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Thursday, October 18, 2007

Courts - "New rules on court records often ignored"

The ILB has posted many entries on sealed documents and on wrongfully sealed case files - here is a list of some of them, involving both Indiana and other states.

Florida has had a particularly egregious incidence of secret dockets. See for instance this ILB entry from Sept. 29th, 2006, that began with this quote:

When state Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred Lewis heard that court cases were being kept off the public docket in jurisdictions around Florida, his response was one of shock. "I almost swallowed my tongue," Lewis told the Miami Herald.
Apparently all is still not resolved, according to this story dated Oct. 14th in the Miamii Herald and subheaded: "Some Miami-Dade and Broward judges aren't following tough new rules meant to prevent the wrongful sealing of court records." Some quotes from the report by Patrick Danner and Dan Christiansen:
Six months after the Florida Supreme Court ordered tough new rules aimed at curbing the wrongful sealing of court records, judges in Miami-Dade and Broward aren't following them.

A review of sealing orders shows judges often are failing to comply with some of the new law's key requirements, such as specifying in writing the grounds for sealing court records, or including findings that the secrecy was no broader than necessary.

Broward judges have issued 10 sealing orders since the high court's ruling on April 5, the clerk's office said. Eight don't meet the new requirements.

Four of six sealing orders that judges issued in Miami-Dade do not comply.

The cases include the divorce of a prominent Broward homicide prosecutor, a defamation suit against a Miami doctor, and a Fort Lauderdale law firm's fee dispute in a probate matter.

The story includes links to documents involved. More from the lengthy story:
The Supreme Court unanimously adopted the rules after The Miami Herald reported that hundreds of civil and criminal cases in at least a half dozen counties were hidden from public view. Broward had the most concealed cases, and they often involved the divorces of judges, lawyers, politicians and businessmen.

The new rules require all sealing orders be posted on the court clerk's website and at the courthouse. The idea is to ensure the public has been notified in case anyone wants to challenge a sealing.

The high court's ruling also outlawed the practice in civil court of erasing any trace of a case's existence from the public record, called ''supersealing.'' The court continues to study sealing rules regarding criminal cases.

But the rules aren't always being followed.

Some cases involve records the law says should be public. Others involve sensitive information that appears to be exempt from public disclosure, like trade secrets, but were sealed with orders that don't comply with the new standards.

It's unknown whether the number of sealing orders has declined since the new rules took effect.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 18, 2007 01:56 PM
Posted to Courts in general