Superior Court of Fulton County Sealing & Redaction Procedures

Sealed documents must be manually filed in paper with the Clerk along with a sealing order, and a Notice of Filing under Seal must be e-filed (or included with the larger document if the sealed item is an exhibit).

Consistent with Uniform Superior Court Rule 36.16(B), E-Filing is prohibited for Documents that are required to be filed under seal. Documents to be filed under seal therefore must be manually submitted to the Clerk of Court in paper form, accompanied by an Order sealing the Documents submitted. Also, filers submitting Documents to be filed under seal are required to E-File a "Notice of Filing under Seal". If the Document to be filed under seal is an exhibit to another Document, a notice indicating that this particular Document has been filed under seal may be included in the larger filed E-Document as an alternative to filing a separate notice.

Witness lists e-filed may have lay witnesses' dates of birth and contact information redacted, but that information must still be provided in confidence to opposing counsel.

Parties must comply with the O.C.G.A. regarding disclosure of witnesses and witness lists e-filed to comply with this Order may have the lay witnesses' dates of birth and contact information redacted; however, said information must be provided timely in confidence to opposing counsel.

Documents are ordinarily not truly confidential unless they constitute trade secrets, personal identifying information, or personal health information.

As a guide to counsel, the Court notes that documents, tangible things and information ordinarily are not truly confidential unless they constitute either (1) a "trade secret," as defined by the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, or cases applying Georgia law, O.C.G.A. §10-1-761(4); (2) personal identifying information, such as a Social Security number; or (3) personal health information protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.