More Thoughts on E-Filing
When I first thought about starting this blog, the post idea that excited me was writing about electronic filing. It’s the kind of subject that is an important part of the actual job of litigation, but not one that law school or highbrow commentators or even television shows discuss.
The original post is below, but in the years since my original post, I have made the following new observations:
The ECF system for U.S. federal courts is a little different in each judicial district. While NYSCEF is the same for all of New York State, ECF has different menu options, colors, and procedures in different states.
I have now interviewed lawyers in many other countries and I can confirm that there is a general trend towards more jurisdictions adopting electronic filing. A major catalyst for this trend was the pandemic.
Even in courts that use electronic filing, some individual judges still require paper copies of documents. And some clerk’s offices do, too.
Not all electronic filing systems are created equal! I used one recently in a county that shall remain nameless for now that was practically useless.
You can’t just upload anything to many of these websites. Many have strict rules about the kinds of files they accept, largely to keep people from uploading viruses. Some require all uploads be not just in PDF format, but in PDF/A format. Properly formatting documents is a skill many lawyers don’t have.
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How do you start a lawsuit? Do you march to court, throw open a courtroom door, and shout at a judge? Or do you just hand papers to someone and tell them they are sued? Or call a special phone number and wait to speak to a representative?
The answer in a lot of places and under many situations is by electronically filing a document! (There are a bunch of exceptions, but I won't get into them here)
Why should you keep reading this post about electronic filing documents that initiate a lawsuit?
Cool screen grabs ahead
Useful information in case you start your own court someday
May help explain what you paid your lawyer to do when starting a lawsuit
Lawsuits Often Begin With a Complaint
To begin a lawsuit, you need to tell the court that you are suing someone. You do this by writing a document that (in New York) is called a complaint, that says who you are, who you are suing, and what the lawsuit is about. (You also need to pay a filing fee to the court and fill out a form that answers questions about the kind of case you are filing).
This post doesn't address the hard work that goes into drafting a complaint. Instead, once the complaint is ready, the next step is to file it with the court.
Complaints Are Usually Electronically Filed in New York
In some counties in New York, you upload a PDF of the complaint to a court website and that starts the case. The uploading part is usually not so difficult. But you also have to enter in a bunch of other information, such selecting what kind of case you are filing and providing information about each of the parties. That part may take awhile because there are a lot of questions.
In New York State court, the website for filing court documents is called NYSCEF and it looks like this:
Image Credit: This is a screen grab I made myself of the NYSCEF website
In federal court, the website is called ECF and it looks like this:
Image Credit: This is a screen grab I made myself of ECF website
In addition to uploading PDFs of the complaint, you can pay the filing fees on these websites by credit card. In federal court, opening a commercial case usually costs $415. In New York State court, it usually costs $210, and then another $95 to for the court to give your case to a judge.
There Are Electronic Filing Websites in Other Jurisdictions, But Not Everywhere
There are similar websites in other jurisdictions. For example, here are versions from Florida, South Carolina, and British Columbia.
Image credit: This screen grab was provided to me by a colleague who is a Florida lawyer.
Electronic filing isn't everywhere. They don't do it in several New York counties, or in Ethiopia, Japan, or Quebec. And it's optional in Massachusetts and is only part of the case initiation procedure for certain types of cases in France. Generally speaking, you usually start a case in some of those jurisdictions by taking your complaint (and a form with questions and your filing fee) physically to the courthouse and handing it to a clerk.
In Germany, attorneys don’t upload files to a website, but instead use special software called EGPV to send emails to the court, attaching the filings for their cases.
People Read Your Complaint After You File It
After you electronically file in New York, a court employee reads your filing and then emails you if you did something wrong. For example, if your form said that your case was a commercial case but your complaint describes a personal injury case, the clerk may tell you to re-file the case with a corrected form. This happens pretty often since the forms are not the easiest to use.
In jurisdictions with electronic filing, it's easier for the public to easily access copies of the complaints. For example, on the website PACER, lawyers can access virtually every complaint that has been filed in federal court for the past ten years. And anyone (even non-lawyers) can use NYSCEF to review complaints that have been filed online.