Kansas district courts finish working through backlog of paper filings

TOPEKA—Kansas district courts affected by an October 12 cybersecurity incident have finished working through a backlog of new cases and paper documents filed while court information systems were offline from mid-October to early January. 

District courts in 104 counties switched to paper filings after court information systems managed by the Office of Judicial Administration were taken offline following the October 12 cybersecurity incident. 

“After the cybersecurity incident, our first goal was to restore all court information systems safely and securely,” Chief Justice Marla Luckert said. “Once these systems were restored, district court staff then had to work through a backlog of paper filings to bring the district court case management system up to date. That work is now complete.”

Some courts reduced the hours their court clerk offices were open to give staff uninterrupted time to focus on working through their paper backlogs. As courts finished this work, some of their court clerk office staff helped courts in other judicial districts work through their backlogs. A statewide workshare team numbering about a dozen people from court clerk offices in several judicial districts helped multiple courts work through their backlogs.  

“I’m infinitely grateful to the judges and court employees who worked to overcome the challenges our court system faced following the cybersecurity incident,” Luckert said. “I’m also grateful for the understanding and patience shown to our courts by attorneys and the public as we worked to continue to provide service under trying circumstances.” 

Working across lines that define judicial districts and counties was not possible before the judicial branch began rolling out a new case management system in district courts statewide. By August 2023, all district courts operated on the Kansas eCourt case management system except the court in Johnson County. The Johnson County District Court will transition to the new case management system later this year.

This new case management system also makes it possible for people to search most district court case information online through the Kansas District Court Public Access Portal. Now that all courts have worked through their paper backlogs, the portal now has information from the period courts were operating on paper.