Order dated December 24, 2019, correcting October 1, 2019, order re: Court Operating Rule 4.04 File Numbers

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Supreme Court of Missouri
en banc

December 24, 2019
Effective January 1, 2020

In re:
Correction of order of October 1, 2019, repealing and adopting subdivision 4.04.1, entitled "Courts Using an Automated Case Management System Approved for Statewide Use by the State Judicial Records Committee," of subdivision 4.04, entitled "File Numbers," of Court Operating Rule 4, entitled "Uniform Record Keeping System."

ORDER

1. By order of October 1, 2019, this Court adopted a new subdivision 4.04.1 of subdivision 4.04 of Court Operating Rule 4 to be effective January 1, 2020. The order is included in the November 5, 2019, advance sheets of the South Western Reporter, Third, Missouri Cases series, beginning at page Ct.R- 46. The Court hereby corrects the order so that, as corrected, effective January 1, 2020, subdivision 4.04.1 shall read as follows:


COURT OPERATING RULE 4.04 FILE NUMBERS

* * *

4.04.1 Courts Using an Automated Case Management System Approved for Statewide Use by the State Judicial Records Committee

1) Converted Construct

Numbers assigned prior to implementation of the automated case management system and entered into the automated system shall be converted in substantially the following format:

a) 2-digit circuit number;

b) Alphabetic code reflecting the case category:

Case Category

Code

Criminal

R

Traffic

T

Civil

V

Juvenile

J

Probate

P

Mental Health

H

Municipal Traffic

M

Municipal Ordinance

O

Municipal Criminal

U

Administrative Orders

AO

Transcript Judgments

TJ

Mechanics'/Materialmen's Liens

ML


c) 2-digit physical filing location number as assigned by the Office of State Courts Administrator;

d) 2-digit numeric code representing the year that the case was filed, e.g., "02" for cases filed in 2002; and

e) Same consecutive number assigned to the case when filed.

2) Interim Construct

a) Numbers assigned after implementation of the automated case management system and before January 1, 2004, shall be in the following format for all except cases initiated by uniform citation:

(1) 2-digit numeric code representing the year that the case was filed, e.g. "02" for cases filed in 2002;

(2) 2-digit alphabetic code for the case type:

Case Category

Code

Criminal

CR

Traffic

TR

Civil

CV

Juvenile

JU

Probate

PR

Mental Health

MH

Family Court

FC

Municipal

MU

Miscellaneous

MC


(3) 6-digit sequential number assigned by the system.

b) The uniform citation number, as assigned by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, shall serve as the file number for less serious traffic cases and for civil infraction, watercraft and conservation cases initiated by uniform citation.

3) New Construct

a) Numbers assigned after implementation of the automated case management system shall be in the following format for all except cases initiated by uniform citation:

(1) 2-digit year (numeric)

(2) 2- or 3-digit location identifier or location code. A location identifier or location code must not contain any special characters (e.g., @, #, $, &, etc.) and can contain only alpha, alpha-numeric, or numeric values. Circuit number can be used in a single county, consolidated court.

(3) hyphen when using a 2-digit location identifier or location code

(4) 2-digit case category (alpha)

(5) 5-digit sequential number, starting with "00001" for the first case filed within case category and location (numbering starts over at the beginning of each year)

(6) hyphen

(7) 2-digit sub-case code

b) The following comprise the minimum list of 2-digit case categories used in the circuit:

Case Category

Code

Criminal

CR

Traffic

TR

Infraction

IN

Civil

CV

Juvenile

JU

Probate

PR

Municipal Ordinance

MU

County Ordinance

CY

Miscellaneous

MC

Juvenile Referral

JR

Treatment Court

TC




c) The court en banc may choose to use optional additional case categories for case number assignment. The following comprise the optional case categories that may be used in the case number. The court en banc may choose any of the following options to further define the case number:


Instead of CV, use:

Circuit Civil

CC

Associate Civil

AC

Provide a separate case category for Small Claims

SC

Provide a separate case category for Domestic Relations

DR

Provide a separate case category for Protection Orders

PN

Provide a separate case category for Family Court cases

FC

Provide a separate case category for Administrative Orders for Child Support

AD

Provide a separate case category for Mechanic's Liens

ML

Provide a separate case category for Transcript Judgments

TJ

Provide a separate case category for Mental Health

MH

d) The case numbering system will be consistent for all divisions within the circuit. The list of case categories for the case number will be selected by the court en banc when the circuit implements the statewide case management system and may be changed effective January 1st of any subsequent year. For courts on the statewide case management system on the effective date of this COR 4, the court en banc will decide if the new case number format is initiated January 1, 2004 or January 1, 2005.

4) The uniform citation number, as assigned by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, shall serve as the file number for less serious traffic cases and for civil infraction, watercraft and conservation cases initiated by uniform citation.

* * *

2. It is ordered that notice of this order be published in the Journal of The Missouri Bar.

3. It is ordered that this order be published in the South Western Reporter.

4. The state courts administrator shall provide copies of this order to every presiding circuit court judge and circuit clerk and such other persons as the administrator deems appropriate.

Day – to – Day

________________________________
GEORGE W. DRAPER III
Chief Justice

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