Meigs County Court of Common Pleas, Ohio Sealing & Redaction Procedures

CRITICAL

Secured documents may be viewed only pursuant to an order of a Common Pleas Court Judge.

Said "secured documents" can only be viewed pursuant o an Order of the Common Pleas Court Judge as aforesaid.

CRITICAL

Materials assembled by the Court for a CQE petition are confidential, must be kept and transmitted under seal on appeal, and may be opened only by court order.

All documents and information assembled by the Court in its consideration of the Petition for CQE shall be deemed confidential and not a public record. Such documents and information shall be treated with the same level of confidentiality as a pre-sentence report and shall be kept sealed and transmitted in a sealed condition to the Court of Appeals in the event of appellate review, and shall not be opened except upon an order of the Court.

CRITICAL

Parties must omit personal identifiers from documents submitted to the court, subject to the stated exceptions for the last four Social Security digits and certain juvenile identifiers.

Pursuant to Ohio Rule of Superintendence 45(D)( l ): "When submitting a case document to a court or filing a case document with a clerk of court, a party to a judicial action or proceeding shall omit personal identifiers from the document. Pursuant to Ohio Rule of Superintendence 44(H), "personal identifiers" means social security numbers, except for the last four digits; financial account numbers, including but not limited to debit card, charge card, and credit card numbers; employer and employee identification numbers; and a juvenile's name in an abuse, neglect, or dependency case, except for the juvenile's initials or a generic abbreviation such as "CV" for "child victim."

CRITICAL

After imaging, the Clerk must label the images as “secured documents” so they are not viewable to people reviewing the file.

Furthermore, upon imaging, it is ORDERED that the Clerk of Courts Office label said images as "secured documents" to ensure that they are not viewable to anyone who may review the file.

CRITICAL

The Clerk may open court-ordered sealed pleadings only for imaging and must immediately reseal them in the same manner as before.

Therefore, it is ORDERED that the Clerk of Courts Office shall open said pleadings for imaging purposes only and upon imaging of same, the Clerk and her deputies are hereby ORDERED to immediately reseal the pleadings in the same manner as they were originally sealed.

CRITICAL

After imaging and resealing, sealed pleadings must not be reopened without a further court order.

Said pleadings shall not then be reopened without further Order of the Court.

CRITICAL

Social Security numbers and other information that must be excluded from the public record must be redacted under the court’s rules and the Rules of Superintendence.

All social security numbers and other information that m ust be excluded from p ublic record shall be redacted in accordance with the rules of this court and the Rules of Superintendence.

CRITICAL

The notice must be enclosed under seal, and the Court or Clerk's Office may open it only with the Court's permission.

The sealed letterMsized envelope containing said Notice shall include the case style, case number and the following statement: Notice ofPersonal Identifiers sealed and only to be opened by the Court or Clerk's Office with permission ofthe Court.

WARNING

Evidence of title becomes part of the case file and may be sealed upon counsel’s request and an order of the court.

Said evidence of title shall become ao d remain a part of the f iles in the case. Said ev iden ce of titl e mav b e sealed uoon re□ uest of c ounsel an d order of the Court.