Free Electronic Filing Tutorial - New Jersey

COURTS on-line Electronic Filing of Claim Petitions and Answers Frequently Asked Questions
revision date 9/27/07

Thank you for participating in the NJ Division of Workers' Compensation's Electronic Filing of Legal Pleadings program. Before you begin electronic filing, we encourage you to read the E-Fling Procedures Guide, which is available at the following website: http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/forms_pdfs/wc/pdf/efiling_procedures.pdf and to also preview the PowerPoint tutorial as it gives you step-by-step procedures on how to use the new system. A CD-Rom of the tutorial is available upon request. You may also preview it on the website at the following address: http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/powerpoint/wc/efiling//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].

Frequently Asked Questions:
Searching for or adding Carriers to a case Municipality/Zip Code table Saving and Printing difficulties Managing the Message Box and general workflow Designation/Pre-Designation of Respondent Counsel Miscellaneous (includes questions about Amendments and Re-Openers)

Searching for or adding Carriers to a case 1Q. I am searching for a carrier in the carrier search tool. I found the right carrier but I don't want to select it because it has an address that is different than what I have in my records. Can I use the "unlisted" option in this case? A. You should not use the "unlisted" option. What you should do is select the carrier from the search. Once you are back in the document template, you can simply overwrite the address with the address you wish to use. Doing this will change the way the address appears on the printed form but it will not change the registered address for the carrier that is maintained by the Division. We can only change the registered address if we receive an official change of address request, in writing, from the carrier. 2Q. I am trying to file a claim petition against a self-insured employer. In the past, I would put in "Self" in the carrier section and the Division would accept the filing. Can I do the same when I file electronically? A. In the electronic filing program, you must select the name of the self-insured employer or governmental entity through the search box in the carrier section of the claim petition. For example, if you are filing a CP against the State of New Jersey Division of Risk Management, in the carrier section, you should search for the "State of new Jersey Division of Workers' Compensation" instead of "self". If you cannot find the name of the company in our table, you have the option of selecting "unlisted". By selecting "unlisted, you can then enter the full name and address of the company.

E-Filing FAQ rev date 9/27/07 Page 1 of 6

< Back to FAQ Menu 3Q. I am trying to file a claim petition on an occupational exposure case. There are multiple insurance carriers involved. How can I add the additional carriers to the case?

A.

At the very top and very bottom of the Claim Petition template, there is a button called Additional Carriers. If you select this button, the document you are currently working on will first be saved. You will then be presented with a supplemental claim petition page, which will allow you to add up to six additional carriers onto the case. You can add additional carriers by clicking on the insurance carrier search button.

4Q.

I am a respondent attorney and I am trying to file an Answer to a Claim Petition. I went through the main E-filing menu to open the Answer template instead of through the Message Box. In the pre-filled Answer template, a specific carrier was listed but I did not want to file an Answer on behalf of that carrier, so I clicked on the Select Another Carrier button. I then went into the carrier search screen. The carrier I was looking for could not be found so I selected "unlisted" and then manually typed in the name and address of the carrier into the carrier section. However, upon Saving the document, I receive an error message. What do I do at this point? A. This error condition only happens when there is more then 1 "unlisted" carrier on a particular case. Our system has no way of differentiating between multiple "unlisted" carriers and therefore cannot properly recognize the second "unlisted" carrier. When this situation occurs, you have 2 options: If you are under time constraints, you should proceed to file the Answer manually. If you can wait a few days, Save the document into your File Cabinet and then notify the Division that you were unable to locate a particular carrier. The Division will research and where appropriate will add the name and address of the company you were searching for into the table. Once that is done, you can go back to the Answer document and then add the correct carrier to the case through the carrier search feature.

