Attorneys blame eCourts system for ‘unlawful detentions’ in Mecklenburg County
The Odyssey eCourts system’s legal battle in North Carolina is growing after attorneys amended a class action lawsuit on Friday to add Mecklenburg County victims to the list.
Attorney Tin Fulton says at least 66 people in Mecklenburg County were “detained well beyond the point their release conditions were satisfied,” according to a statement on Monday. Fulton had filed a class action lawsuit over Tyler Technologies’ rollout of the state’s new eCourts sytem.
Channel 9 reported when a lawsuit was first filed earlier this year. People claimed they were arrested multiple times for the same crime, or that they were arrested after their case was already dismissed by a judge. They said it was all due to software problems.
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In February, eCourts was rolled out in the four North Carolina pilot counties. The lawsuit claims there were “more than 573 software application defects” in the first two months. Mecklenburg County launched the eCourts system in early October.
Since the launch, Channel 9 has reported on several issues in Mecklenburg County, including delays with court processing, lengthy hearings, and people being held in jail longer than usual.
Attorneys claim the problems were “foreseeable,” saying that similar software rollouts by Tyler Technologies over the last decade “have led to well-documented cases of overdetention, wrongful arrest, and the like.”
Channel 9 had previously reached out to Tyler Technologies for a comment, but the company said it doesn’t comment on pending litigation. We asked for a comment again on Monday after getting notice of the amended lawsuit. We’ll update this article with the company’s response.
(WATCH: ‘Takes so long’: E-court rollout in Mecklenburg County costing people their time)
