Chardon Municipal Court, Ohio Sealing & Redaction Procedures

CRITICAL

Filing parties and counsel must not include personal or private information in filed papers, exhibits, or addenda unless it is necessary and relevant to the case.

Filing parties and/or legal counsel shall not include personal and private information in any paper filed with the Court unless such inclusion is necessary and relevant to the case. This requirement extends to and includes exhibits or addenda attached to filings such as preliminary and financial reports which itemize state liens that use Social Security numbers as case numbers, or medical records.

CRITICAL

Judgments, orders, and journal entries must partially redact personal information unless all digits are absolutely necessary; in that exception, submit the original and a redacted copy to the Clerk’s Office with the required caption and redaction notations, and the Court will sign both entries.

Judgments, orders, or other journal entries that necessarily include personal and private information shall partially redact the personal data and identifiers as outlined in this rule unless it is absolutely necessary to include all digits in a personal data and/or identifier. In the event it is absolutely necessary to include all digits in a personal identifier, the judgments, orders, or other journal entries must be submitted to the Clerk’s Office as follows: a) The original document that includes the personal and private information; and b) A redacted copy in the following format: 1. The redacted copy will indicate in the caption, above the title of the action, “Redacted Copy, Personal and Private Information Redacted.” 2. The redacted copy of the document will have the notation “redacted” at all places in the document where such information was removed. c) The Court will sign both journal entries.

CRITICAL

If personal and private information is necessary and must be included in a paper, the filing party shall partially redact the following personal data and identifiers from the paper: a) Social Security Numbers: If an individual's Social Security number must be included in a paper, only the last four digits of that number should be used. b) Financial Account Numbers: If financial account numbers are relevant, only the last four digits of these numbers should be used. c) Names of Minor Children: If the involvement of a minor child must be mentioned, only the initials of the child should be used. d) The responsibility for redacting these personal identifiers rests solely with counsel and parties. The Clerk will not review each paper for compliance with this rule.

If personal and private information is necessary and must be included in a paper, the filing party shall partially redact the following personal data and identifiers from the paper: a) Social Security Numbers: If an individual's Social Security number must be included in a paper, only the last four digits of that number should be used. b) Financial Account Numbers: If financial account numbers are relevant, only the last four digits of these numbers should be used. c) Names of Minor Children: If the involvement of a minor child must be mentioned, only the initials of the child should be used. d) The responsibility for redacting these personal identifiers rests solely with counsel and parties. The Clerk will not review each paper for compliance with this rule.

WARNING

The Clerk may refuse to accept a filing containing personal or private information that has not been redacted or submitted in accordance with the rule.

The Clerk may refuse to accept for filing any document that contains personal and private information that has not been redacted or submitted in accordance with this rule.