Municipality/Zip Code table 5Q. I am working on a claim petition and I clicked Save. I received the following message: "Zip code does not match municipality". I checked with my client and confirmed that the zip code and municipality that I entered was correct. I went into the e-filing municipality/zip code search table and typed in the municipality and I got a different zip code than what I have in my records. I then did a search on the zip code and that also gave me a different city name. What do I do? A. In either the petitioner or respondent section, if you cannot find the zip code ­ municipality combination from our table or if you get an error upon saving the CP form, please confirm your zip code by going to the US Postal service website. (http://www.usps.gov) and then clicking on the "Find the Zip Code" link at the top left. You can type in the full address on this page and the USPS will provide you with all the valid zip codes for that address. If the zip code-combination you were searching for is found at the US Postal Service website, you will need to contact the Division at (609) 984-2566, (609) 777-1926 or you can e-mail [email protected]. Please provide us with the complete mailing address. Save the document you are working on. We will confirm the data and make the updates to our city/zip code table if warranted. Someone from the Division will contact you after the entry has been added to the table so that you can continue with the filing.

Saving and Printing difficulties 6Q. I finished typing up a Claim Petition and I went to Save and Print the document. I received a warning message advising that the petitioner is already in the system but with a different date of birth. I know my information is correct, can I proceed any way or should this be something I need to be concerned about? A. What this simply means is that the Division has another case in our system with the same Social Security number but with a different date of birth. By getting the warning message, we are simply asking you to double-check your information. You can still proceed with the filing but after you submit the Claim Petition with this type of data mismatch, the case will be referred to DWC staff for review. The staff will look at the documents for both your case and the other cases that exist for that SSN. They may telephone or write to the involved attorneys to resolve the conflict. You will get similar warning messages for mismatches involving the petitioner's social security number and petitioner's name.

E-Filing FAQ rev date 9/27/07 Page 2 of 6

< Back to FAQ Menu 7Q. I just finished up a document and I clicked on the Save & Print button. The document does not come up. What should I do? A. Make sure there are no errors with the form. If there are errors, they will be listed at the very top of the document template. If that is the case, please see question #7 below. If there are no errors with the form, please note that the document comes up as an Adobe Acrobat PDF document in a new Internet window. You may want to check the task bar at the bottom of your PC window to see if a new Internet window is open. Sometimes, depending upon your settings, new web pages may come up in the minimized view or it may come up behind the screen you are currently in. If that's the case, to open (maximize) the new window, just click on the page from the lower task bar. If you still cannot view the document, make sure you have Adobe Acrobat Reader, versions 5.0, 6.0.1 or higher. As a test, try opening up the following PDF document http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/forms_pdfs/wc/pdf/courts_online_app.pdf . If you can't open this document, you probably do not have the software or the software may not be loaded properly on your Internet Browser. To download the software, you can go to www.adobe.com and follow the instructions on how to download the FREE Adobe Acrobat Reader. If the second Internet window comes up on your screen but remains grayed out, check the version of your Adobe Acrobat Reader. If it is version 6.0, make sure it is the upgraded version (6.0.1). If you need to upgrade to this version, open Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Reader and select, the menu Help and then Updates. Choose the prompted updates and install them and the reports will start appearing from within the browser. Or alternatively downloading the latest 6.0.1 reader from the adobe website (http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html ) will also solve the problem. Lastly, if all else fails, you should make sure that your Internet browser settings are set to enable you to download data from the Internet. If you are still having problems, please contact our help desk staff at (609) 777-4921.

8Q.

The system won't let me Save or Save & Print the document I am working on. What should I do? A. If the document is incomplete, you will get a pop up dialogue box that will tell you that the form is incomplete and it will ask whether you want to save anyway. You should select Yes. If there are errors with the form, the errors will be listed at the very top of the document (in red). In order to get the document saved or printed, you should either correct those errors or delete the incorrect entry all together. For example, if you get an error message saying the date of accident is formatted incorrectly, you should go to the date of accident field and either correct it to the proper format or delete it complately. You can always update the information before you submit the final version of the document. You should then hit Save or Save & Print again. You should receive a confirmation message at the very top of your form indicating that the form was successfully saved.

9Q.

While I am working on a document, the session times out and I lose all the information on that document. I thought I had hit the "Save" button but I still cannot find the document in My FileCabinet. Why did this occur? A. The system will time out your session after 20 minutes. Once you successfully Save your document, the 20 minute session time will start again. You will know that the "Save" was successful when you receive a confirmation message at the very top of your CP/Answer form. If you receive an error message after hitting the "Save" button, your document has not been saved. In order to Save the document, you must either correct those errors or delete the incorrect entry all together. Then you should hit "Save" again.

