DoxPop is a private firm that provides electronic court information in a number of counties throughout the state. According to a recent press release they have started a pilot program in White County for electronically filing case materials in criminal matters.

From a personal perspective, I’m happy to see White County in the lead on some of these court technology matters. For the longest time, I noted that White County was remarkably non-computerized. Without asking about it, I had thought that it was just a matter of a small county muddling along with business as usual. Subsequently, however, I came to the understanding that they had been warned off implementing their own system because of potential incompatibility with a planned state-wide system. A few years back, however, the state-wide system suffered a serious setback when Computer Associates and the Indiana Supreme Court canceled the contract between the two parties. I think that was probably the point when White County decided that it could no longer wait around.

Eventually, the DoxPop plan is to allow electronic filing in civil matters — which is of most relevance to me since my practice is pretty exclusively civil. Currently, Tippecanoe County has a non-DoxPop, county financed case management system that works pretty well. The federal courts currently have electronic filing as well.

I tend to think that electronic filing is a more appropriate area for DoxPop’s pay-for-access approach. Docket information, seems to me, should be easily and cheaply available to the public. As a private citizen, I like to run a quick search before hiring a contractor, for example. And, I advise my landlord clients to give it a quick check before leasing to a person to make sure they don’t have a long string of evictions behind them.

Don’t get me wrong, DoxPop has stepped up and provided a service where, in many counties, online case information simply wasn’t and wouldn’t be available for a long time. Electronic filing, on the other hand, is probably more justifiably charged to those actively using the court system.

In any case, congratulations to those parties involved.