Free COURTS on-line - New Jersey

NJ Division of Workers' Compensation COURTS on-line program - Frequently Asked Questions
revision date 10/1/2007

Thank you for participating in the NJ Division of Workers' Compensation's COURTS on-line program. Before you begin using COURTS on-line, we encourage you to preview the PowerPoint tutorial as it gives you step-by-step procedures on how to use the new system. The tutorial is available at the following web address: http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/powerpoint/wc/col_attny/fullscreen.htm

If at any time during the process you need assistance, please feel free to contact us at (609) 777-1926, (609) 984-2566 or (609) 777-4921 or you can e-mail us at [email protected].

DEFINITIONS QUESTIONS ABOUT APPLYING AND ELIGIBILITY QUESTIONS ABOUT DIGITAL CERTIFICATES PROBLEMS WITH ACTIVATING YOUR DIGITAL CERTIFICATE RENEWAL PROBLEMS QUESTIONS ABOUT THE COURTS ON-LINE WEBSITE

DEFINITIONS
Digital Certificate Digital Certificates (or Digital ID's) are the electronic counterparts to driver licenses, passports, and membership cards. You can present a Digital ID electronically to prove your identity or your right to access information or services online. For purposes of COURTS on-line, the user obtains a digital certificate from the State of NJ. After the user downloads the certificate into their Internet Browser, they can log in to the COURTS on-line web site. At that time, our server authenticates the validity of the certificate and confirms the identity of the user. If the user is pre-approved by his employer to access this program, the user will be granted entry into the website. The certificate is valid for a period of one year, at which time, the user is asked to go through a renewal process. Internet Service Provider An Internet Service Provider or ISP is a company that connects your computer with the Internet. Phone dial up (modem) or cable access is usually offered. Some of the more common ISP's are America Online, Earthlink and Microsoft Network. If you work for a larger firm, most likely your Internet Access is provided through your company's network. Internet Browser An Internet browser is a computer program that resides on your computer enabling you to access or "surf" the Internet. Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer are the most common Internet browsers in use today. Shared Secret The Shared Secret is a 12-digit number, mailed to you from the Division. It is similar to a PIN number. Retain this information in a secure place. Challenge Phrase The Challenge Phrase is a password you create and use when you want to manage or renew your Digital ID. The Challenge Phrase can be one or more words, but it cannot include any punctuation. Do not forget this phrase as you will be asked to supply it if you ever need to go through the revoke and enroll process. URL Each and every page in a website has its very own address, called a Universal Resource Locater, better known as a URL. Internet browsers are very sensitive, and if you do not type in the URL correctly, it may not work. The URL of the website where you activate and renew your digital certificate is https://pkice.state.nj.us/blue. The URL of the COURTS on-line website is https://www.courts.dol.state.nj.us.
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QUESTIONS ABOUT APPLYING AND ELIGIBILITY
1Q. What is the role of a Contact Person? 1A. The primary role of the Contact Person is to approve the list of authorized subscribers to this program and to notify the Division when an employee leaves the firm or if their access to COURTS on-line should be revoked. They are essentially your company's gatekeeper for accessing COURTS on-line data. The Contact Person does not need to have any technical experience but they should have a managerial title. The Contact Person will periodically receive e-mail notices from the Division about the COURTS on-line program.

2Q.

What should we do if the Contact Person leaves the company? 2A. Your company must designate a new Contact Person as soon as possible. A new Designation of a Contact Person form will need to be submitted to the Division. An updated listing of all subscribers from this company will then be provided to the new Contact Person for their records.

3Q.

I would like to have COURTS on-line access on my home PC. Right now, I have a certificate installed on my PC at work. Can I get another certificate? 3A. We can issue you another certificate for installation on your home PC. You will need to complete a new Subscriber Application and have it approved by your employer's Contact Person. In order to obtain another certificate, you will have to provide us with another e-mail address, different from the one used to create your original certificate.

4Q.

I work for an investigative search firm. We are hired by insurance companies to conduct prior claim searches. I have been advised that I cannot obtain a digital certificate for the purpose of searching the COURTS on-line database. I thought workers' compensation records were considered "public records". 4A. The COURTS on-line program was designed to allow only the "parties" of a case access to information for that particular case. As your firm is not considered a "party", you will not be allowed access to the COURTS on-line system. If you wish to conduct a search of the Division's database and/or if you are interested in obtaining copywork of Division records, you must submit a Request for Records Inspection Form (WC-147).

