April 10, 2009
Effective Date of Public Access Rules Moved Back to July 1
In order to allow more time for judges, court staff, members of the public and the media to become familiar with new rules on public access to court records (Sup. R. 44-47), the Supreme Court of Ohio announced today that it has moved back the effective date of the rules two months to July 1.
The Supreme Court Commission on the Rules of Superintendence, chaired by Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger, voted unanimously on March 13 to recommend to the Court that the rules’ effective date be delayed. The Court voted on March 24 to accept the commission’s recommendation and move the effective date from the original May 1 to July 1.
The rules were crafted by the Commission and published for two periods of extensive public comment that resulted in revisions and improvements.
The rules include:
- Definitions of court record, case document, administrative document, case file and other terms.
- A statement that court records are presumed open to public access.
- A list of those court records which are exempt from public access.
- A process by which a court may restrict public access to a case document that is not already exempt from public access. The court may limit public access to a case document or information in a case document upon request by a party to the case or a person who is the subject of information in the case document only after finding by clear and convincing evidence that the presumption of public access is outweighed by a higher interest.
- A process by which any person may request access to a case document or information in a case document that has previously been granted limited public access. The court may permit public access if it finds by clear and convincing evidence that the presumption of allowing public access is no longer outweighed by a higher interest. Currently when an entire record is sealed, no part of the record is accessible to the public, nor can it be petitioned to be accessible.
- A provision requiring the partial redaction or omission of personal identifiers, i.e. personal information that might contribute to identity theft, such as Social Security and financial account numbers, from a case document before the document is submitted to a court or filed with a clerk of court. The rules also state that a court or a clerk of court may provide a form for the recording of personal identifiers omitted from a case document. The court and clerk of court would continue to have full access to this information while the parties would access the information upon motion.
The Court has created a central clearinghouse for information and training opportunities on its Web site at supremecourt.ohio.gov. Look for the button on the right of the home page that says “New Rules on Public Access to Court Records.”
Supreme Court attorneys will conduct training sessions over the next few months via the Internet about the new rules. These sessions are ideal for clerks and court administrators at both the frontline and management levels who have responsibility for the management of case documents and administrative documents. This non-CLE program will include a history and explanation of the rules, and the instructors will also entertain questions from the participants.
The training dates are as follows:
- Tuesday, April 21
- Tuesday, May 12
- Thursday, May 28
- Wednesday, June 10
- Thursday, June 25
All trainings are from noon to 1 p.m. and will be conducted using the Elluminate Web-based training application. Orientation sessions on how to use Elluminate will be held before each course from 11:30 a.m. to noon.
To register, visit www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/recordstraining.
Contact: Chris Davey or Bret Crow at 614.387.9250.