Managing the Message Box and general workflow 10Q. I work for an insurance carrier. Many of our employees have COURTS on-line access. Giving everyone e-filing rights will be very hard to manage and we are afraid that documents will get missed. Do you have any recommendations for carriers on how to use the e-filing system effectively?
E-Filing FAQ rev date 9/27/07 Page 3 of 6

< Back to FAQ Menu A. One recommendation would be to assign an individual and a back-up, to check messages routinely. That person can also be responsible for printing the documents in lieu of receiving the documents through US Mail. After the documents are printed, staff can process them according to existing procedures. If you wanted to use the Designate Attorney feature, you can give e-filing access rights to your claims staff so that each adjuster can designate the respondent attorneys for their own cases. Alternatively, you can centralize this function to one individual and a back-up. We also have an option for a carrier to pre-designate specific law firms to always receive notice of e-filed documents sent to their company. The carrier may assign respondent counsel on their cases based upon the county of where the case is assigned. The system can accept up to 21 different law firms, corresponding to all of the counties in New Jersey. If you are interested in this feature, you can contact the Division at [email protected] and request the application. Using the pre-designation feature will allow you to skip this step of actively assigning a respondent attorney on every case from within the Message Box. 11Q. My firm routinely has a lot of new messages in the Message Box. Instead of printing each document individually from the Message Box, is there a more efficient way to print all the documents at one time? A. Click on the button called "Print E-Filed Docs" on the left-side menu, enter in the date period and the specific document type (or all documents "all docs") and then click on Continue. A listing of all e-filed documents sent to your firm's Message Box will be provided. You can choose to preview/print them by clicking on the "Preview All" button. If you selected "all docs", the different document types will each open up in its own Browser window. For example, one window will be just the CP filings, one window will be Amended CP's, etc.

12Q.

Why can't I delete messages from my Message Box that relate to e-filed claim petitions? A. The system will only allow you to delete messages that do not require a follow-up response. Having these messages remain in the Message Box will serve as a reminder to you that the related Answer has not been filed for that case. Claim Petition messages will be automatically deleted when the related Answer document is filed, either manually or electronically. Messages relating to Answers to Claim Petitions can be deleted at any time.

13Q.

I am a respondent law firm and we receive a lot of messages in our Message Box. Is there an easy to way to manage this? A. For Respondent Attorneys, having messages in your Message box simply means that there is an open claim petition that has not yet been answered. You can manage the Message Box in a number of ways. The following are just 2 examples: If your firm assigns cases to staff attorneys based upon the vicinage of the case, attorneys in your firm can view Messages that belong to them by going through the Filter Message feature in the Message Box. From that screen, they can select messages based just upon the vicinage. If your firm simply wants to receive notices of electronically filed documents but is not interested in using the box as a way of reminding them of unanswered petitions, you can designate someone on your staff to check messages routinely and to run the batch print functions to obtain copies of newly filed petitions. When your firm is ready to file Answers to Claim Petitions, you can go through the E-Filing option directly, available on the left side main menu. Note - You can file an Answer electronically on any claim petition, even those that have been filed manually.

Designation/Pre-Designation of Respondent Counsel 14Q. I am an insurance carrier and we opted to use the "Pre-Designation" feature so our respondent attorneys receive notice of e-filed documents at the same time we receive our notice. However, we have a case that has to be re-assigned to another attorney. How can we go about doing this since our pre-designated attorney has already received a message about the filing in their Message Box? A. Go to the Notice of CP message in the Message Box and click on the Attorney Search button . Search for the name of the new attorney and then select it by clicking on the hyperlinked name. If the new attorney is not an efiler select "Manual". You`ll be brought back to the Message Box. Hit the Forward button. Immediately, the new designated attorney, if one has been selected, will receive the notice of the CP filing in their Message Box and the original attorney will receive a notice that their designation has been withdrawn.
E-Filing FAQ rev date 9/27/07 Page 4 of 6

< Back to FAQ Menu

15Q.

