the program and 2016: in 2019, the number of e-filed cases will pass the two million mark. Last year also brought continued expansion of e-filing in Supreme Court and Surrogate’s Court, the introduction of e-filing pilot programs in all four Departments of the Appellate Division, and the enactment of new uniform rules to implement appellate e-filing.
NYSCEF aims to bring the reach of this transformation to more cases, counties, and courts in the year ahead, including the expansion of e-filing into the superior criminal courts and the New York City Housing Court. Section II describes the status of the e-filing program, provides detailed information on its progress, and explains our plans for the next year and those to follow.
Section II describes the status of the e-filing program, provides detailed information on its progress, and explains our plans for the next year and those to follow. Among other things, we summarize the expansion of e-filing in Supreme Court and Surrogate’s Court; describe the introduction of e-filing in the Appellate Division; report on our efforts to expand integration of NYSCEF with case management systems in Supreme Court; and summarize the status of our work to introduce e-filing in Family Court, the superior criminal courts, the New York City Civil Court, and New York City Housing Court. We also outline system improvements and the training and outreach we have provided.
Section III summarizes the comments and suggestions about e-filing received in response to solicitations by the Unified Court System from County Clerks, bar associations, other entities, individual attorneys, and others, and our replies to those comments.
Section IV describes the court system’s proposal for legislative changes. In 2019, these proposals do not seek major modifications of the legislative regime governing e-filing, but they seek meaningful incremental progress by:
- granting to the Chief Administrative Judge the authority to require attorneys to e-file in matrimonial matters;
- granting to the Chief Administrative Judge the authority to require attorneys to e-file in residential foreclosure and consumer credit actions; and
- extending the time to develop and test e-filing programs in Family Court and criminal actions (currently due to expire on September 1, 2019).
This modest legislative proposal (Appendix A) will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the e-filing program and help advance our efforts to move the courts of this state even more broadly and confidently into the digital future.
Read Full Report Here: https://iappscontent.courts.state.ny.us/NYSCEF/live/help/EFileReport.pdf