JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri judiciary’s increasingly popular “Track
This Case” feature has been approved as a permanent feature of Case.net,
Missouri’s online access to information in the statewide case management
system. Launched as a pilot in November 2015, Track This Case – which
allows anyone with a valid e-mail address to sign up for an e-mail
notification service that enables users to track cases of interest – boasts
more than 50,000 registered users to date.
The feature “puts the power of finding information about a legal case in
the public’s palm,” explained Patrick Brooks, director of the information
technology services division of the state courts administrator’s office.
“Track This Case, which was developed to provide a timely, convenient
public service, allows individuals to receive e-mail notification when
docket entries are added or updated on cases the user can see on Case.net,
excluding those handled in the Fine Collection Center,” Brooks said. “The
feature is not only being used by the public, but it’s also being utilized
by judges, attorneys and court clerks as a mechanism to gather information
about selected cases easily and quickly.”
Gary Lynch, a judge on the Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District,
and chair of the Missouri Court Automation Committee – a statutory
committee that oversees the state’s court technology systems and that
approved Track This Case as a permanent feature – believes this particular
function increases the efficiency and effectiveness of day-to-day court
business.
“It’s an immense time-saver to get e-mails sent to me alerting me about
actions in cases I choose to track,” Lynch said. “Before the introduction
of Track This Case, I kept up with cases by repeatedly manually looking
them up to check for new activity.”
Since Track This Case was introduced, the number of individuals receiving
e-mail notifications has increased steadily, with an average of 4,100 new
people tracking cases each month. And the feature has been improved as a
result of the pilot.
This month, two additional e-mail notification options were added to Track
This Case. Along with signing up to track docket entries made in a case,
users now can request to be alerted via e-mail when:
* A scheduled event, such as a court appearance or hearing, pertaining to a
case he or she selected to track is either 10 or two days away; or
* A payment due date is two days away.
Track This Case e-mail notifications are distributed once per day in the
evening, and include information about cases that were updated before 5
p.m. that day. Individuals who sign up to receive e-mail notifications can
expect the notices to include three key pieces of information: case number;
filing date; and a description of what has been added or updated regarding
the case. E-mail notifications also give participants an option to stop
tracking either one particular case or all cases.
To learn more about Track This Case, visit
www.courts.mo.gov/page.jsp?id=87154.
Fair weather with above normal day time temperatures are in store for the area through the weekend. Next chance for widespread rain comes early next week. Here’s the 7-day forecast from the National Weather Service:
