Is it a good idea for Harris County to build a free portal for the electronic filing of suits? That depends on who you ask.

Carl Reynolds, administrative director of the state Office of Court Administration, says Harris County's proposal could jeopardize a state plan for a single site for e-filing documents from anywhere in the world.

"I think it would be hurtful for Harris County to peel off at this point and set up its own system," Reynolds says, adding that he fears other counties might do the same.

Dallas County District Clerk Gary Fitzsimmons responded to Texas Lawyer's request for an interview in an e-mail in which he writes, "A single state portal provides a uniform electronic interface and allows for the creation of uniform filing standards necessary to make e-filing convenient, cost effective and available to every county and attorney. Allowing individual counties to develop their own unique e-filing portals would make this uniformity impossible and potentially make a statewide portal unsustainable to the ultimate detriment of the consumer."

But Harris County District Clerk Loren Jackson says his county's plan addresses the need for free e-filing and promotes choice for filers.

"We're not replacing Texas Online; we're just providing choice," Jackson says. Texas Online is the state's website for governmental services.

Jackson announced in a June 17 press release that the Harris County civil district judges had adopted local rules authorizing construction of a free, open portal for e-filing. If the state's Supreme Court approves the county's rules, filers could choose to file through the free portal or through Texas Online, he says.

But it may be a while before the high court acts. Blake Hawthorne, the Supreme Court's clerk, says the court plans to seek input on Harris County's plan from other entities, including the Judicial Committee on Information Technology, a statutorily created panel that looks at technology issues for the courts.

"The court wants to do its due diligence and get more information about the request to find out how it might impact others," Hawthorne says.

Under the current system, an e-filed document goes first to an electronic filing service provider, which files it through Texas Online, which then files the document with a district clerk's office. Each entity charges a fee. [See "The Free Route," Texas Lawyer, June 21, 2010, page 4.]

Reynolds says the cost for e-filing can range from $6 - $16 per filing.

"Since 2003, we [Texas] have had the same pay-to-file model," Jackson says.

Reynolds noted in a June 28 posting on his blog, CourTex,that NIC Inc. operates Texas Online under a contract with the state's Department of Information Resources.

Jackson says that if there is no choice in the marketplace, NIC does not have an incentive to improve on the system. He says glitches in the Texas Online system already have caused problems for Harris County.

Claire Kennedy, a spokeswoman for Jackson, notes in an e-mail that on May 5, the Harris County District Clerk's Office was unable to begin accepting e-filings through Texas Online until 1:45 p.m. due to a technical glitch with Texas Online.

"On June 4, 2010, due to another technical glitch with Texas Online, we were unable to begin accepting e-filings until 1:49 p.m.," Kennedy writes.

Chris Neff, NIC's vice president for marketing, says there were "impairments" on Texas Online on May 5 and June 4. "There were impairments that went on for minutes at a time," Neff says. "There were delays."

The problem, Neff says, is the system needs more capacity. He says NIC plans to add capacity to the Texas Online system at the end of July to double its capacity for court filings.

Bexar County District Clerk Margaret Montemayor says she has no complaints about Texas Online.

Travis County District Clerk Amalia Rodriguez-Mendoza also says her county, which has local rules mandating that almost three-fourths of its civil cases be e-filed, has experienced no glitches with Texas Online.

Jackson says Harris County's proposed free portal supports equal access to justice. Anyone facing an imminent filing deadline but who lacks the money to e-file has to go to the district clerk's office to file the document and may run the risk of missing the deadline, he says.

"Those who have money have greater access to justice," Jackson says.

However, Reynolds says that if Harris County builds its own portal for free e-filing, a probable impact would be to "cripple" the funding model for the Texas Online e-filing system.

According to Reynolds, almost half of Texas Online's total average monthly filings of 34,700 come from Harris County. In comparison, Texas Online receives about 4,400 e-filings a month from Travis County, about 4,000 from Dallas County, about 1,300 from Bexar County and about 1,000 from Hidalgo County, he says.

Reynolds says one plausible scenario if Harris County builds the free e-filing portal is that NIC would raise its fees.

But Neff says nothing has been discussed regarding a fee increase. All systems are "on go" for Texas Online, with no changes planned, Neff says.

Although Reynolds disagrees with Harris County's plans to build its own system, he supports moving away from the pay-to-file model that Texas Online has.

"It's like a toll road; you have to pay every time you get on it," he says.

Reynolds says he is trying to come up with a revenue source or sources that he can propose to the Texas Legislature in 2011 that would give the judicial branch the ability to build or buy services currently being provided by NIC. Potential sources he is looking at, Reynolds says, include additional filing fees or additional court costs that people ticketed for traffic violations would have to pay.