5Q.

Is there a fee to subscribe to the COURTS on-line program? 5A. Currently, this service is provided at no charge.

QUESTIONS ABOUT DIGITAL CERTIFICATES
6Q. I am planning to change employers and would like to continue using my digital certificate. Can I do this? 6A. If your original digital certificate was issued to an e-mail account that belonged to your employer (e.g.: johndoe@abc_lawfirm.com), then you cannot keep the certificate. If the certificate was issued to your own personal e-mail account (e.g.: [email protected]), and if that email account is still active, then you can keep your certificate. However, keep in mind, that although the certificate will continue to be valid, you will not be allowed access into the website until we receive a new Subscriber Application from you signed by your new employer. You can indicate on the subscriber application that you already have a valid digital certificate issued through your old employer. 7Q. Can my digital certificate be shared with others? 7A. No. A digital certificate is issued to an individual, not to the company. Use of the certificate should be limited to the owner of the certificate. To ensure security, you should consider using screen saver passwords or browser passwords to prevent unauthorized use by others.

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8Q.

I moved from one PC to another. How can I transfer my digital certificate to my new PC? 8A. You will have to revoke the certificate that is on your old computer and then re-install it on the new computer. To revoke: Go to https://pkice.state.nj.us/blue and select REVOKE. Enter in either your e-mail address or your name and hit Search. Your digital certificate should appear in the next screen. Click on the certificate and the Digital Certificate Information page will next appear listing detailed information about your certificate. Click on the REVOKE button. The next screen will ask for your challenge phrase (the phrase you created when you first enrolled) and the reason you wish to revoke. Select "Unspecified". After you have successfully revoked the certificate, you can reinstall the certificate on your new PC by following the enrollment instructions from the Green Pamphlets sent to you with your COL Digital Certificate paperwork. It is the same process you followed when you first activated your certificate. If you have lost these instructions, you can download them from our website at the following links: Internet Explorer: http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/forms_pdfs/wc/pdf/ie6%20pamphlet_091907.pdf Firefox: http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/forms_pdfs/wc/pdf/firefox2%20pamphlet_091907.pdf

9Q.

My hard drive crashed and I lost my digital certificate. What do I do? 9A. You will need to revoke your existing certificate and then go through re-enrollment. Follow the above procedures.

10Q.

My name and/or e-mail address has changed. What do I do? 10A. First notify your Contact Person and ask that they advise the Division in writing of the changes. After the Division updates their records and contacts you, then proceed as follows: If you have not activated the original certificate, you can go through the normal enrollment procedures using the updated information. If you already have the original certificate installed, you will need to revoke the existing certificate and then go through re-enrollment using the updated information. Follow the above procedures.

PROBLEMS WITH ACTIVATING YOUR DIGITAL CERTIFICATE
11Q. I would like to activate my digital certificate but I lost my paperwork. What do I do? 11A. It is very important that you retain the digital certificate paperwork mailed to you from the Division in a safe and secure place. In the event that it is misplaced or lost, please contact the Division immediately at (609) 777-4921, [email protected] . The Division will mail you your digital certificate paperwork within a few days.

12Q.

I am in the process of going through enrollment (activating my digital certificate) on the https://pkice.state.nj.us/blue website. After I entered all my personal information in, I hit submit and I then got an error message. What do I do? 12A. If the error message is "Page cannot be displayed", most likely the website is experiencing some technical difficulties or there is heavy Internet traffic. Please shut down the browser window and try again. If this doesn't work, you may want to try again after some time has passed. If the error message states the information submitted does not match our records, please verify that the information you are keying in matches exactly with what is printed in the letter sent to you from the Division. Make sure you do not add any additional spaces or punctuation. For example, if your last name is O'Connor, you must enter the name as oconnor, without the apostrophe. If the information printed in the letter is inaccurate, do not activate your certificate until the correction is made by the Division. If you continue to experience problems, contact our technical support staff at (609) 777-4921, [email protected].
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13Q.

