JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Thanks to round-the-clock efforts from information technology staff and various experts at the Supreme Court of Missouri’s state courts administrator’s office (OSCA), access to the statewide case management system now is available in the Supreme Court of Missouri, all three appellate districts and all but one of the state’s 46 circuit courts, including their municipal divisions.
“We expect to have case management restoration efforts complete for the 42nd Judicial Circuit (Crawford, Dent, Iron, Reynolds and Wayne counties) by Monday, July 8,” a court official stated.
The official explained that access to the case management system, for both courts and those using the
electronic-filing system, had been disrupted for approximately four days. A handful of courts also experienced unavailability or limited functionality of their telephone, e-mail and computer systems.
The official continued, saying: “The disruption was caused by an electrical failure Saturday, June 29 at one of the Missouri judiciary’s data centers, which damaged computer equipment.”
“Since then, our top priority has been to restore functionality of the case management system and other systems to courts statewide. We have been tracking this restoration progress on our Missouri eFiling System Availability page online. To reemphasize what we have said since the beginning of this issue: there is absolutely no reason to believe the electrical failure resulted from any cyber incident or any other type of suspicious activity. Although the exact cause remains under investigation (a second priority behind restoring system functionality), it appears the electrical failure may have been a simple power surge.”
“I am grateful to all our IT staff and OSCA experts whose tireless work has gotten us back up and functioning so quickly,” Chief Justice Mary R. Russell said. “I also am incredibly proud of all our court staff statewide. They do an amazing job for the public every day, but their ability to overcome adversity is second-to-none. They got creative in continuing to keep essential functions operating, from taking paper filings to dusting off fax machines to send notices to using attorneys’ files to view pleadings, all the while running their dockets as best they can. I also have heard stories of courts reaching out to other courts to share resources and help get critical business done.”
As access to the case management systems is restored, court staff are expected to begin processing the backlog of filings that may have occurred in the last few days.
For additional information, users should refer to Rule 103.06, which sets out the procedures to follow in the event the electronic filing system is unavailable at the time a user attempts to file
a document.
Meanwhile, keep refreshing our Missouri eFiling System Availability page for as-they-happen updates as progress continues.