It’s almost here – E-filing in North Carolina state courts. Mecklenburg County will be among the first counties to “go-live” with the Odyssey Case Management System (a.k.a. Odyssey ICMS). Those of us who practice in federal court are saying, “it’s about damn time!” Trust me, an integrated e-filing system will change your life. According to our very own Trial Court Administrator, Casey Calloway, while the official rollout date has been delayed, it’s anticipated that Mecklenburg County will go live during the first quarter of 2023 – just a few months away. That means that attorneys practicing in Mecklenburg County need to get prepared now for the rollout. Do not get caught unprepared.
First, what is Odyssey? Simply put, Odyssey is the platform that will host North Carolina’s case management system, including ACIS, VCAP, e-citations, and electronic court filings, to name a few. Tyler Technologies is the vendor that developed this case management suite. Thirty-eight states are currently using other case management suites developed by Tyler Technologies. This change is part of the North Carolina Judicial Branch’s transformative eCourts initiative to take the state court system from paper to digital.
The North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts (NCAOC) noted that Odyssey’s statewide rollout will occur in 12 tracks. Harnett, Johnston, Lee and Wake Counties are designated as the pilot counties in Track 1. Mecklenburg County will follow, as the only county designated in Track 2, within 60 to 90 days of the Track 1 rollout. The remaining counties will be rolled out every 60-80 days in subsequent tracks. It’s important to note that you will no longer be able to use legacy systems (ACIS, VCAP, CCIS, CASEWISE, etc) for inquiry into pilot counties once they go live on Odyssey. According to the NCAOC, you will need to use Odyssey for inquiry of cases in counties who have switched to Odyssey, which makes it even more important for you to get up to speed on how this system works.
In addition to significantly reducing the amount of paper exchanging hands within the court system, there are a number of benefits to transitioning to an electronically integrated case management system. The NCAOC indicated that the benefits of ICMS include:
- Ensuring continuity during emergencies
- Streamlined court administration
- Increased availability of records and ease of case management
- Increased access to courts
- 24/7 statewide service to judges, magistrates, district attorneys, public defenders, clerks, law enforcement, attorney and the public.
- Being able to file court documents from the comfort of your home or office, or while you are on the road is certainly among the more practical benefits of transitioning to an e-filing system.
The primary reason to get prepared now is because the North Carolina General Rules of Practice have already been updated to mandate the use of the e-filing system in counties that have gone live with Odyssey.
Specifically, Rule 5 of the NC General Rules of Practice states, in part:
Rule 5. Filing of Pleadings and Other Documents in Counties with Odyssey
(a) Scope. This rule applies only in those counties that have implemented Odyssey, the Judicial Branch’s new electronic-filing and case-management system. The Administrative Office of the Courts maintains a list of the counties with Odyssey at nccourts.gov/ecourts. In a county without Odyssey, a person must proceed under Rule 5.1 of these rules.
(b) Electronic Filing in Odyssey.
(1) Registration. A person must register for a user account to file documents electronically. The Administrative Office of the Courts must ensure that the registration process includes security procedures consistent with N.C.G.S. § 7A-49.5(b1).
(2) Requirement. An attorney must file pleadings and other documents electronically. A person who is not represented by an attorney is encouraged to file pleadings and other documents electronically but is not required to do so.
(3) Signing a Document Electronically. A person may sign a document electronically by typing his or her name in the document preceded by “/s/.”
(4) Time.
a. When Filed. A document is filed when it is received by the court’s electronic-filing system, as evidenced by the file stamp on the face of the document.
b. Deadline. If a document is due on a date certain, then the document must be filed by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on that date.
(5) Relief if Emergency Prevents Timely Filing. If an Odyssey service outage, natural disaster, or other emergency prevents an attorney from filing a document in a timely manner by use of the electronic-filing system, then the attorney may file a motion that asks the court for any relief that is permitted by law.
(6) Orders, Judgments, Decrees, and Court Communications.
The court may sign an order, judgment, decree, or other document electronically and may file a document electronically. The court may also send notices and other communications to a person by use of the electronic-filing system.
The commentary of Rule 5 states that “subsection (b)(2) of the rule requires an attorney to file pleadings and other documents electronically. An attorney who seeks relief from this filing requirement for a particular document should be prepared to show the existence of an exceptional circumstance.” As you can see, the Courts will become increasingly less tolerant of failure to file electronically as more counties implement Odyssey.
How can you begin your preparations now? First, keep an eye out for when the NCAOC will schedule training for Mecklenburg County non-Judicial Branch employee end-users (that’s most of you…). Check nccourts.gov/ecourts for training updates and how to sign up for the appropriate training programs. The training for Mecklenburg County’s Judicial Branch employees will occur October 31, 2022 through December 2, 2022.
Additionally, make sure your IT systems are up to date AND that you have Adobe PDF installed. It might also be helpful to look into obtaining a license for Adobe Pro – the Adobe product that will allow you to easily manage, manipulate and edit your pdf documents. The FAQs indicate that the system might also be able to convert Word documents at the time of filing.
The e-filing system requirements are as follows:
- Browser Requirements - Chrome™, Mozilla® Firefox®; Microsoft® Edge®; or Safari®
- Operating Systems - Microsoft® Windows®, Linux®, Chrome OS™ Android™, iOS, and OS X®
- Recommended Hardware:
- Intel® Core™ i3 or AMD A6 processors with at least a 2.0 GHz clock speed
- 4 GB of RAM
- 1920 x 1080 resolution of both desktop computers and mobile devices
- High-speed Internet connection
- Document Format - Adobe® PDF
If any part of this sounds foreign to you, contact an IT professional within your network to assist with making sure you have everything you need. If you are still working with a Commodore 64 – let’s talk offline 😊.
But seriously, if you think additional technology training would assist with your transition to e-filing please let the MCB know. We will work closely with the Trial Court Administrator to ensure all of our members’ needs are met as we navigate through significant changes to our practice.
I cannot thank our TCA Casey Calloway enough for the resources and information she provided the MCB to make sure we are ready to go!