I went through enrollment and received confirmation that my digital certificate was successfully installed. However, when I checked in my Browser security settings, my certificate was not appearing. Did I do something wrong? 13A. We have found that this occurs on occasion with Microsoft Internet Explorer users. Most of the time this can be resolved by going through the revoking and re-enrolling process as outlined in the last section. Make sure you have Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0.2 or Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or higher installed. If you continue to have problems with your certificate not appearing, contact our technical support staff at (609) 777-4921, [email protected].

14Q.

I am trying to install my digital certificate using Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 or higher and it is not allowing me to download my digital certificate. Is there something I can do? 14A. If possible, we recommend that you either go back to using Internet Explorer 6.0.2 or download Mozilla Firefox 2.0 to access Courts Online. However, if you are required to use Internet Explorer 7.0, or just prefer to use it, we can use the Mozilla Firefox 2.0 browser to get the digital certificate installed into Internet Explorer 7.0. You will need to download Firefox to do this. (Be sure not to set Firefox as your default browser when it prompts you with this question). Give us a call so we can walk you through this process, (609) 777-4921.

RENEWAL PROBLEMS
15Q. I activated my certificate about 11 months ago and I just received an e-mail alert stating my certificate is about to expire in 30 days and that in order to continue using the certificate I would need to go through renewal. When I went to Renew at the www.pkice.state.nj.us/blue website, I was asked to submit my challenge phrase. I forgot this phrase. What do I do? 15A. If, the certificate is currently valid, undamaged and on the computer you are using at this point you may create a new challenge phrase. We strongly recommend that you write this phrase down somewhere If, the certificate has become damaged or you are no longer using your original computer, you cannot proceed any further with renewing your certificate at this time. Our recommendation is to wait until your certificate expires. At that time, simply go to the www.pkice.state.nj.us/blue website and go through the enrollment process, following the same procedures as when you first activated your certificate. In order to enroll again, you will need the original shared secret (12 digit personal code) sent to you from the Division. In the event that it is misplaced or lost, please contact the Division immediately at (609) 7774921, [email protected] .The Division will mail you your digital certificate paperwork within a few days. 16Q. I tried to go in to COURTS on-line and got an error message saying my certificate has already expired. What do I do and how come I was not notified about this earlier? 16A. An automatic e-mail is generated one month before the certificate is about to expire with instructions on how to renew the certificate. The e-mail is sent to the e-mail address on record with the State. If your e-mail address had changed since you activated your certificate and if you never advised us of the change, then the e-mail alert would have gone to your old e-mail account. If this is the case, your company's COURTS on-line Contact Person needs to advise the Division of the change to your e-mail address. This can be done through completing a Subscriber Change form. After the Division updates their records, you will be contacted and asked to go through the enrollment again. If your e-mail address is still the same, simply go to the www.pkice.state.nj.us/blue website and go through the enrollment again. If you have lost the original instructions for downloading your digital certificates, you can download them from our website at the following links: Internet Explorer: http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/forms_pdfs/wc/pdf/ie6%20pamphlet_091907.pdf Firefox: http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/forms_pdfs/wc/pdf/firefox2%20pamphlet_091907.pdf

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17Q.

From the renewal e-mail I received, I tried to follow the instructions in the email and go to the PKICE Digital Certificate Center, but I receive an error message: Access Denied! Use a Valid Certificate. What am I doing wrong? 17A. Currently there is an issue with the RENEW process that is affecting some of our subscribers. To continue accessing the COL Website you will need to go to https://pkice.state.nj.us/blue website and go through the enrollment again.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE COURTS on-line WEB SITE
18Q. What is COURTS on-line and how can it benefit me? 18A. COURTS on-line is a secure Internet website that provides authorized subscribers instant access to the Division's case database. Subscribers can view detailed information relating to their firm's cases as well as judicial hearing lists. Information such as prior judgments and related cases, future hearing dates, proceedings and docket information and lien data can all be found on this website. In Spring of 2003, enhancements will be made to this site to enable electronic filing of claim petitions and answer documents.

19Q.

