Stats Shed Light on Lawyer's Top E-Filing Complaints

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1 NOT FOR REPRINT Click to print or Select 'Print' in your browser menu to print this document. Page printed from: Stats Shed Light on Lawyer's Top E-Filing Complaints "I think it takes us to voice our issues so that maybe they can at some point come up with a little more consistency among the counties, the rejection policies and the providers," said plaintiffs lawyer Laura Tamez. by Angela Morris October 23, 2014 Case Digest Summary "I think it takes us to voice our issues so that maybe they can at some point come up with a little more consistency among the counties, the rejection policies and the providers," said plaintiffs lawyer Laura Tamez. (Maksym Yemelyanov Fotolia) Lawyers on both sides of the bar say they ve noticed improvements in the state s new e-filing system, and court administrators have the statistics to prove it. But the stats also show areas for improvement.

2 The data uses hard numbers to quantify the top e-filing complaints that really bother lawyers: supposed delays between when an attorney files a document and a clerk accepts it, and the rate at which a clerk returns an e-filing for correction. The information shows that EFileTexas.gov is performing well overall, but that a lawyer s individual experience really depends upon where he works. Some clerks are better than others at quickly processing documents and maintaining low return-for-correction rates. David Slayton, administrative director of the Texas Office of Court Administration ( said he s been reviewing EFileTexas.gov statistics since the system launched about a year ago. Court administrators delve into the numbers to monitor the e-filing system s health and identify issues to address, he said. Starting on Nov. 10, he said, the OCA plans to publish the e-filing statistics at EFileTexas.gov ( in an effort to have complete transparency about how the system is performing. Defense lawyer Pamela Madere ( said that issues with filing delays and returns for correction have been improving. Things have changed over the last six or nine months, but at the beginning of e-filing, clerks were routinely returning documents for correction, and the lawyers would not know why, or it wouldn t make sense, she said. In the last six months, e-filing appears to have become a little more consistent in how quickly documents are file-stamped and returned to the lawyer. In the past, it was often days or longer or not returned at all. Pretty consistently documents are file-stamped and returned the same day.

3 Plaintiffs lawyer Laura Tamez ( said she s also noticed improvements but still struggles with returns. She said lawyers must play a role in continuing to improve the system. Every time we as attorneys run into issues, we need to let the district clerks know; we need to call our e-file providers many of them are available 24 hours; we also need to contact EFileTexas.gov you can them and let them know, These are the problems I am having in my county, Tamez said. I think it takes us to voice our issues so that maybe they can at some point come up with a little more consistency among the counties, the rejection policies and the providers. Returns Madere, director in Coats Rose Yale Ryman & Lee in Austin, explained that returns are frustrating because lawyers worry about meeting filing deadlines and because correcting documents takes a lot of time for a lawyer and her staff. There is often confusion, and you have to contact the court to get more information about why the correction was necessary, so it s not as simple as just resubmitting, said Madere. Statewide e-filing data shows the return rate was percent in September 2013, when the system processed 3,598 e-filings. But the return rate this September was just percent, and the e-filing system processed 399,917 documents. Click here ( EFileTexas.pdf).

4 The e-filing statistics show that the return rate is inconsistent across Texas. The OCA provided Texas Lawyer with a report that covers filings for the whole month of September. Among the 10 counties that saw the largest numbers of e-filings during that time, the rate of return varied greatly. For example, Harris County saw 79,549 e-filings during the month, and it returned just 5.35 percent of them. Meanwhile, Dallas County returned percent of the 54,521 e-filings it received in the same time period. Tarrant County received 33,825 e-filings, and returned 9.3 percent of them. The highest return rates statewide are in the counties of Wichita, Nueces and Gregg. The lowest return rates are in El Paso County, Harris County s Title IV-D child support courts and Tom Green County. Click here ( Tamez, partner and shareholder in The Herrera Law Firm in San Antonio, struggles with the fact that clerks in different counties are not consistent in the reasons for returns. In one jurisdiction there may be a rejection because an order is attached to a motion and it s supposed to be a separate filing. But in a different county, it s OK attaching an order to a motion, she explained. Slayton noted that each clerk s policy affects the office s return rate. Some clerks accept documents with minor problems and just call a lawyer to educate him for next time. Other clerks tend to return documents for correction for any e-filing rule violation. He said he has always been concerned about the return rate, and he has scrutinized the e-filing statistics to identify problem areas. He noted that in March, the Texas Supreme Court considered the return-rate data when it decided to standardized the reasons clerks may return e-filings for correction. Afterward, the return rate dropped. It now rests at 10 percent statewide.

5 We d like it to go a little bit lower, but from what we were at, it s a good place, Slayton said. It s because of efforts taken based on the data. Processing Delays The statistics also track another major e-filing concern among lawyers: A supposed delay between when a lawyer files a document and when a court clerk processes it. The numbers show that 75 percent of e-filings are processed in less than eight hours, which could conceivably be in the same business day. An Oct. 1 EFileTexas report that covers a representative week at the end of September showed that there were 75,912 total e-filings, and clerks processed 51.7 percent of them within less than one hour. Another 23.3 percent took longer than one hour, but less than eight hours. But about one in five e-filings 21.4 percent were processed in longer than eight hours, but less than 24 hours. Another 3.5 percent of the filings took 24 hours or more to process. The processing speeds also vary county to county. For example, the Jefferson County District Clerk s office was the fastest during the representative week, processing 91.9 percent of filings in less than eight hours. Meanwhile, the Tarrant County Clerk s Office was the slowest during the week, processing just 55.8 percent of filings in less than eight hours. Click here ( Why do some offices take longer to process documents? Slayton said he s examined the issue and found that some clerks business processes might cause delays. For example, when a person files a proposed order in Lubbock County, the clerk forwards it to a judge for his signature and must get the signed version back to accept it for e-filing.

6 It s not that the clerk is sitting there waiting and not doing their job accepting it, said Slayton. He said the data shows that overall, clerks are performing at a high level. There s a high percentage of documents processed in one hour or two hours certainly that s faster than it was in the paper world, he said. Processing Speed County Clerk Number of FilingsLess than 8 hoursmore than 8 hours Jefferson District 1, % 8.1% Tarrant District 4, % 10.9% Nueces District 1, % 13.9% Travis County 1, % 15.9% Lubbock District 1, % 19.9% Dallas County 1, % 21.6% Hidalgo District 3, % 23.1% Montgomery District 1, % 23.7% Travis District 1, % 24.3% Harris District 11, % 24.5% Fort Bend District 1, % 26.8% Denton District 1, % 26.8% Bexar District 3, % 28.8%

7 Collin District 2, % 29.7% Dallas District 7, % 31.9% Harris County 3, % 32.1% El Paso District 1, % 33.7% Cameron District 1, % 41.0% Tarrant County 1, % 44.1% Statewide All 75, % 24.9% Copyright ALM Media Properties, LLC. All rights reserved.