Re:SearchTX, a statewide portal for court records similar to the Federal PACER system will be available to attorneys and registered users beginning November 7, 2018. Re:SearchTX  allows judges, attorneys and the public to find documents that have been eFiled and search for case information from all 254 counties at once.

 

For the past year, re:SearchTX has been operational for a small population of users - judges, clerks and attorneys of record to view their own eFiled cases. During this first round of implementation the Judicial Committee on Information Technology (JCIT) studied privacy interests, revenue, and user access before making final recommendations to the Texas Supreme Court which were adopted in an order issued on October 2, 2018. In the order, the court recognized the efficiencies and cost savings through eFiling and acknowledged that e-access to records was the next step writing, "By making court documents more readily available to the public, e-access provides greater transparency for the justice system that is critical to evaluating its operation, improving its procedures, and strengthening public trust." 

 

Through re:SearchTX attorneys can search statewide for all filings and activity related to their cases, including dockets, motions and appeals; study opposing counsel by viewing their case types and how they structure their arguments; and also study parties in their cases by researching if they previously had been involved in other suits either locally or in other jurisdictions.

 

The system will operate in one of two ways. Some counties will operate under what is referred to as the repository method, in which only documents that have been eFiled will be available. Documents that were not eFiled, including orders and judgments, may not be available in these counties. In other counties, the system will be integrated with the clerk's case or document management system, providing expanded access to more documents including orders and judgments. Attorneys can visit with their local clerk to inquire about if and when the clerk will integrate with re:SearchTX. Either way, documents in the system will be watermarked explaining that they are a copy from re:SearchTX. Official documents must still be obtained from the clerk of the court. A fee of 10 cents per page, up to to six dollars, will be charged to download documents with the revenue generated going back to the county where the documents originated. After purchase, documents will be available in re:SearchTX for viewing for 30 days, after which the documents will need to be re-purchased. If a user wishes not to re-purchase the document, the user will need to save the document in an offline format.  

 

Attorneys will have expanded access to documents not available to the public. Other than cases and documents that are restricted by court order, rule, or statute, attorneys will be able to view case information and documents from courts across the state. In order to protect sensitive information, some case types will not be available through re:SearchTX for registered users. A complete list of case types is located in Section 5 of the JCIT Technology Standards . In addition, eFileTexas and re:SeachTX will include redaction software to assist attorneys with automatically redacting sensitive information. There will also be safeguards to prevent data mining and accessing and selling records from the system without the permission of OCA.

 

Eighteen Texas counties with diverse populations met in Austin at the Texas Association of Counties on October 15-16, 2018 for the inaugural Office of Court Administration Pretrial Summit. The summit brought together policy-makers, experienced pretrial practitioners, and teams from counties across the state.  The summit provided a focused forum in which participants reviewed their jurisdiction's pretrial practices and developed strategies to improve them.

One of the many improvements to the pretrial system discussed included the use of a validated pretrial risk assessment tool by judges to determine a defendant's threat of danger to the public and risk of failure to appear in court and to use this information as part of their bail determination.

Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice, Nathan Hecht kicked off the summit.

"The Judicial Council recently commissioned a public opinion poll where 80% of Texans surveyed said they believe that judges should assess risk factors such as current charge, prior convictions, and age to determine bail for a defendant, yet judges in only six of Texas' 254 counties have access to this information.

Liberty, public safety, taxpayer burdens, and common sense all demand better solutions.  I applaud counties for coming together to work on this issue and make solutions a reality," Hecht said.

The next meeting of JCIT is November 30th, from 10-Noon, at OCA in the first floor conference room. The committee is expected to take up recommendations from the clerk issues subcommittee as well as other issues to promote the standardization of eFiling. These meetings are always open to the public.

Governor Greg Abbott has appointed Christopher R. Wolfe as Judge of the 213th Judicial District Court in Tarrant County for a term set to expire December 31, 2020, or until his successor shall be duly elected and qualified.

Read more...

Governor Abbott has reappointed Billy Ray Stubblefield as presiding judge of the Third Administrative Judicial Region for a term set to expire four years from the date of qualification.

Read more...

On Friday, November 16, Texas A&M Law will hold its 2018 Annual Dispute Resolution Symposium: Shining a Light on Dispute Resolution: Transparency, Metrics and Empirical Research.  The following day, Saturday, November 17, Texas A&M Law will hold a half-day regional dispute resolution "schmooze," for presentations and feedback on academic works-in-progress and discussion of how to evaluate court-connected online dispute resolution (ODR). 

 

Registration is required, but there is no charge.  Registration, additional logistical details, and the complete agenda are available here.