Since the time there have been courts, there have been court files. And court files often contain very private, sensitive information such as bank account numbers, your social security number, full name, and date of birth. Before the internet, this was not that big of a deal. In order to access this information, a person had to first know it was in a court file, and then either appear in person or write and request copies of the pleadings or evidence in the file. In other words, there used to be a paper trail leading back to the person requesting the copies of the pleadings or evidence. There was no anonymity.
With the advent of the internet, online court records, online official records and for the state court system in Florida, a unified electronic filing system implemented in 2013, there is almost total anonymity and zero privacy. Luckily the courts have addressed this issue with Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.420 which allows a party (or in some cases a non-party) to protect their sensitive information. Otherwise, anyone with a password and minimal computer skills can access the court files of any Florida court and print copies of anything scanned for that court file. Without getting too specific, the Clerk has some capability to research the history of activity of a username and password such that an unauthorized access can only be caught but only if the true owner of the username and password becomes aware of the misuse fairly quickly.
In my experience, there are two situations in which the clerk of court does not scan everything that is filed. First, the clerk does not scan old pleadings in dormant files. This is a matter of manpower. Whenever we access a file that has not been scanned, we just call and they scan it. Second, the clerk sometimes does not scan a file as a courtesy to someone involved. If you call and ask that the file be scanned, they will. But as long as no one is asking, that file just does not get scanned. This happens everywhere, not just in the county where I reside.
Rule 2.420 creates categories of certain types of information which may be protected. To protect your information, you have to file a notice of filing of confidential information which designates the type of information and the location of it in your pleading. This allows the clerk to redact or not scan portions or all of any pleading (depending on the case) containing the information. Basically, your notice is a road map for the clerks, who locate and redact the confidential information in each pleading prior to making the scanned pleading available online. So for example, if you are going to trial and intend to introduce bank statements and loan applications as evidence, then you need to do a Notice of Filing Confidential Information. Otherwise, the clerk's office will scan your documents as exhibits, thus making them available to anyone with a user name and password and rendering you very vulnerable to identity theft.
If an opposing party files pleadings or documents containing your private information like bank account numbers, social security number, or date of birth, Rule 2.425 provides a remedy in two ways. First, the aggrieved party can ask the court to require redaction or sealing of the offending records. Second, the court can issue sanctions against the filer as Rule 2.425 requires that parties minimize the filing of documents containing sensitive information.
If the quantity and location of the information is so pervasive in the document that redaction would be impractical and burdensome, then I recommend filing a Notice Filing Confidential Information but taking it a step further and asking the court to seal the pleadings. For example, when proof of my client's damages required admitting into evidence copies of correspondence and proof of payments to the IRS, I asked the court to seal the exhibits rather than attempt to locate and describe each piece of confidential information. The court has the discretion to do this under Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.425, but it is a very drastic action and should only be requested in extreme circumstances.
If an opposing party files pleadings or documents containing your private information like bank account numbers, social security number, or date of birth, Rule 2.425 provides a remedy in two ways. First, the aggrieved party can ask the court to require redaction or sealing of the offending records. Second, the court can issue sanctions against the filer as Rule 2.425 requires that parties minimize the filing of documents containing sensitive information.
If the quantity and location of the information is so pervasive in the document that redaction would be impractical and burdensome, then I recommend filing a Notice Filing Confidential Information but taking it a step further and asking the court to seal the pleadings. For example, when proof of my client's damages required admitting into evidence copies of correspondence and proof of payments to the IRS, I asked the court to seal the exhibits rather than attempt to locate and describe each piece of confidential information. The court has the discretion to do this under Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.425, but it is a very drastic action and should only be requested in extreme circumstances.
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Thanks for reading and commenting on my blog. I moderate all comments, so please be respectful of me and each other. My blog and none of the comments by me or others constitute legal advice or an attorney-client relationship. Regards, Julie