Yesterday’s Palm Beach Post ran an informative article about the Palm Beach County Clerk’s Office redacting personal information from cases available to public. The article explained that certain imaged documents from the court file can now be viewed at terminals at the South County and North County Courthouses. The most interesting part of the article was at the end:
Bock also points out that lawmakers have kept in place a restriction keeping court records from public view online. Images of official records – deeds, marriage licenses, mortgages, plats, deeds and court judgements – have for years been available for public view online.
“We believe that the (Florida) Supreme Court should be looking at those issues again,” Bock said.
I agree with Ms. Bock. Are we supposed to celebrate because we don’t have to drive as far to see an imaged copy of a court document? It’s 2012! It’s time for the state government and the state courts to get with the program and make the images available online. In federal court, you can go on PACER and see EVERY DOCUMENT on your computer while sitting in your office. This isn’t something new; it’s been this way for years. I am not aware of any reason to treat state court documents any differently, and I hope the state courts will finally change these archaic rules as e-filing is implemented.
