BRB's Public Records Blog

About the New Courthouse in Litchfield County, CT

The new Litchfield Judicial District Courthouse at 50 Field St. in Torrington was open for business, effective Monday, Aug. 28, with the transfer of cases from three different courthouses being phased in as follows:

• Effective August 26, 2017, the Litchfield Judicial District Courthouse at 15 West Street, Litchfield was permanently closed. At that time, all matters new and pending in that facility were transferred to the new Torrington Superior Courthouse.
• Effective September 8, 2017, the Superior Court for Juvenile Matters at 410 Winsted Road, Torrington was permanently closed. At that time, all matters new and pending in that facility were transferred to the new Torrington Superior Courthouse.
• Effective at the end of business on September 15, 2017, the Geographical Area 18 Courthouse, 80 Doyle Road, Bantam, will permanently close. At that time, all matters new and pending at that facility will be transferred to the new Torrington Superior Courthouse.

BRB Publications Launches Free Online Portal for Searching Public Records

BRB Publications, the nation's premier publisher of references and websites used for locating public records, is pleased to announce the launch of BRB Search, a free online portal for searching public records.

The new portal is an easy search approach to view contact information and links to free online look-ups for over 20,000 government agencies.  The new portal represents an alternative to the existing look-up method which is more of a drill down approach. BRB Search also includes contact information for county court and recording offices, 20 core state agencies per state, occupational licensing boards, federal courts, members of the Public Record Retriever Network (PRRN) by county, plus there is an adjoining county search feature.

“The new online experience from BRB Publications will help improve productivity and efficiency for our prospective customers as well as give them immediate tools they need to make relevant decisions based on access of public record data”, says CEO of BRB Publications, Michael Sankey.

BRB Publications continues to implement innovative technologies and modernize its processes to better serve its client base and those who depend on the free information displayed at the BRB Publication website. The new cyber portal is among a number of steps BRB Publications is taking to set standards for industry innovation. 

To access BRB Search, please visit https://www.brbpublications.com/gen/brbsearch.aspx.

 

Arizona Courts Raising Filing, Search and Certification Fees 8-9-2017

Effective August 9, 2017, numerous Superior and Justice Court fees will increase in Arizona. The Clerk's record search fee at the Superior Court will increase from $27.00 to $28.00. The same increase also takes place for a record certification - from $27.00 to $28.00. Similar fee increases will also occur at the Justice Court level with the search and certification fees both increasing from $25.00 to $26.00.

Overall, there are over 115 fees that will increase at the Superior Court level. A good resource with printable lists of both the old and new fee schedules is available from Maricopa County at www.clerkofcourt.maricopa.gov/fees.asp.

Coconino County has a display of the new Justice Court fees at www.coconino.az.gov/DocumentCenter/View/17485.

The states' current base fees are authorized by A.R.S. § 12-284, the Arizona Code of Judicial Administration Section 3-404, Supreme Court Administrative Order 2017-44 plus additional fees determined by Statute, Supreme Court Administrative Order or Board of Supervisor's Resolution. Note a county Board of Supervisors may add local fees per A.R.S. 11-251.08.

Indiana Recording Fees Changing

Effective as of July 1, 2017, per passage of Senate Bill 505 the recording fees performed by the local county recorders have been greatly simplified into a predictable fee structure. The new fees will essentially create a flat rate of $55.00 per mortgage document and $25.00 for deeds and all other instruments. Additional pages exceeding 8.5" x 14" will incur a $5.00 fee page. The previous schedule was much more complicated and included a $20.00 fee on any document exceeding 8.5 x 14. The cost to record a UCC will decrease by $3.00.

Record copies, certification fees, and search fees essentially remain the same, but these fees have been known to be set by the local recorder. In general, the fee is $1.00 for copies up to 11" x 17" and $5.00 of larger than 11" x17."  A record search fee is usually either $5.00 or $10.00 per name. The UCC search fee seems to also vary by county; some counties charge $7.00 per name and others $10.00 per name.

A copy of the new fee schedule as presented by Benton County is viewable here.                         

Union County OH - New Online Access to Court Case Data

The Court of Common Pleas Court in Union County Ohio is switching to a public access system to view dockets and case images. The current online access to the Court of Common Pleas clerk's public records and index is at https://www.co.union.oh.us/Public-Records-Search/ and provides docket information going back to 01/1990 and case file images back to 01/2002. Effective June 12, 2017, the Clerk's office is moving to a different online system. The new system will hold all the records currently in the current system since all records will be transferred. It will be at least until the end of June or longer before the document images will be available on the new system.

 

Douglas County Nebraska Will no Longer Verify Charges or Dispositions on Court Cases

Here at BRB Publications we constantly verify the policies and procedures of government agencies regarding access to public records.

Recently we received a perplexing email communication from the office of the Clerk of the District Court in Douglas County Nebraska. According to Mr. Matthew Warta, Clerk of the District Court - Accounting:

 

"A significant change has occurred in our procedures regarding criminal cases. Due to changes in State Statues regarding what can and cannot be disseminated, the Clerk of the District Court will no longer provide record searches at any price, and cannot verify charges or dispositions on court cases.  The public is still welcome to view the records on site or online and draw their own conclusions."

Mr. Warta went on to suggest that criminal searches can be done at the local level at the County Sheriff and the Omaha Police Department.

