PUBLIC ACCESS TO COURT RECORDS

IT IS ORDERED: Administrative Order 1993-02 is hereby rescinded and revoked.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED: This administrative order is issued in accordance with Michigan Court Rules 8.119(E), effective September 30, 1999 and 8.110(C)(7), effective October 1,1988. The purpose of this order is to regulate public access to court records and to allow flexibility in providing approved forms.

1. Court records are public unless specifically made not public by law or court order.

2. Requests to inspect/copy any non-public records shall be handled as follows: A clerk shall notify the interested person that: a) there is a case and provide him/her with the case number; b) it is a non-public record; and c) the procedure for challenging limitations to access of court records is contained in MCR 8.116(D).

3. Court records are not subject to Freedom of Information Act requests. MCL 15.232(d)(v) specifically exempts the judiciary from the Freedom of Information Act.

4. In accordance with MCR 8.110(C)(7), the court shall provide litigants with forms approved by the State Court Administrator at a reasonable cost of no more than $1.00 per form.

a.       Parties may be limited to a reasonable number of copies per each type of form.

b.      There will be no charge for forms requested by court appointed attorneys on cases they have been appointed to or for indigent parties.

c.       There will be no charge for forms prepared by the court.

d.   There will be no charge for forms that the court or clerk of the court is required by court rule or statute to provide.

5. Any person may inspect any public court file to which access is not restricted by statute, court rule or suppression order and may obtain copies subject to the following regulations established in accordance with MCR 8.119(E).

a.       General

1)      All requests for files and/or copies must be made on a "file/copy request form" and must specify a complete case number or party names except as provided under item b. 4 below.

2) Persons who do not have a complete case number or party names may review available case indexes to identify and select specific cases for inspection.

3) Files shall be reviewed at the public counter unless, in the discretion of court supervisory personnel, approval is granted to review records in the clerk's office based on available space, the number of files to be reviewed and the length of time necessary to review them.

4) Ensuring the right of immediate access to and public inspection of records shall be a top priority, but may be limited by the availability of court staff to supervise the inspection.

b.      Access to Case Files/Information

1)      Requests for access to no more than two specific case files will be accommodated within two working days unless the files are in storage.

2)      Requests for access to more than five specific case files will be accommodated within a reasonable amount of time depending on the total number of case files requested and the availability of court staff.

3)      Requests for specific case files in storage will be accommodated within five working days.

4)      Case information requests from other courts and law enforcement agencies that lack specific case numbers or party names shall be researched by this court. Requested information will be provided at no charge and will not require a "copy request" form.

5)      Requests to perform general traffic or criminal record checks that do not have specific case numbers or party names will be referred to the appropriate state agencies to obtain this information or to the available indexes referred to under subsection 5.a.2.

6)    Requests for the wholesale review of particular types of cases will only be considered if, in the court's discretion, the request will not unreasonably interfere with the discharge of court functions. The court is not required to develop special procedures for the convenience or cost/benefit of persons requesting access and may specify the date, time and manner in which access is to be granted. It will be the responsibility of those persons requesting access to make prior, acceptable arrangements with the court.

c.       Copies

1)      The court will provide a reasonable number of copies within 1 hour of the request for copies.

2)      Requests for more than a reasonable number of copies will be accommodated within a reasonable amount of time as determined by (1) the total number of pages to be copied (2) the availability of court staff and photocopying equipment and (3) the nature of the request, i.e., the degree to which court staff is required to identify and select documents to be copied.

3)      In order to preserve and maintain the integrity of court records and to prevent unreasonable interference with the discharge of court functions, persons will not be permitted to copy or otherwise duplicate court records using their own equipment.

d.      New Record Creation

1)      Requests for creation of a new record or compilation of records pertaining to case files or case-related information which are granted will be accommodated within a reasonable amount of time

(a)   as determined by the availability of sufficient data already contained in the records or record data base to easily identify those records requested, and

(b) only if such compilation will not unreasonably interfere with the discharge of court functions.

2)      Costs to provide records under subsection 5.d .1 will include direct costs to the court to develop, generate and validate the accuracy of the report.

Effective Date: September 5, 2000

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