Battle Over NC Court Criminal Record Access Continues

As previously reported, the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts (NCAOC) ceased providing the licensees of the ACIS Daily Criminal Extract with the criminal case details. Court details now must be accessed in person or by using an old, antiquated technology system called The Green Screen. This move altered the way tens of thousands of criminal records are accessed in North Carolina.
 
In response to the NCAOC's mandate, several vendors filed suit in the Wake County, NC. The case is 11 CVS 1548 COURT VENTURES INC. and HIREASE INC (plaintiffs)   v. NORTH CAROLINA ADMINISTRTAIVE OFFICE OF THE COURTS and JOHN W. SMITH, II (in his capacity as Director of the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts) (defendants).
 
An point of contention in this court case has led to the introduction of legislation in North Carolina - Who is the custodian of these court records? Evidently the county clerks are saying that the AOC is the custodian of the records, and the AOC is saying the county clerks are the custodians. Once it is determined who is the custodian, then the case will likely focus on the contractual obligation to provide public records.
Below are further details.
 
Referencing CVS 1548, in section 61 of the NCAOC's First Defense Response, the defendants deny that they are the custodians of any public information in the ACIS database, although they admit they maintain the database. The defendants allege that the 100 clerks of courts are the custodians of the records. In Section 5 the AOC denies that "this is a public record action in that the relationship between plaintiffs and AOC are governed by contracts entered into pursuant to N.C Gen Stat. § 7A-109."
 
On April 6, House Bill 859l regarding AOC/Custody and Availability of Court Records was filed in the NC State legislature. The bill is meant to "...clarify that the Administrative Office of the Courts is a custodian of court records...those court records are a public record..."  The bill re-writes portions of section 7A-109.
 
The phone number for the Wake County Clerk of Court is 919-792-4000. The current version of the House Bill is viewable at:
www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2011/Bills/House/PDF/H859v1.pdf.  

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