Brevard County Clerk Issues Notice Regarding Changes to Confidentiality of Court Records

By  //  June 17, 2021

Clerks Statewide are exploring options to address amendment broad implementation

The Brevard County Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller is issuing a notice to the public about changes with regard to the confidentiality of court records.

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – The Brevard County Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller is issuing a notice to the public about changes with regard to the confidentiality of court records.

Recently, the Supreme Court of Florida amended Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.420 to indicate that “the clerk will not be required to identify and designate information as confidential,” in certain circuit civil, county civil, and small claims court cases.

While many counties across the state will discontinue automatically redacting the 23 items listed in rule 2.420(d)(1)(b) as confidential as of July 1, 2021, our office will continue our current practice of automatically redacting as a service to our customers.

“While many counties across the state may discontinue automatically redacting confidential information—including social security, bank account, and credit card numbers—in three civil case categories, our office will not,” said Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller Rachel M. Sadoff.

“We believe that the rule from the Supreme Court of Florida is clear that, while our office is not required to automatically redact confidential information, we retain the ability to permissively do so as a public service for our customers.”

The Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers asked the Supreme Court of Florida to amend the language to prohibit clerks from automatically redacting confidential information in the affected case categories.

Clerk Sadoff respectfully opposed that position as well as the rule change itself in an April 1, 2021, comment. A copy of Clerk Sadoff’s comment can be found here.

While Brevard County will maintain its current practices, all filers, including attorneys and self-represented litigants, are reminded that the rule requires them to:

■ File a Notice of Confidential Information in all cases but particularly circuit civil, county civil and small claims court cases when filing documents with Social Security, bank account, or credit card numbers as well as other non-public information as designated by rule 2.420.

■ Identify the precise location(s) of confidential information within the document(s), including the page number(s) on which the information appears.

■ Identify the type of confidential information or provision that applies to the identified information as designated by rule 2.420.

The amended rule affects how clerks of court across the state handle small claims court filings and circuit and county civil cases, except for Jimmy Ryce’s civil commitments, cases stemming from sexual assault, and medical malpractice filings.

Clerks around the state are currently exploring options to address the amendment’s broad implementation.

Our office suggests attorneys, legal professionals, self-represented litigants, and other individuals who file court documents review the amendment, check with their local clerk regarding their implementation, and become fully familiar with the rule’s requirements to ensure confidential information is not made public.

The Supreme Court of Florida’s amendment to rule 2.420 can be found here.

Please visit the Forms Section of our website to access a Notice of Confidential Information Within Court Filing document.

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