Whatcom County Superior Court impacted by statewide system outages

Whatcom County Superior Court is among many courts across the state experiencing service interruptions after unauthorized activity was detected on a court network November 4. Online court services remained down as of press time.

The Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) secured critical systems and was working to restore services, according to a November 4 press release from the Whatcom County Superior Court.

The Whatcom County Superior Court has been unable to provide electronic court record searches, electronic filing, electronic payment processing and filing of nonemergent cases. The court is still offering in-person filing, processing of emergency orders, access to physical court records and court programs.

“We are unable to perform all of the functions of our office due to the system outage, and the ones we can are now taking much more time,” wrote Raylene King, Whatcom County Superior Court clerk, in a statement.

King said in a November 12 phone call that the AOC was “cautiously optimistic” connection could be restored by Monday, November 18. King said she didn’t have a timeline on how long the subsequent backlog would last.

In a November 12 statement the AOC wrote, “While analysis is ongoing, there is no evidence that any court or personal data has been accessed, altered or removed during the unauthorized activity that was detected.”

The AOC is prioritizing reconnecting trial and appellate courts and an emergency order authorized those courts to extend their deadlines.

The Whatcom County Superior Court is still operating during typical business hours. The court asks people bring paper copies when filing and notes that invoices may take longer to process. Time-sensitive filings will continue to be processed and there are alternative procedures for emergency matters.

King said she wasn’t aware of any previous example of the Washington court system being compromised similar to this.

“The clerk’s office echoes the public’s frustration, as this outage is impacting our office and those we serve,” King wrote in a statement. “Our office is working diligently to assist those in need as promptly and accurately as possible, even though the case management system is down.”

For questions, call the Whatcom County Superior Court clerk’s office at 360/778-5560 or email Raylene King at rking@co.whatcom.wa.us.