Plaintiffs litigating on the small claims docket in any Indiana county could soon file claims for up to $8,000 if a bill that advanced out of a House committee Wednesday makes it to the governor’s desk. The bill also would expand the authority of magistrate judges.
In less than a year, the Odyssey Text Messaging Reminder System has sent more than 400,000 text messages to criminal defendants scheduled to appear before in court. Judges say the system, which became available in May 2018 for any interested Indiana county, has reduced the number of litigants missing court dates.
A series of proposed rule amendments would expand the use of electronic filing in appellate cases and strengthen the right to a jury trial for some misdemeanor offenses, among other proposed changes to Indiana trial and appellate rules.
Fifteen years after it was established by the Indiana Supreme Court, the justices have decided to retire the Judicial Technology and Automation Committee. The decision was in one of three orders handed down by the court Thursday.
The first meeting of the committee created by the Legislature to oversee the Indiana Supreme Court’s technology initiatives – chief among them continued implementation of the Odyssey case management system – will take place Tuesday morning.
On Tuesday, Gov. Mike Pence signed into law HEA 1057, which will alter the prosecuting attorneys retirement fund to incorporate several features that are found in the 1985 judges’ retirement system.
The Indiana House of Representatives passed on concurrence several bills Wednesday, including legislation dealing with judicial technology and automation.
Legislation out of the House of Representatives reconfiguring workers’ compensation in Indiana passed the Senate Wednesday and goes back to the House with some changes.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, on Thursday signaled he supported a boost in funding for the Odyssey case management system and other court technology functions, after proposed funding was reduced in the House budget plan.
The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that it has no authority to remove a man’s name from the Judicial Technology and Automation Committee website and law enforcement databases after a protective order against him was dismissed. But the judges remanded for a hearing before the trial court on David Cook’s claims.
Procuring money to expand the Odyssey case management system is “one of our most urgent priorities,” Indiana Chief Justice Brent Dickson told the General Assembly on Wednesday in his first State of the Judiciary address.
Justice Loretta Rush is poised to take a leading position on matters of juvenile law and head a proposed Indiana Commission on Children, according to an order of the Indiana Supreme Court issued Tuesday.
In the Greek epic “The Odyssey,” Homer’s hero Odysseus takes 10 years to return home after the Trojan War. Indiana’s Odyssey might take longer to reach its goal. Odyssey, the state-backed court case management system that aims to connect and modernize more than 400 trial courts, is continuing its laborious progress, locality by locality.
The LaPorte County courts and clerk’s offices are the latest to join the case management system implemented by the Division of State Court Administration’s Judicial Technology and Automation Committee.
Jackson County is the latest county to go online with the case management system, Odyssey, which is implemented by the Indiana Supreme Court’s Division of State Court Administration’s Judicial Technology and Automation Committee.
With the additions of Henry and Jackson counties to the Odyssey case management system, 41 counties and 122 courts are now hooked into the system.
The Terre Haute City Court and clerk will demonstrate for the public the new Odyssey case management system at 2:30 p.m. Nov. 21 in Terre Haute City Court, City Hall, 17 Harding Ave. Indiana Supreme Court Justice Frank Sullivan, Jr. will join local court officials to answer questions about the system and show the public how it works.
The Hendricks County courts and clerk are now using the “Odyssey” case management system, which makes court information available online in 108 courts across Indiana.
The Indiana Supreme Court Division of State Court Administration has created an electronic system fee to allow people the ability to pay online for a traffic ticket in courts that use Odyssey.
In an order released Sept. 14, the Indiana Supreme Court detailed the process for obtaining bulk distribution of and remote access to the records of Indiana courts using the Odyssey case management system, which is gradually connecting all of Indiana’s trial courts.