Court of Common Pleas of Indiana County, Pennsylvania Sealing & Redaction Procedures

CRITICALCivil cases

Arbitrators must not open sealed envelopes or otherwise ascertain their contents until the board or panel decides the merits.

(6) No arbitrator shall open the sealed envelope(s), or, in any other manner, attempt to ascertain the contents thereof, until the arbitration board/panel has reached a decision on the merits of the case;

CRITICALCivil cases

A party seeking to file a document under seal must designate it as sealed in the CountySuite Portal and submit a Motion to Seal at the same time; the designation alone does not seal the document, and the motion must explain the reasons and follow the cited local rule procedure.

Documents intended to be filed under seal shall be designated by the filing party as "sealed" in the CountySuite Portal. However, designation of documents as "sealed" does not seal the documents. In addition, to make the designation in the CountySuite Portal, the filing party must also submit a Motion to Seal at the same time as the legal paper intended to be sealed. The motion shall outline the reasons why the legal paper should be sealed and shall follow motion procedure set forth in Local Rule of Civil Procedure 208.3(a) and (b).

CRITICAL

Confidential exhibits, including those equivalent to categories enumerated in PA Access Policy §8.0, are to be handled so the record office can seal them.

(c) Any exhibit containing confidential information or equivalent to any of the categories enumerated in PA. Access Policy §8.0 shall include a Confidential Document Form so that the document can be properly sealed by the record office.

CRITICAL

Counsel and unrepresented parties must follow the Public Access Policy and refrain from including confidential information in papers filed with the Clerk or Court.

Counsel and unrepresented parties must adhere to the Public Access Policy of the Unified Judicial System or Pennsylvania and refrain from including confidential information in legal papers filed with the Clerk of Courts or the Court whether filed electronically or in a paper format.

WARNINGCivil cases

Qualifying Confidential Information Forms and documents filed with a Confidential Document Form are sealed without a motion.

Confidential Information Forms and documents properly filed with a Confidential Document Form pursuant to Case Records Public Access Policy of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania will be sealed without motion.

WARNINGCivil cases

Public access terminals provide registered-user access, except for cases sealed by court order, statute, or court rule.

The public access terminals will provide the same level of access to cases that is provided to all registered users, excluding any cases sealed by court order, statute, or rule of court.

WARNINGCivil cases

Filing details and titles appear in the EFS, but sealed documents and Confidential Information Forms are viewable only by the listed court personnel and case participants.

The filing details and document title will appear in the EFS. The sealed documents and Confidential Information Forms can be viewed only by the Court, Court staff, Court Administration, Prothonotary staff, and case participants.