ELECTRONIC ACCESS TO COURT RECORDS

The Florida Supreme Court has authorized the Manatee County Clerk of Circuit Court & Comptroller to provide experimental electronic access to court records through this website. Beginning the second week of June 2007, electronic access will be provided to court records to parties, attorneys, government agencies and the public through no-cost subscription agreement. After the first six months of the program access will be further expanded to permit electronic access to non-confidential court records through the Public Internet.
Learn more about electronic access to court records below.
Learn more about protecting your personal information
Learn more about how to access court records

Pilot Program For Electronic Access To Court Records

Background:

Experiment enhanced electronic access to court records of court actions in Manatee County is provided by R.B. “Chips” Shore, Manatee County Clerk of Circuit Court & Comptroller pursuant to order of the Florida Supreme Court. Access is to records of court actions through the Internet. The constitutional presumption in Florida is that all records of the judicial branch of government are public. Some records, depending on the type of court action or particular document filed in a court action, are confidential pursuant to Florida statute, Court Rule or Court Order and are not available for public view, either electronically or from a paper court file. The clerk is also redacting (removing) certain information from otherwise public records such as social security numbers, bank account, credit and debit card numbers and the identity of victims of criminal sexual abuse offenses.

This document will give you detail about access to public court records, how electronic access is provided and how the clerk protects confidential information, how the public can take steps to protect their confidential information and how to gain access to view court records.

The Right To Access Public Court Records vs. Privacy Of Protected Personal Information:

Article I, Section 24, Florida Constitution establishes the public constitutional right to access to records of the judicial branch of government.

Access To Public Records And Meetings:

(a) Every person has the right to inspect or copy any public record made or received in connection with the official business of any public body, officer, or employee of the state, or persons acting on their behalf, except with respect to records exempted pursuant to this section or specifically made confidential by this Constitution. This section specifically includes the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government …

The presumption is then that all records of the court are public records unless a statute, court rule or court order exempts the record from public access. The Florida Legislature has enacted many statutes making various records confidential. Some of these provisions require clerks to keep records confidential. Other provisions provide a basis for the parties to an action to request the Court to make records confidential. Court rules of procedure, enacted by the Florida Supreme Court also make certain court records confidential and also provide a method for the parties to request that their records be sealed under special circumstances.

All court files used to be kept in paper form; the advancement of technology has enabled the clerk to provide better access to court records through electronic access from the Internet. In July 2001, the Manatee Clerk’s office began imaging court records in Manatee County. The public was given Internet access to non-confidential images through our website with positive results.

Attorneys, title companies, law enforcement, prospective landlords, employers etc. all used the system to search public court records without having to come down and order up a paper file. Average citizens began using it to check up on prospective contractors for their home repairs. And even a dating service was using it to check on prospective dates for their clients as did any number of private citizens.

With the tragedy of September 11th and the increasing incidents of identity theft, the sentiment shifted to a fear that easy access could be used for criminal purposes. The Florida Supreme Court took action and ordered a moratorium on electronic access to court records and created the Privacy Committee to study this.

After a year and a half of meetings, the committee issued its report to the Court. The committee made quite a few recommendations regarding electronic access, but the Manatee Clerk thought that there needed to be a real-world test to gather information for the Court so it could develop rules for access that were based on real data.

The Manatee Clerk offered to be a pilot for electronic access for the State of Florida and the Supreme Court agreed.

The Court found that electronic access is a goal and that policies and procedures governing electronic access must balance the publics’ right to access court records with the privacy rights of the participants in court actions.

The clerk hopes that the one-year pilot will provide the Court with valuable data and serve as a model for other clerks to use in providing access to their constituents. Public comment on the benefits or problems with electronic access is welcome. Please comment to: chipsshore.pilot@manateeclerk.com.

The Pilot Program:

Basics: The pilot program is an experimental program to expand electronic access to court records to:

  1. Expand indexes and court dockets to provide the public with more information about court actions.
  2. Provide a method for members of the public to subscribe to obtain access to images of non-confidential cases and documents. A second phase will allow public Internet access to images of non-confidential court records, except family law and probate actions.
  3. Expand access for attorneys to include access to non-confidential cases.
  4. Implement redaction technology to remove social security numbers, bank account, debit and credit card numbers and identities of victims of sexual or child abuse under Florida statutes chapters 794, 800 and 827.
  5. Report to the court on the use of electronic access and the success of protections put in place for confidential records. 

