New Technology May Help Post-COVID Courtrooms
Santa Ana–The Superior Court of California County of Orange recently launched a pilot program to test out the electronic submission of evidence is selected courtrooms. The program is being instituted in response to the backlog of cases the Court needs to handle which were the result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the shutdown of courts throughout the state.
Orange County Superior Court evidence
Five courtrooms have been selected to participate in the program including those in Civil, Probate, Small Claims, Traffic and Family Law. The courtrooms are C10, C61, C65, CT1 and VCC5. The hoped-for effect of electronic evidence submission is that courts will become more efficient as well as facilitating easier evidence submission by parties in a case.
The evidence will need to be submitted through the Court’s electronic evidence portal. Each courtroom will set up its own guidelines and instructions for evidence to be submitted. The program will be phased in with some courtrooms allowing electronic submission before others. These will include probate, civil and small claims cases. Phase two will include family law cases. Electronic submission began officially in April.
Traffic cases, and in particular those filed by the Orange and Tustin police deparments will be required to submit evidence electronically for Department CT1.
“We are embarking on this pilot as we are slowly emerging from the worst pandemic in a century, and we are faced with a backlog of cases. This new process will be a significant aid in overcoming this problem.”
–David Yamasaki, Court Executive Officer.
As the Court continues to monitor the pilot program interested parties can get more information, including submission instructions for each individual courtroom on the evidence portal itself.