E-service to be part of e-filing.

Electronic service of notices and case documents will eventually be included as part of the Florida court's new statewide electronic filing system, but the authority overseeing the portal that is the entrance to the system plans to ask the Legislature for money for the authority's operation and to help educate users.

The Florida E-Filing Authority Board Chair Tim Smith, Putnam County clerk of the court, reported at the authority's December 13 meeting that a special staffer has been hired to work on e-service issues.

Carolyn Weber has joined the Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers, which the authority has subcontracted for the development of the portal, and she will concentrate on the e-service component, Smith said.

Throughout the fall, questions had been raised about whether e-service was included in the services that would be provided free for lawyers through the portal, or whether lawyers and other users might be charged extra. Court officials, including the Supreme Court's Florida Courts Technology Commission, argued that e-service was part of the original contract and a benefit that was to be provided free to lawyers and other users.

Some authority members and clerks, though, contended that e-service, as subsequently established in Supreme Court Administrative Order 10-2101, was not part of the original contract and was an extra service for which lawyers could pay a fee.

Smith noted that representatives from the authority and the FCTC met and carefully reviewed the portal agreement between the courts and the authority. They agreed that e-service was part of the original agreement, but expenses for the authority board and for educating users of the portal were not covered. Also not included were costs for setting up a website for the authority, to assist in the education efforts.

"Everyone came to an agreement that there were parts that should be funded as originally intended through the interlocal agreement," Smith said. "And there were those functionalities--the ongoing operations of the actual work of the authority and the education and customer service --that were not."

Palm Beach County Clerk of Court Sharon Bock, who chairs the authority's funding subcommittee that worked with the FCTC, told the board, "These are the two areas that we believe that we could partner with the court and possibly even with the [Florida] Bar and go to the state Legislature and ... attempt to get funding in these areas so that we can progress even...