Pilot Project Goals:

The pilot has several goals to produce information to assess electronic access:

  1. The pilot will establish a finite set of records that clerks would maintain confidential/private in court records and produce information and data relevant to the ability of clerks to identify these records.
  2. The pilot will produce information and data regarding personnel training programs employed by the clerk regarding identification and protection of confidential/private court records.
  3. The pilot will produce information and data documenting the human processes and technology systems employed by the clerk to identify and protect confidential/private court records.
  4. The pilot will produce information and data regarding the use of redaction technology to identify and remove confidential/private information located in otherwise public court records.
  5. The pilot will produce information and data to educate the public and court system participants regarding private information in court records.
  6. The pilot will produce a model for establishing levels of electronic access for judges, attorneys, parties, government users, subscribers and the general public; through both password-protected login and public web access.
  7. The pilot will produce and recommend an order for filing of documents electronically to allow private/confidential information to be filed in a reference list which would be non-public.
  8. The pilot will produce information and data regarding other aspects of electronic access such as geographic information about court records users, public comment on the benefits or problems encountered accessing court records electronically and the costs and savings associated with electronic access.

Levels Of Access:

The pilot provides levels of electronic access to records based on the status of identity of the user.

Florida law allows certain person or governmental entities to access some court records when the public is not permitted access. For instance, law enforcement officers are permitted under Florida law to access juvenile delinquency records when those records are exempt from public access. To allow for variations in Florida law for different access permissions, the clerk created eleven different levels of access.

  1. Judges, Judicial staff and clerks have internal system access to all records.
  2. The State Attorney has access to most records not sealed by the Court.
  3. The Sheriff has Internet and internal access to most records not sealed by the Court.
  4. Attorneys of record have Internet access to all records in their cases not sealed by the Court.
  5. Parties have Internet access to all records in some cases not sealed by the Court.
  6. Public Internet Subscribers and the public using the Clerk’s in-house system have access to all records that are not confidential or sealed by the Court.
  7. Government agencies and their agents have access to all records that are not confidential or sealed by the Court.
  8. Public Internet – In the first six months of the pilot access will be limited to case names, indexes and dockets; during the second six months, Internet users who answer simple location and use questions will receive additional access to non-confidential images.
  9. Law Enforcement Officers receive expanded Internet access to records that are not sealed by the Court.
  10. The Attorney General and the Dept Children & Families (Safe Children Coalition) receives additional access to juvenile dependency actions.
  11. Some School Board personnel receive access to Truancy actions.

With the exception of public Internet access, all other access is through subscription agreement and secure login and password.

How The Clerk Protects Confidential Court Records:

The Clerk protects confidential court records in several ways

Case Type Security:

Certain case types are confidential and exempt from public access such as juvenile, adoption and some mental health actions. The clerk’s electronic access system recognizes cases by case type and denies access to any record in the case except the case number if the case is one of the types that has its security set as a confidential case type. For example, all juvenile cases are confidential and public access is denied for any cases filed as a juvenile case type.

The court may also order a document sealed pursuant to the provisions of the Florida Rules of Judicial Administration. The clerk can individually seal a case from all access except the Court.

Other restrictions by cases type are also recognized by the electronic access system. For example, Florida law provides that no Internet access shall be given to images in cases that fall under the Florida Family Law Rules or Probate Rules. The clerk’s system recognizes these case types and applies this restriction.

Case Types Confidential And Exempt From Public Access:

Document Security:

Certain documents are confidential by Florida law even if they are filed in a case that is a public case type. For example, a birth certificate is a confidential document even if it is filed in a public case such as dissolution of marriage cases. The court may also order a document sealed pursuant to the provisions of the Florida Rules of Judicial Administration. The clerk protects confidential or sealed documents by using a code that is input by the clerk into the electronic court records system when the document is filed with the clerk. The electronic access system recognizes the code and denies public access to the document.

Confidential Documents:

Sealed Documents:

Information Security:

Some court records contain personal identification information such as social security numbers, bank account debit and credit card numbers. Florida law requires clerks to remove these numbers by January 1, 2011. Until that date, these numbers are public records. The Manatee Clerk has employed redaction software to remove these numbers. What that does is take images of court records, converts them to text by optical character recognition then scans and highlights suspected social security, bank debit and charge card numbers. A person reviews the image and authenticates the find and either accepts or rejects it. The image of the record with the numbers blacked out is then made available to the public.

Redaction software is very effective at removing these numbers, but no system alone will remove all confidential/private information in court records. The section below has instructions on locating and protecting your personal identification information.

The clerk also removes information from public court records that identifies the victim of a sexual or child abuse crime. Information is hand-redacted from criminal actions involving sexual or child abuse, sexual violence cases and police reports in other domestic and civil cases.

