Courts in twelve North Carolina counties will upgrade to a new digital case management system in February, including several in eastern North Carolina.
The North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts announced that Beaufort, Currituck, Dare, Hyde, Martin, Tyrell and Washington Counties will be among those to start using the eCourts system early next year.
The change means that court records will be searchable online at no cost to the public, and attorneys and self-represented parties can electronically file court documents.
The NCAOC estimates more than 1.8 million sheets of paper have been saved since the pilot project transitioning from a paper-based to an electronic system began in February 2023.
The rollout of the system, however, triggered a class-action lawsuit earlier this year, claiming problems with it have resulted in unlawful arrests and prolonged detentions.
Since eCourts and one of its components, a case-management program called Odyssey, were rolled out in four pilot counties in February there have been significant slowdowns in high-volume district courtrooms.
Read more from our sister station WUNC here: Company behind a digital court filing system in North Carolina now faces a class-action lawsuit
