By Jim Haley
Herald Writer
You have a court hearing coming up on a civil case or a speeding ticket. But you’re not sure of the date and time.
In the past, you’d have to look up the phone number of the appropriate district or municipal court and wait for a receptionist to find the information.
Now, thanks to technology, you can look it up for yourself via the Internet.
The state Administrative Office of the Courts this week unveiled a new automated program to find appearance dates for cases in most Washington district and municipal courts. Just go to www.courts.wa.gov/calendars, and "Find Your Court Date" will allow you to locate future proceeding dates by either entering a name or case number.
Attorneys also may find information relating to multiple cases by entering their Washington State Bar Association membership number, said Tom Clarke, information services director for the court administrator’s office.
Data for Seattle Municipal Court is the only limited jurisdiction court not represented on the system.
As useful as the court date information may be, "this is just a small step toward a much bigger vision" of automation uses for the courts, Clarke said.
Within five years, he hopes the court administrator Web site will be the path to "one-stop shopping for information" on courts, including the Superior Court system.
For example, the idea of paying fees, filing documents and even filing new cases via the Internet is coming, Clarke said.
Two state pilot projects in Chelan and King County Superior Courts will be in place within a year. Instead of having to go to the county courthouse to retrieve information, future systems will allow people to retrieve it from their desktops.
"People have an expectation today to be able to do things online," Clarke said.
For now, the first step will be court dates at the district and municipal court levels.
The court date system, Clarke said, will save staff time in the courts because there will be fewer incoming telephone calls seeking information. He said staff time has been sliced in some areas where courts independently have put court dates on a Web site.
You can call Herald Writer Jim Haley at 425-339-3447
or send e-mail to haley@heraldnet.com.
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