The Chief Judge of the12th Judicial Circuit entered Administrative Order 2007.5-2 that requires filers to identify and redact confidential numbers from their court filings. The numbers are then placed on a Confidential form per Administrative Order (Word Version) which is filed with the document filed with the clerk.  The order is accessible from here: http://12circuit.state.fl.us/Admin%20Orders/Section%202/07-05-2.pdf

To ensure that information is properly removed prior to public access, some case types and document types have a special electronic security called “Viewable on Request.” Selecting an image of a court document in cases or documents coded “viewable on request”, will not allow the user to view the record at that point. Instead, a request is generated to a clerk, who performs a second examination of the document to remove personal identification information and information about the victims of sexual or child abuse crimes. The requestor then receives a notice that the document is available for viewing. Once a document has been requested and reviewed, it is available for all future access without requiring a request/review.

Viewable On Request Cases    (All documents in these cases are viewable on request):

Viewable On Request Document Types:

R.B. “Chips” Shore
Clerk of Circuit Court and Comptroller
Manatee County, Florida
chips.shore@manateeclerk.com

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 How You Can Protect Your Confidential Information:

The conclusion reached from the examination of electronic access to court records is that the parties (those who file records with the Court) are in the best position to identify and protect their confidential information. There are several steps you can take to protect this information.

Review Your Court Records Before You File:

Before you file, take advantage of the procedure adopted by the Court for Manatee County by removing your social security numbers, bank account, debit and credit card number and placing them on the confidential form that can only be accessed by parties, their attorneys and the Court. Available by clicking here Confidential form per Administrative Order (Word Version). If you have an attorney, they can assist you with this. If you are representing yourself, a clerk will assist you with questions about the procedures and forms; however, since these are your records, you are in the best position to locate and remove these numbers.

Review Your Previously Filed Court Records:

The clerk employs redaction software to identify and remove social security number, bank account, debit and credit card numbers, but to ensure that the numbers are removed; you should review what you have filed with the clerk. If you identify any numbers that have not been redacted, you can complete a Request for Removal form and request removal, available by clicking here Request for Removal form.

Steps To Take To Examine Your Records:

  1.  Look through any paper copies you have retained from your court action. If you locate any court papers with a social security, bank account, debit or credit card number, fill out the form showing the case number and document name and send it to the clerk. The clerk will make sure the numbers are redacted.
  2.  Search the clerk’s court records access website. If public access is permitted to your case or documents, you may be able to view the documents from Public Internet access. Otherwise, you need to request Party Access to your cases using the form for party access Party Access form. With party access, you can review any document that has not been sealed by the Court. If you locate a document with numbers, complete the Request for Removal form and send it to the clerk and the clerk will redact the numbers.
  3.  If you cannot access the record from Public Internet access and do not request Party Access, you can visit the clerk’s office and examine your cases in our public viewing area and complete the form if you locate any numbers.

R.B. “Chips” Shore
Clerk of Circuit Court and Comptroller
Manatee County, Florida
chips.shore@manateeclerk.com

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How to Access Court Records

The clerk offers several levels of electronic access to records based on the status of identity of the user. Florida law restricts access to some cases, documents and information based on the record and the user. For example, Florida law prohibits public access to juvenile records but makes an exception for law enforcement. In addition, attorneys and parties have increased access to their own cases. The clerk has created different levels of access depending on the user. Except for Public Internet access, all users must enter into a subscription agreement and access court records through secure login and password.

  1. Public Internet – In the first six months of the pilot access will be limited to case names, indexes and dockets; during the second six months, Internet users who answer simple location and use questions will receive additional access to non-confidential cases and images.
  2. Attorneys may enter into subscription agreements to have Internet access to all records in their cases not sealed by the Court. Attorneys are also given access to indexes, dockets and images of court records that are not confidential, sealed or expunged. Attorney subscribers are also set up for efiling. There is no fee for subscriber access. [Link to Attorney subscriber agreement]
  3. Parties have Internet access to all records in some cases not sealed by the Court. Special party access will not be provided to the following case types: Sexual Violence, criminal cases, guardianships, incapacity, Jimmy Ryce, Juvenile, sealed cases. Parties access these case types through the Public Internet. Access is provided by submitting a signed and notarized access request form. There is no fee for party access.  [Link to Party Access affidavit]
  4. Public Internet Subscribers and the public using the Clerk’s in-house system have access to all records that are not confidential or sealed by the Court. There is no fee for this access, which is by subscription agreement. [Link to Public Internet subscriber agreement]
  5. Government agencies and their agents have access to all records that are not confidential or sealed by the Court. [Link to General Government Agreement] Law Enforcement Officers receive expanded Internet access to records that are not sealed by the Court. [Link to Law Enforcement Agreement] The Attorney General and the Dept Children & Families (Safe Children Coalition) have entered into special agreements with the clerk and receive additional access to juvenile dependency actions. The School Board has entered into a special agreement with the clerk to receive access to Truancy actions. There is no fee for government access

R.B. “Chips” Shore
Clerk of Circuit Court and Comptroller
Manatee County, Florida
chips.shore@manateeclerk.com

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