'It's been mass chaos': Shawnee County District Court continues tackling paper backlog
TOPEKA (KSNT) - Clerks at the Shawnee County District Court have been knee-deep in paper files since the beginning of October.
That's when a cyberattack on the Kansas courts system completely shut down online case filing, forcing courts statewide to revert to paper filing. Now, almost three months later, clerks still have piles of catching up to do to get everything back up online.
"I wouldn't even want to guess as to how many cases we filed on paper," court administrator Lea Welch said. "It's in excess of 12,000 to 15,000 without doubt."
That number doesn't include pleadings that have been filed in preexisting cases.
Shawnee County hasn't had to paper file cases since 1997, according to Welch. She said it's been quite the learning curve for many staff members who have only ever used electronic filing.
She says clerks are working through the backlog as quickly as they can, but with ongoing construction at the county courthouse, many of them have been displaced from their regular offices. Welch said the past few months have been nothing short of 'mass chaos.'
"Get it processed, get copies out to the attorneys, get copies out for service, get everything scanned so it can be loaded into Odyssey (the online case database)," Welch said of the filing process.
County clerks have been working 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday since the court went back online on Dec. 18. However, the court is currently understaffed.
Welch tells 27 News the court was short-handed before the cyberattack occurred. Staff members from the office of judicial administration have been stepping in to help scan documents since the attack.
Starting on Jan. 3, Welch says the court is bringing in temporary staff to help scan. As of right now, she says the the court has hired eight to 10 employees just to get through the backlog. But with the volume of paper cases to sort through, finding the time to train staff has been a challenge.
Even with the extra hands who have been hired, Welch says they're still short six to eight employees. Fully-staffed or not, the team has set a goal to get everything back online within 90 days. Welch said it might not be realistic, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
"We couldn't just not have something to shoot for," Welch said. "We couldn't just open in and say we'll get on when we get on, we have to have a goal."
Starting Wednesday, Jan. 3 until filing is finished, the court will close to the public at 2 p.m. The court has been closing to the public at 3 p.m. for the past few weeks, but Welch thinks the extra hour of work each day could go a long way.
The closure does not impact hearings, according to Welch, and the clerk's office will be reachable in case of emergency.
If you're looking for a position to help the court complete the backlog, click here.