The History of eCourts (2024)

By MaryAnn Spoto, Communications Manager

The New Jersey Judiciary’s move from a paper-based system to one in which a complaint can be filed with a few clicks and keystrokes has been years in the making.

In May 2014, The New Jersey Judiciary begun accepting motions in criminal cases electronically, an important step forward in the efforts to provide efficient and cost-effective justice.

“We are making progress in our efforts to become a paperless court system,” Chief Justice Stuart Rabner said at the time. “eCourts was developed to improve our ability to serve litigants, attorneys, and the public with a user-friendly system of electronic filing and case management. The electronic filing of criminal motions moves us further in that direction.”

The Judiciary’s eCourts system was developed to accept motions and accompanying documents filed online, to provide real-time remote access to electronic case filings to judges, attorneys, and court staff simultaneously, and to store and retrieve electronic documents after the case has concluded. Not only was it meant to be convenient, but electronic filing was also intended to reduce the costs associated with filing case documents, sending court notices through the mail, and storing paper files. It has streamlined the work of judges and court staff and allow for greater public access to the courts.

The system is the result of a multi-year project led by the Information Technology Advisory Committee chaired by Glenn A. Grant, administrative director of the courts. Its goals were laid out in the 2009 report of the Special Committee on Electronic Filing, formed by Chief Justice Rabner in 2008. The committee suggested that the courts should develop a comprehensive e-filing system that addresses document filing, case management, records management, and public access aspects of court work.

They recommended that the courts adopt a standard format for e-filing so that attorneys, judges, court staff and others can become familiar with one system even if they work in different practice areas. The system should enable remote access to case files for judges, attorneys, court staff, and others, and it should be Web-enabled for maximum accessibility.

This is a synopsis of where the Judiciary’s move to an electronic court system stands:

Trial Court

Attorneys can submit trial exhibits electronically to the court through the Evidence Submission and Workbasket application, which was implemented as a pilot on June 25, 2021, and then statewide in April 2022.

The updates allow attorneys to submit evidence in civil, special civil, general equity/chancery, family (excluding non-dissolution and domestic violence or sexual assault dockets), and criminal.

Expungements

The eCourts Expungement system allows:

• Public defenders to submit proposed orders any type of expungement petition, including recovery court expungements. They can view and respond to any petition submitted by self-represented litigants upon an objection by the prosecutor.
• Attorneys and self-represented litigants also can submit a petition and proposed order for regular, clean-slate, recovery court, and marijuana expungements. Authorized attorney designee users can review and perform actions on expungement petitions.
• Prosecutors can review petitions and proposed orders in the new online system and can submit response letters to the court electronically. They also can review the cases included in the petition and autogenerate their response letter. The system allows prosecutors to return the petition back to petitioner for any revisions/corrections and for the petitioner to resubmit the petitions.
• Court staff from Superior criminal, Superior family and municipal courts can initiate and generate expedited expungement orders for all dismissed cases. They review all necessary information and generate orders electronically. All agencies to be notified receive a copy of the petition and the final expungement order via the new system. Party Court History is autogenerated for every expungement petition and can be reviewed by all parties reviewing the expungement petition.
• The system includes more detailed case, charge, disposition, and sentencing information. auto-calculate hearing date of 60 days from the petition filed date, notifications generated to the petitioner and ability for court staff to update the hearing date if required.

Civil – Landlord Tenant

eCourts Special Civil LT pertains to cases with a dispute between a landlord and a tenant. This ongoing project provides an electronic case jacket, and enables simultaneous access by judges, court staff, and attorneys.

Attorneys and self-represented litigants submit cases electronically via the Judiciary Electronic Document Submission (JEDS) System. Filers have the option of paying using credit card, the Automated Clearing House (ACH) program, or the Judiciary Account Charge System (JACS) via JEDS. Landlord Tenant documents other than complaints submitted via JEDS are immediately placed in the eCourts LT case jacket.

• Established a state Department of Community Affairs (DCA) user group to better support self-represented litigants. These DCA users are Resource Court Navigators assigned to help litigants gain access to COVID-19 rental housing funds.
• Allows limited appearance filing to better support self-represented litigants.This feature gives legal services representatives access to cases that are deemed restricted from public access to assist litigants.
• Gives self-represented litigants access to their case file information that is not publicly accessible. The Superior Court Clerk’s Office approves the access after verifying the litigant’s identity.
• Enables the electronic filing of the Request for Warrant of Removal for residential Land Tenant cases.

Municipal

Plea Online

The Online Municipal Case Resolution System was enhanced in August 2022 with a new Plea Online System, which provides an electronic alternative to the plea by mail option.

Self-represented litigants and defense attorneys can access the plea online via NJMCdirect.com. Attorneys also can access the system from their attorney portal.

Moving and/or parking offenses, (with some exceptions) can be plead online.An enhancement is planned to allow pleas for minor criminal matters as well. All submitted plea requests are sent to the municipal prosecutor for review and comment.The plea of guilty or not guilty is then electronically routed to the municipal judge for review and approval or denial. The system tracks the filing dates and moves the plea from the prosecutor to the judge to facilitate a timely resolution.

Emails are sent to the filer to alert them when a decision has been made by the judge.Fines or fees associated with an approved plea can be paid through NJMCdirect.com.

Family

Juvenile electronic Court Disposition Reporting (JeCDR) was created to modernize the flow for submitting complaints related to juvenile delinquency matters. It replaces the process that involved the cumbersome practice of filling out physical forms and manual processing. With Juvenile eCDR, case processing for juvenile delinquencies has become quicker and more efficient.

Some benefits of Juvenile electronic Court Disposition Reporting are:

• Faster case processing through electronic pre-population of data entry fields from existing party records.
• Access to the master statute table to ensure accuracy of statute numbers and degrees.
• Linking of LiveScan records to the complaint to properly identify the juvenile and update the associated records.
• Replacing the manual process of risk screening with a system-generated algorithm for automatic calculation using a risk screening tool.
• Automatic filing of documents into an electronic case jacket, and automatic docketing of the juvenile delinquency case.
• Email notifications to prosecutors and public defenders.
• Processing workflow using the electronic workbasket concept.
• Allowing prosecutors to review and make modifications of draft complaints by law enforcement officers prior to submission to Superior Court.
• Generating an electronic complaint and risk screening tool.
• Allowing for transparency by providing access to the electronic case jacket to prosecutors and public defenders.
• Providing law enforcement officers access to the electronic complaint.
• Ensuring and validating that all required information is entered.
• Generating a standardized detention admission form as determined by the risk screening tool.