Editorial: A county courthouse convenience, but with a caveat
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What is the price of convenience?
The Westmoreland County Courthouse is debuting a system that lets attorneys file documents via the internet — any day, any time, anywhere. If you are desperate to file a petition in Greensburg today but your lawyer happens to be taking a deposition in Chicago or doing some surfing in Honolulu, this new system (four years in the making) will let it happen.
That is great. There are so many reasons that this should be embraced. Many other county courts, including neighboring Allegheny, allow it. The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts uses its own PACFile system. The federal courts use PACER — Public Access to Court Electronic Records.
It is a way to make the courts more accessible. They can make the filings more timely. They can let the business of the court carry on despite hurdles like, oh, a global pandemic.
Opening courts to more electronic and distance mechanisms is egalitarian. Or it should be. But some attorneys are already saying they will continue to file their papers in the courthouse directly because of the cost.
Prothonotary Christina O’Brien expects about $200,000 in additional revenue to the county budget from the system. It will be $15 to file a new case and $8 for secondary filings — and that is on top of the fees the county already charges for things like liens and complaints.
The county absolutely should charge a fee to recoup the time and effort and the $130,000 invested in the system. But providing a necessary service should not be a way that a government creates a revenue stream. At the very least, doing so shouldn’t be something to brag about.
What is concerning about that is where the project goes in the future.
“We want to have 100% participation, and it could be made mandatory in the future,” O’Brien said.
If the e-filing system becomes mandatory — which seems a bit silly for lawyers whose offices are spitting distance from the courthouse and are frequent visitors — then the $15 isn’t paying for an extra service, but twice for the same one.
It would be like paying to drive into a parking garage and again to get back out. Paying once is admission. Paying twice is extortion.
An electronic filing system is a service and a good one. But the county’s attitude toward it should reflect that.