El PASO COUNTY, Colo. -- Frustration is how one family described its dealings with the El Paso County Judicial system. The Hollies, Dave and Lori, said the courts didn’t follow its own procedures and it could hurt them in the appeals process of two different cases they are battling.

“I understand the human element, things can go wrong, I can appreciate that, but we are looking at the back end of $150,000 and most likely, we’re going to have to retry this case. Where is the accountability?” said Dave Holly.

The Hollies have been fighting a battle against their homeowners association since they moved into their Black Forrest home in 2004. They said the battle escalated to several court cases with both sides filing suit.

In two recent cases, the Hollies said they won one battle, and in a second case both side won aspects of the lawsuit. Both sides are in the process of appeals, but when the Hollies asked for a transcript of the first case the courts discovered none of the four-day trial was recorded.

“We contracted the technician and according to the work order it said, the judges microphone was not turned on. His entire repair consisted of turning on the microphone,” said Dave Holly.

The work order given to TARGET 13 verified the Hollies claim.

Nearly 90 court proceedings at the El Paso County courthouse were never official recorded for a three-week period. According to the court administrator, the audio recording problems happened in the court of Judge Kane from Sept.19 to Oct. 10 of 2008.

“We have found out since then there was an issue with microphones (specifically) with the mute button on the bench, and when the judges moved paperwork or anything across it, it would go and the mute button would come on,” said Vicky Villalobos, court administrator for El Paso County Courts.

She said court clerks also failed to check the recoding devices, but no one was disciplined for the mistake. “There was a monitoring procedure in place that was not being followed,” said Villalobos.

She added court clerks are now required to check the digital recordings twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, so something like this never happens again.

The Holly family, who were in the process of the appeals process, said they now had to figure out how to get official court transcripts of the four-day trial. The Holly family said when they contacted the courts, they were told a recording device was present, but it wasn’t from the courts, but from a private recording device from the homeowners association.

In most courtrooms, private recording devices, audio or video, are not allowed unless the Judge gives permission. The Holly family said Kane never gave either side permission to record the court proceedings, but he decided to use it.

“We were now in this mess of having to recreate or reconstruct a recording based on an unauthorized recording from the plaintiffs,” said Lori Holly.

The Holly family said the Judge required both side to agree on which portions of the audio would be entered into the official record.

In the past, court reporters would type up testimony as the trial went on and that would be the official recording. But in 2003, a budget cuts forced the courts to cut the staff in half, according to Villalobos. She said now, no civil trial has court reporters, only the digital recording devices.

Villalobos said she understands the frustrations of the Holly’s, “We try very hard in the courts to keep a good recording, that’s why we’re charged with; we do the best we can to keep good court records for everybody that’s in a proceedings.”

Villalobos said she’s learned of another courtroom where recordings were done properly, but she couldn’t say how many proceeding were affected. “Obviously, it’s a failure. We try to learn from it and make things better in the future,” said Villalobos.

Judges and court clerks have been retrained on the audio system and according to Villalobos it should alleviate any future problems.

The Holly family said they just want justice for what happened to them in court. “I don’t know how you can have faith in a system like this—that’s what bothers me the most,” says Lori Holly.