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TomSlick

(11,973 posts)
Thu Mar 11, 2021, 08:05 PM Mar 2021

I have found an upside to the disaster at the USPS.

The state courts in Arkansas have been developing an electronic filling system for court pleadings for a few years. Most lawyers love the new system - it's fast, efficient, and provides proof that the pleading has been filed. However, too many elected circuit courts have been slow to adopt the new system, not wanting to change the way things have always been done.

The problem is that while it used to take two or three days for a pleading to be mailed to a clerk for filing, since NoJoy crippled the USPS, there is no way to predict whether a pleading sent by mail will be received for filing before the deadline - there is always a deadline.

The result has been that lawyers have to either drive to the courthouse if close enough or get a lawyer friend in the county seat to file the pleading for them. With Covid, even the most recalcitrant clerks know that the fewer people trooping through their office the better. In turn, this has made clerks resistant to the change start to move to adopt e-filing.

At this point, I'll take any silver lining I can find.

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