Federal, state courts say they’re ready for Y2K

Grace Leong and Richard N. Velotta

Wednesday, Dec. 29, 1999 | 11:04 a.m.

Hundreds of people who have cases pending in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Las Vegas shouldn't get their hopes up that the Y2K bug will wipe out their debts.

Administrators of the Las Vegas division of the court, which already has had more than 20,000 cases filed this year, say there's a paper trail in place on every filing. That means there's no chance that a computer glitch will wipe out all record of a bankruptcy filing.

"There's a paper trail for everything," said Gail Palazzo, operations manager for the local Bankruptcy Court. "In fact, I am inundated with paperwork."

Palazzo said the court has a long way to go before it is a paperless office and at present, it is technologically advanced enough to offer public access to bankruptcy filings on a website.

That system and a separate indexing system are among those that have been cross-checked for compliance. The court also has computerized communications systems that link the court with administrators in Washington.

Palazzo said a seven-person management team checked most of the Y2K compliance for the 50-employee office. She said the team has checked systems for several months.

When the clock strikes 12 on New Year's Eve, court officials won't be around to see if everything worked -- but they'll be in the office Saturday morning and Sunday to double-check.

"Since we're normally closed on Saturday and Sunday, we'll have two days to make sure everything is in place for when our offices open again on Monday," Palazzo said.

The court has a system in place for emergency filings over the weekend and a paper filing system ready in case the power goes out. Clerks will wear beepers over the weekend if telephone lines aren't working and emergency paperwork has to be filed.

"We're really not concerned at all," Palazzo said. "We've come up with contingency plans, even if we're without power."

Meanwhile, U.S. District Court has successfully tested its software for Y2K compliance, but still remains concerned over possible power and phone line failures.

"We are more concerned about situations which are beyond our control, such as power failure and connectivity issues like phone lines. But we are confident that the state of paranoia has made people ready for Y2K," said Cary Stanton, U.S. District Court's systems manager.

There won't be any hearings held in U.S. District court on Jan. 3 and tests will be conducted on Jan. 1 on the court's computer systems, he said.

State courts in Las Vegas are also reducing their workloads for the first few days of 2000 in order to deal with any Y2K problems that may arise.

Administrators for the Clark County Justice Court, Municipal Court and District Court say they didn't schedule as many routine operations this week and for Jan. 3-4.

Clark County Justice Court's computer system was upgraded and successfully tested in September, said Administrator Steve Morris.

Should the courts' systems collapse, the plan anticipates a substantial backlog in the calenders for criminal, domestic and juvenile matters after Jan. 5. Systems failure would limit court appearances to mandatory ones in criminal cases in the first week of January.

"We've had to stack calenders a little more in the week before, and week after New Year's to prevent backlog," Morris said.

"Normally, we print civil and criminal calenders a few days ahead of time, but because of Y2K, we are now printing the information two to three weeks in advance, so we know which cases need to appear in court," Morris said.

The Justice Court, which handles small claims cases and some criminal matters, will have as many as 10 staff on standby at its intake services division over the New Year weekend, he said.

The intake services division screens people taken into custody to determine their eligibility for own-recognizance release.

All six supervisors from the Justice Court's civil, criminal and traffic divisions will come in on Jan. 1 to test the court's computer systems for any Y2K-related malfunction, Morris said.

Should electrical power be lost if the courts' backup emergency generators fail to provide power for the hallways, elevators and computer servers, the courts will issue a notice requiring the litigants to return in seven days and for the suits to be continued.

Court reporters are required to be on stand-by for emergency hearings during the first two weeks of January, the plan said. In the event of total systems failure, the justice court, court reporters and other staff will move to the Clark County Detention Center to conduct mandatory criminal hearings, Morris said.

The plan said the county has purchased an extra 10 to 15 hand scanners and plans to have bailiffs from all departments conduct manual security checks at the courthouse's opening should there be a major breakdown of metal detectors, door locks or elevators.

Municipal Court Administrator Mike Haveman sees a potential phone overload and noted concerns over whether people will be able to contact the court, which handles mainly traffic citations and criminal misdemeanors.

"The most likely, if any, scenario is that people may not be able to reach us to find out about their traffic tickets and how much money is needed to pay their fines," Haveman said.