Case Initiation Business Rules

A POST to the /cases resource in the e-File API is used to initiate a case. In this request, you can create a case, add participants to the case, and add initiating document events. There are a number of business rule validations that are in place to ensure data quality. A few of these rules apply to all initiation requests but most rules are specific to the type of court and/or type of case being initiated.

Rules Common to All Requests

• The caseNumber, caseType, fileDate, and acceptedBy data fields are required.

• The case fileDate cannot be greater than today's date.

• Participant fileDate cannot be greater than today's date and cannot be prior to the case fileDate.

• The value for acceptedBy must match a valid user ID in the corresponding case management system.

Rules Specific to Certain Case Types

District courts, civil case types

• A judge is required for general civil (GC), landlord/tenant (LT) and other civil actions (GZ) case types.

• At least one plaintiff and at least one defendant must be submitted.

• For small claims (SC) case types, an initiating document of ALF must be submitted.

• For general civil (GC), other civil actions (GZ), landlord/tenant (LT) and other summary proceeding (SP) case types, an initiating document of "SCF" must be submitted.

• Participant fileDate for the primary plaintiff and defendant must be the same date.

• Attorney is not allowed for small claims (SC) case types.

District courts, traffic/criminal case types