I responded by email to Mr. Warta that this is the first we have heard of a clerk not willing to verify questionable dispositions and asked him to please quote the specific statute or law change that mandates this new position.  This was his reply:

"There isn't a specific statue prohibiting us from doing so, but the system provided to the courts in Nebraska does not provide the types of criminal background reports that the above mentioned entities have.  Certain charges and dispositions cannot be disseminated if a certain amount of time has passed, others have to have certain documentation provided by a defendant to disseminate them.  

When concerns were brought to the State Court Administrator about changes to the computer system to accommodate these changes, we were informed that no change was planned at this time, as in their view the court system is not designed for this purpose. A decision was made that since State Patrol, Omaha Police and the Sheriff have systems designed to filter out those items and we do not that they should be referred to them because of liability concerns.  

An example of a recent change I have offhand is Nebraska Revised Statute 29-3523."

 

----
If you have any first hand experience on this matter at this court, I would love to hear from you. Mr. Warta is apparently from the accounting section and it could very well be that the clerk staff will help the public. By the way, I did a quick review of the NE Statute and it seemingly deals with criminal records at a criminal justice state repository, not necessarily public records at the court level.

The web page for Douglas County Clerk of Court is  https://clerk.dc4dc.com/.

 

-Mike Sankey

Court Records on Judicial Statewide Systems

The online court records obtainable from this venue are widespread, often free, and overall very worthwhile.

Every state has a judicial branch that oversees that state’s trial and appellate court system. The name of the agency will vary, but it is often known as the Administration Office of the Courts (AOC) or State Court Administrator’ Office.  

Knowing about this agency and their online services is important because thru the AOC more counties and courts are online than from the individual county-based systems. Consider these overall statistics about state judicial systems and the state courts at the county level, from the Public Record Research System:

• 27 States Offer Online Access to Both Civil and Criminal Records Statewide
• 5 States Offer Online Access to Partial Statewide Access
• 5 States Offer Access to Only Online Civil Records Statewide
• 1 State Offers Access to Only Online Criminal Records Statewide
• 13 States Have Online Access to Neither

The specific states and sites with web access are profiled in Chapter 6 of The Manual to Online Public Records 4th Edition.

These Systems are Not Created Equal - Know the State-by-State Variations

Online researchers must be aware that there are many nuances to these searches. The value of a statewide court search varies by state. Consider these evaluation points:

• Pay or free or both? While some of the free searches are good, the adage you pay for what you get can certainly apply here.
• Is the search a statewide search? All counties may not be on the system.
• Is the throughput posted and is there uniformity? For example, one county may have cases dating back for seven years, while another county may have only two years of history.
• Are identifiers shown? The lack of identifiers to properly identify a subject varies widely from state-to-state. A lack of is especially apparent on the free access search systems.  
• And perhaps the most important evaluation point: Is an online search equivalent to searching onsite? The level of your due diligence and need for accuracy will determine if using an online site that is in reality a supplemental search is sufficient for your needs. This of course is true for ANY online site for ANY type of public record.

This article is taken from The Manual to Online Public Records 4th Edition by Mike Sankey and Cynthia Hetherington. For more information on this publication, please visit The BRB Bookstore or Contact [email protected].

Court News-Denton County, TX

Two Justice of the Peace Courts in Denton County are moving late this Spring.  Justice of the Peace Precinct 4 located in Roanoke is moving to Flower Mound. The court is moving from 816 N Highway 37, Roanoke, TX 76262 to 6200 Canyon Falls Dr, Ste 101, Flower Mound, TX 76226.

Justice of the Peace Precinct 2 in New Colony is moving from 6301 Main St. which is also known as FM 423 to a new location on FM423 one mile North. This move is scheduled in June but the exact address has not yet been released.  The phone numbers will remain the same.

Indiana Expanding Trial Court Records Available Online

Following recommendations made by the Advisory Task Force on Remote Access to and Privacy of Electronic Court Records, more records will be made available on the state's case management system at mycase.in.gov.

The Indiana Supreme Court Order mandated these changes via Cause 94S00-1702-MS-52.  According to the Order, seven specific types of records are to be placed online. 

Below is a quick summary with dates of availability. The Order with full details may be viewed at www.in.gov/judiciary/files/order-other-2017-94S00-1702-MS-52.pdf

1. Financial Payments - on or after March 1, 2017
2. Public Access to all Orders in Select Civil Cases - on or after March 1, 2017
3. Expungement (XP) Pleadings and Orders - on or after March 1, 2017
4. Attorney Access to documents on cases displayed on mycase.in.gov - on or after May 1, 2017
5. Public Access to Final Orders in Criminal Cases - on or after August 1, 2017
6. Attorney of Record Will have Full Access to All Documents - on or after September 1, 2017
7. Party Access to Will have Full Access to All Documents (except if sealed) - on or after November 1, 2017

There are Two Online Resources in Indiana 

There are two online systems in the state with docket information from the Circuit and Superior courts, plus some of the City courts. Neither provides all 92 counties in the state. However, the system with the most participating counties (90) counties with a search of the case index is DoxPop https://www.doxpop.com/prod/.

DoxPop is working to secure the additional online data described above available on it's system as well. A quick comment - the DoxPop system has been the system of choice for many local Indiana PIs and CRAs, so it is hoped they will be able to also include this data on their system.

 

Court News- Lewisboro Justice Court in Westchester County, NY

Effective May 1st, 2017, the new physical address for this town court is 79 Bouton Road, South Salem NY, 10590. The phone numbers remain the same.