I am trying to get to the COURTS on-line site but I keep getting a "Page cannot be Displayed" or "Cannot Find Server" message. what is the problem? 19A. Make sure you are typing in the correct URL of the COURTS on-line site. There is an "s" at the end of the http. You need to type in the entire address: https://courts.dol.state.nj.us. If you are typing in the right URL, the problem could be that your digital certificate did not properly get imported into your Browser. You may receive the following message when this occurs "A Valid Client Certificate is Required to Access this site". If you have Microsoft Internet Explorer, you can check this by clicking on Tools ­ Internet Options ­ Content ­ Certificates ­ Personal. If your certificate is not appearing, you will need to go through Revoke and reinstall. If you have Mozilla Firefox, you can check by clicking on Tools ­ Options ­ Advanced ­ Encryption ­ View Certificates ­ Your Certificate. If your certificate is not appearing, you will need to go through Revoke and reinstall. Lastly, if you continue to have this same problem, then the website could be experiencing technical difficulties. Close down your browser and try logging in after several minutes. If you are still having problems, please contact our technical support staff at (609) 777-4921, [email protected].

20Q.

I typed in the COURTS on-line URL and the site checked my digital certificate. In the next screen however, I received one of the following error messages. What should I do? LOG IN FAILURE ­ you are not associated with any firm LOG IN FAILURE ­ Error Reading Certificate Status LOG IN FAILURE ­ Certificate Revoked 20A. We will need to investigate further why this is occurring. Please contact the Division at (609) 777-4921, [email protected]. If you are e-mailing us, please specify the exact wording of the error message.

21Q.

How do I look up a case in COURTS on-line? 21A. From the main page, click on "Case Full Background" button on the left side. This will bring up the following search screen.

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You can type in as little or as much information as you would like, depending how broad or narrow you want the search to be. In this example, we are searching for all cases filed in 2002 where the petitioner's last name is "Caruso". After typing in the criteria, hit "Search". The search results will display all of your firm's cases that match this criterion. To view details for any of the cases displayed in the search result, click on the hyper-linked CP# under the Case # column. This will take you in the Case Details view for the selected case. From the Case Details screen, you have access to all the information on this case, including party information, future hearing date, past proceedings, list of documents filed, liens, prior awards/judgments, etc.

22Q.

I am having difficulty finding a case. I selected Full Background Search and typed in the petitioner's name, social security number and claim petition number and hit enter. I keep getting an error message "No cases found. You may only look up cases represented by you". I know the information I have is correct. Why can't I get to this case. 22A. Maybe your search criteria are too narrow. First, try broadening the criteria to perhaps just the social security number or the claim petition number or the name of the worker and year of injury. Keep in mind that the more data you enter into the search criteria, the more of a chance that it may not match up exactly with what we have in our database. On occasion, the Division's data may be slightly different than the data you have in your files, particularly with names of petitioners. Also, keep in mind that you only have access to cases where your firm is actively listed as a "party". This error message typically appears more often for respondent attorneys. Respondent Attorneys can view a case in COURTS on-line only after they have filed an Answer for that particular case.

23Q.

When I tried to go into the Full Background view of one of my cases by clicking on the hyper-linked CP #, I got a message "You may only view full background for your cases". Why can't I view this case? 23A. Keep in mind that you only have access to cases where your firm is listed as an active party. This error message typically appears more often for respondent attorneys. Respondent Attorneys can view a case in COURTS on-line only after they have filed an Answer for that particular case.

24Q.

When I tried to go into the Full Background view of one of my cases by clicking on the hyper-linked CP #, I got a message "Cannot view details for pre-DISCUS cases". What does this mean? 24A. A pre-DISCUS case is a case that pre-dates the Division's automation efforts. DISCUS was the Division's case management system prior to the COURTS system. These cases are kept on microfiche with skeleton information about the case available in COURTS on-line. You will need to write to the Division and request copies of the records through the WC-147 Records Request process.

25Q.

Is there a tutorial available for using COURTS on-line? 25A. Click on the "HELP" button located at the top of the COURTS on-line screen. This will open up the on-line help section, which provides detailed information on how to maneuver through the site. You can also view a PowerPoint DEMO, available through the "DEMO" link, located on the top of the COURTS on-line page, or at the following address: http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/powerpoint/wc/col_attny/fullscreen.htm This tutorial will walk you through the entire COURTS on-line website and will describe in more detail all of its features.

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