Supreme Court Enforces Mandatory Civil eFiling; Initiative Takes Effect Sept. 1

No Paper Accepted in Civil Filings Starting  Sept. 1

By Michael K. Jeanes, clerk of the Superior Court of Maricopa County

To secure compliance with its directive for attorneys to eFile in civil cases in the Superior Court in Maricopa County, the Supreme Court has directed the Clerk’s Office not to accept paper filings from attorneys in civil cases, effective Sept. 1.

Civil cases must still be initiated on paper; however, subsequent documents must be eFiled through AZTurboCourt unless an exception defined in a Supreme Court Administrative Order applies. eFiling applies to general civil cases, not the subcategories of civil cases such as probate and family cases.

While the court’s vision is for eFiling across all case types statewide, mandatory eFiling for attorneys is limited at this time to general civil cases in the Superior Court in Maricopa County and cases where individual judges order eFiling.

Individual attorneys who have not yet done so are encouraged to register and file through AZTurboCourt now. It is difficult to establish an eFiling account in one day due to the requirements of assigning roles in the eFiling system and to verify payment accounts before an eFiling can be submitted. Register with AZTurboCourt online at http://www.azcourts.gov/Default.aspx?alias=www.azcourts.gov/azturbocourtinformation.

What Will Happen to Paper Documents?
The following procedures will carry out the court’s directive for enforcement: File counter clerks will return attorney-submitted post-initiation civil case paper documents to the person presenting them at the file counter and provide a notice that the document must be eFiled through AZTurboCourt.

Attorney-submitted post-initiation civil case paper documents received by U.S. Mail or in the depository boxes will be discarded. The submitting attorney will be notified by email that the paper document was discarded without being filed, pursuant to the Supreme Court’s Administrative Order (AO) and that the document must be eFiled through AZTurboCourt. A copy of the AO will be attached to the email notification and a copy of the email will be sent to the Administrative Office of the Courts for compliance monitoring.

The Clerk’s Office will have a form available for attorneys to request a good cause eFiling exception from the Superior Court, as provided in the Supreme Court’s AO. The presiding judge of the Superior Court will designate a judicial officer to consider an attorney’s request for an eFiling exception.Specific details on requesting an eFiling exception are included in the court’s AO.

The Clerk’s Office notified the process servers of these changes at a recent quarterly meeting and notified the legal community of the change in the Clerk’s monthly electronic newsletter, The Brief, in July, August and September.
Reminders were posted on the Clerk’s Facebook page (http://tinyurl.com/3cg7cdm) and through the office Twitter account (@MaricopaClerk). To receive the Clerk’s news and updates by text message to your mobile device, text “Follow MaricopaClerk” to 40404.

Send in Your Funny Stories for the John O’Connor III Humor Competition

John O' Connor holds two family bibles as Chief Justice Warren Burger swears in O' Connor's wife, Sandra Day O' Connor, as an Associate Justice at the Supreme Court in 1981.

Celebrate the humor and life of John O’Connor III, the beloved husband of retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. O’Connor, a well-known and respected attorney, passed away on Nov. 11, 2009 after a nearly 20-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

The Phoenix Rotary 100 is inviting the public to honor O’Connor’s own sense of humor, contributions to the valley legal community, and more than 40 years of service to the Rotary through a humor competition. Arizona law students, law faculty, and licensed legal practitioners are eligible to apply for entry into the competition.

The Rotary requests that entries be a 3-6 minute program of humorous stories, jokes or anecdotes. Preliminary judging will happen on Sept. 20 at Phoenix Country Club. Four finalists will be selected. The finals competition and award presentations will take place during the Phoenix Rotary 100’s Sept. 30 meeting. An entry fee of $25 includes lunch at the Phoenix Rotary 100’s Sept. 30 meeting.

For entry applications and competition guidelines, please visit the Phoenix Rotary 100 website beginning Aug.1. Entries must be submitted online by 5 p.m. on Sept. 7.

• Awards and scholarships will be as follows:
  • First Place – $3,000
  • Second Place – $2,000
  • Third Place – $1,000
  • Fourth Place – $1,000

Questions?  Please contact Phoenix Rotary 100:

• Students/Faculty:  Paul Loomans (602) 335-8487, ploomans@beatitudescampus.org
• Practitioners:  Chris Millsap (480) 686-5659, chris@epmprosllc.com