Tulsa County District Court Sealing & Redaction Procedures

Parties should avoid unnecessary sensitive information, and any necessary personal data identifiers in a pleading must be partially redacted.

1. Parties should not include sensitive information in any document filed with the court unless such inclusion is necessary and relevant to the case. If sensitive information must be included, the following personal data identifiers must be partially redacted from the pleading:

When necessary, pleadings should use only the last four digits of Social Security and financial account numbers, only minors' initials, and only the year of birth.

a. Social Security numbers. If an individual's social security number must be included in a pleading, only the last four digits of that number should be used. b. Names of minor children. If the involvement of a minor child must be mentioned, only the initials of that child should be used. c. Dates of birth. If an individual's date of birth must be included in a pleading, only the year should be used. d. Financial account numbers. If financial account numbers are relevant, only the last four digits of these numbers should be used.

Requests to seal or remove pleadings, records, or materials from the public record must follow the procedures in 12 O.S. § 3226(C)(2-7).

Counsel or parties requesting the Court to seal or remove pleadings, records or materials from the public record are required to follow the procedures set forth in 12 O.S. § 3226 (C)(2-7).

Friendly-suit documents should omit personal identifiers where possible and use partially redacted Social Security numbers, although depository entities may require identifying information in orders establishing a minor’s trust account.

Documents to be filed with the Court Clerk to request or approve a friendly suit should exclude personal identifiers wherever possible and use of partially redacted social security numbers is advisable, noting however depository entities may require a date of birth or other personal identifiers in court orders to establish the minor's trust account.

A party may file an unredacted copy under seal by court order when filing a redacted document containing personal data identifiers.

2. A party filing a redacted document may at the same time file by court order an unredacted document under seal containing the personal data identifiers.

The personal-data redaction rule does not apply to family, probate, adoption, or protective-order cases.

5. This Civil Rule shall not apply to family, probate, adoption or protective order cases.