We are interested in receiving electronically filed documents through the COURTS on-line system. However, we use a lot of different respondent attorneys to handle our cases and the criteria for assigning cases is not consistent. Do we have to electronically designate an attorney to handle our e-filed cases? A. No. Designating (or Pre-Designating respondent counsel) is not mandatory. Carriers can opt to just simply print e-filed documents from the COURTS on-line system and if they prefer, they can manually forward the document to their counsel for further action.

16Q.

I am interested in using the Pre-Designation feature. How can my company sign-up? A. Please contact our technical support staff at (609) 777-4921 and request the Pre-Designation of Respondent Attorney application.

Miscellaneous 17Q. My firm has opted to participate in electronic filing. Can I receive notices of electronically filed documents through US Mail in addition to receiving them through the COURTS on-line system? A. As long as one subscriber from a petitioner law firm or carrier is designated as an active electronic filing participant, that firm will receive notices of electronically filed legal pleadings only through the COURTS on-line website.

18Q.

My firm uses standard text on our legal documents. Can we run macro programs that will automatically fill in our text into some of the fields in the COURTS on-line templates? A. Unfortunately, you cannot run a macro program within the COURTS on-line system. To save some time with data entry, you may want to consider having your firm's standard verbiage available in a Microsoft Word or WordPerfect document. You can then copy and paste the text into the appropriate sections of the template, as long as the text does not contain any characters.

19Q.

I would like to enter the terms " TBS", "To be submitted", "NCLT", "Max Rate", etc, in the monetary and date fields on the CP (or the Answer) but I get an error message indicating that the format is incorrect. How can I get around this format requirement? A. These fields require the data to be in either a date format (mm/dd/yyyy) or a monetary format. If your firm typically uses TBS or NCLT, keep these fields blank and use the free form space under "Other pertinent information" to further elaborate.

20Q.

I am trying to e-file an Amended CP and would like to delete the existing carrier and add a new one. How can I do this? A. You cannot delete an existing carrier through an Amendment, but you can add one or more. To add a carrier, click on the "Additional Carrier" button located at either the top or bottom of the data entry screen. Search for the new carrier(s) by hitting the search button and then hit Save when done. Upon submitting the Amended case, both the earlier carrier and the new carrier(s) will become active. The earlier carrier can only be removed from the case by order of the judge.

21Q.

I just e-filed an Amended document. The version I printed for our records does not have any of the changed information highlighted. Why? A. Changed information on an e-filed Amended document will be highlighted in light grey only if the original document was e-filed. These highlights will not appear in the document printed from your FileCab, but only on the filed version of the document. You can always view and print the filed version by either clicking on the link that's provided on the confirmation page that comes up right after you submit the case or by looking up the case through the "Full Background" search and going to the "Documents" screen located under "Proceedings". You can highlight the document and then click on the Preview button located at the bottom of the page.
E-Filing FAQ rev date 9/27/07 Page 5 of 6

22Q.

I am trying to file an Application for Review/Modification of Formal Award (ARM/Re-Opener). When I printed out the document, I noticed that there are multiple carriers on the case. Why ? 22A. If the case has multiple carriers that remained active after the case was closed, all these carriers will be listed on the ARM document and will be made a part of this filing. You will be able to determine the existence of multiple carriers on the case from previewing the document (through a Save & Preview) or by clicking on the Additional Carriers button located at the top of the data entry screen and noting whether other carriers are listed for this case. Many times, it is appropriate to have multiple carriers remain active on a closed case as there can be multiple judgments awarded against different carriers. Other times, it is due to a data entry error where staff may have inadvertently forgotten to inactive a carrier after they were dismissed from the case. We realize that you may not want to involve all the active carriers on this particular filing, but due to programming and database constraints, we are unable to control this. You may consider filing the ARM manually if you do not wish to proceed electronically. Alternatively, you may contact our technical support staff ([email protected], 609-984-2555) and ask that they review the case to confirm if the carrier information on the case is correct. Staff may be able to correct the data within a short turn around time.

E-Filing FAQ rev date 9/27/07 Page 6 of 6