Page 13 - Delaware Lawyer - Winter 2022

Left to right: Kate Mowery, Travis Hunter, Rich Rollo and Kevin Gallagher of Richards, Layton & Finger
E-Filing
When I first started practicing, we filed pleadings by hand with the respective court’s clerk. The court clerks were open to accept filings until 4:30 p.m., and as a result, the practice was to file before the court clerk’s office closed. The old days of hand-delivery filing had their benefits (mainly a reasonable deadline for filing and an opportunity for lawyers to go home and enjoy more of their free time). The down- side of the old days was hard copy files and not having electronic access to the docket while sitting at your desk (or on a plane, in a deposition, etc.). When a law clerk who was working for a new judge was asked to provide a report on the status of each of the judge’s cases, it involved a trip down to the Register in Chancery or Prothono- tary and digging through redwells of case filings. E-filing changed all of this. With hindsight as a guide, we can now see that some of those changes were for the better and some for the worse.
Delaware was the “First State” when it came to implementing e-filing. The Delaware Superior Court was the first court in the state and in the nation to implement e-filing for certain cases.1 On December 2, 1991, the Superior Court implemented the Complex Liti- gation Automatic Docket (CLAD) for complex insurance coverage cases, and the first CLAD pleading was e-filed in Playtex v. Columbia. In 1994, CLAD filing was extended to asbestos cases. On January 27, 2003, the Superior Court transitioned from CLAD to a new e-filing system.2 E-filing contin- ued to expand in the Superior Court over the next several years to include non-arbitration cases;3 all civil cases designated as an alternative dispute resolution case;4 all civil complaints, mechanic’s liens and mortgage cases;5 all cases filed as judgments;6 all civil appeals filed in Superior Court;7 and eventually even miscellaneous actions.8
The Court of Chancery imple- mented e-filing for most of its cases in October 2003. In 2007, the Court of Chancery expanded e-filing to all new cases (except for probate cases).9 In 2012, e-filing was extended to probate cases.10 The Court of Chan- cery was the first court in the state to use e-filing for all of its cases.11
In March 2005, the United States District Court for the District of Delaware implemented e-filing for “all documents submitted for fil- ing in both new and pending civil and criminal cases” except for new complaints.12 In February 2008, the District Court began accepting new complaints by e-filing.13
On October 24, 2005, the Su- preme Court of Delaware began ac- cepting e-filing in civil appeals from the Court of Chancery and Superior Court in cases that were previously e-filed in those courts.14 It was the first appellate court in the nation to require electronic filing.15
In 2011 (20 years after CLAD was implemented in Superior Court and eight years after e-filing was expand- ed to the Court of Chancery and the Supreme Court), only five states had statewide e-filing: Alabama, Colora- do, Delaware, Nebraska and Utah.16
To state the obvious, e-filing was a significant development in the practice of law. It also marked a sig- nificant change in how law was prac- ticed: the days of the 4:30 p.m. filing deadline were replaced by an 11:59 p.m. filing deadline.
The courts reacted to this change in practice and implemented filing deadlines. On October 2, 2014, the District Court implemented a 6:00 p.m. filing deadline for all documents other than initial pleadings.17 On July 18, 2018, the Delaware Supreme Court issued an order changing the filing deadline for non-expedited cases in all state courts from 11:59
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