E-Filing Challenge in Franklin (OH) County

The 8/6/2004 edition of Columbus Business First discusses the challenges Franklin County Clerk of Courts is having upgrading its court filing system. Currently using microfiche when many counties, including Hamilton County and Cuyahoga County, have gone to electronic filing and Internet-based systems that eliminate much of the interactions citizens must have with the court clerk's office.

The United States Administrative Office of Courts has been implementing its case management / electronic court filing project and the use of this system in the bankruptcy courts has pushed electronic court filing across the country.

But as the Franklin County government is finding, the technology can be expensive, particularly when you have already adopted what has turned out to be an intermediate technology, like microfiche. Hopefully, as more courts gain current electronic capabilities, the cost for maintaining them will become increasingly manageable.