‘Going to be a nightmare’: Lawyers in Charlotte still not trained on new e-court system

CHARLOTTE — There’s a new electronic court filing system coming to Mecklenburg County, but many of Charlotte’s lawyers still haven’t received training on the controversial technology.

Channel 9′s Hunter Sáenz has been investigating the rollout of Odyssey, and it’s now about seven weeks away from launching at the Mecklenburg County Courthouse. Some people claim the system has led to wrongful arrests and other violations of their Constitutional rights.

Paper case files, records and documents will soon be saved and found electronically, starting October 9.

“It’s just going to be a nightmare,” defense attorney George Laughrun told Sáenz on Monday.

Laughrun has spent 44 years practicing law in Mecklenburg County, and he’s warned about implementing the Odyssey system in a court that sees the most cases in the state.

“Now Odyssey is going to go back where we started pre-Covid. In my opinion, we’re going to have delays, delays, delays, because the court system in Mecklenburg is just not equipped to handle the volume of cases,” he said.

A lawsuit filed by two people claims the new system had multiple defects and violated their constitutional rights. Attorney Zack Ezor helps represent the plaintiffs who are requesting class action certification.

“You’ve got people who are spending unnecessary amounts of time in jail, getting surprised by arrests for charges they had no idea even existed,” said attorney Zack Ezor.

The Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s office has had a few mock court sessions this summer using Odyssey, and they expect more robust training in the coming weeks.

But for Laughrun and other private attorneys, they haven’t received any training yet.

“No, not a bit, and see, keep in mind the courts have already gone through the training, but that was six months ago,” Laughrun said.

However, late Tuesday, the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts (NCAOC) told Channel 9 the following:

“Trainings and walkthroughs for Mecklenburg County court officials have been ongoing since June 2023 and will continue through October 9. Online and in-person trainings for the public on how to efile are being announced this week and begin the week of August 28.  Attorneys and other members of the legal community should visit www.nccourts.org/ecourts to register in advance for eCourts platforms, view users guides and FAQs, and learn to navigate the systems, to maximize the benefit of training sessions. Starting Thursday, registration for efiling training will be available online.”

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