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Friday, December 01, 2006

Ind. Courts "Noble court records go online in pilot program"

The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has a story today by Kara Lopp that reports:

Noble County court records stretching back to 1991 are available online today.

The county clerk’s office has joined with Crystal Lake, Ill.-based National Association of System Administrators Corp. to provide the service as part of a pilot program for the search option, Clerk Candice Myers said.

All non-confidential cases, including pending cases, will be available on the county’s Web site, www.nobleco.org, and there is no cost to users or the county, she said.

The pilot program also will include setting up at least one computer inside the Noble County Courthouse where residents can use a touch screen to look up information about upcoming court appearances. Noble County will be the first county in the state to launch this daily calendar search option, a company statement said.

Hendricks County in central Indiana has been using the system since summer, said Laurie Helgesen, a deputy clerk in Noble County who has been working on the project.

Kosciusko County is expected to launch the online case search soon, the company’s statement said.

The Noble County clerk’s office has wanted to make case information available online for several years, Helgesen said.

The office currently fields calls from attorneys and residents about court cases. Helgesen said she’s pleased those callers will be able to find cases more quickly on their own.

The ILB has taken a look this morning at the new Noble County court site. Access it here. What is available, it appears, is a docket of each case, which is certainly useful, but not any individual case records, despite the headline today. As the welcome page notes:
Here you will find case history reports on all cases that are not deemed confidential according to Administrative Rule 9, filed with our office since July of 1991. Please note that while every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of all information on this website, the Clerk declares that the information contained herein does not represent an official record. If you need an official or certified copy of the case history, or a copy of any paperwork out of a case file you will need to contact the Clerk’s office at 260-636-2736, there will be a charge of $1 per page.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 1, 2006 09:17 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts