Efiling to resume in Kansas appellate courts July 1, become mandatory July 8

TOPEKA—Electronic filing in existing Kansas appellate cases will resume July 1 and become mandatory July 8, ending most paper-only processes in place since an October 2023 cybersecurity incident impacted the Kansas court system.

Restoring electronic filing in appellate courts follows the June 17 launch of a new case management system used by the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and clerk of the appellate courts. 

The new case management system was included in the Kansas eCourt project plan to move all case processing to a single, web-based platform. Work on its development and installation was required before electronic filing in appellate courts could resume. 

“We were working on the appellate case management system when the cyberattack occurred, forcing technology staff to shift their attention to restoring district court operations,” Chief Justice Marla Luckert said. “Once district courts were back online, we returned to the appellate case management system project and appellate efiling.”

The appellate clerk’s office managed all case processing on paper from October 12 to June 17. All cases and case filings submitted to date are in the new case management system, which allows electronic filing in those cases. 

Administrative orders affect appellate efiling

The Supreme Court filed two administrative orders this week to adopt requirements for electronic filing in the appellate courts.

Administrative Order 2024-RL-059 amends Supreme Court Rules 20–25, otherwise known as Kansas eCourt rules. The amendments take effect July 1 and make the rules applicable to the appellate courts. 

Administrative Order 2024-CC-060 states efiling must resume July 8 under requirements in Supreme Court Rule 1.14 for any document other than those necessary to initiate a case in the appellate courts. It includes provisions for new case initiation on paper and specifies that service of case initiation documents must be by methods other than the electronic filing system. 

Efiling in existing cases

If a case exists in the case management system, attorneys must electronically file in that case starting July 8. Efiling between July 1 and July 8 is strongly encouraged. 

An attorney can tell whether a case exists in the case management system by searching for it in the Kansas Courts eFiling system. If the case appears in search results, it exists in the case management system and efiling should occur in that case. 

New cases filed on paper

In the short term, new cases must still be filed on paper. The appellate clerk’s office will work as quickly as possible to enter new cases into the case management system. Once they are in the system, efiling will be mandatory in those cases starting July 8 and permissible starting July 1. 

Access to appellate case information online 
 
Currently, it isn’t possible to search appellate cases online or in the Kansas Judicial Center. The judicial branch continues to work with the vendor for its case management system to develop a public access portal like the one used to search district court case information. 

If someone needs information about a case pending before the appellate courts, they must contact the appellate clerk’s office to request it. The clerk’s office accepts information requests by email at appellateclerk@kscourts.org.