Supreme Court of Missouri
en banc

COURT OPERATING  RULE 2.02 -GENERAL POLICY

Records of all courts are presumed to be open to any member of the public for purposes of inspection or copying during the regular business hours of the court having custody of the records.  This policy does not apply to records that are confidential pursuant to statute, court rules, or court order; judicial or judicial staff work product; internal electronic mail; memoranda or drafts; or appellate judicial case assignments. Records, information and services shall be provided at a time and in a manner that does not interfere with the regular business of the courts.

The clerk or court is not required to review the case document to confirm that the party has omitted personal information and shall not refuse to accept or file the document on that basis.

The responsibility for redacting personal information rests solely with counsel, the parties, or any other person preparing or filing the document.  The clerk will not review each document for compliance with this policy.

Access to any Missouri judicial website, including but not limited to Case.net, by a site data scraper or any similar software intended to discover and extract data from a website through automated, repetitive querying for the purpose of collecting such data is expressly prohibited.

COR 2 imposes no obligation upon the judiciary to create a data element, make a data element available electronically, or produce non-standard reports.


COURT OPERATING  RULE 2.03 - DEFINITIONS

As used in this COR 2, the following terms mean:

(a) "Administrative records," all records, including reports and correspondence, pertaining to the administration of the courts;

(b) "Bulk distribution," the distribution of all, or a significant subset, of the information in court records, as is and without modification or compilation;

(c) "Case records," all records relating to a specific case or controversy;

(d) "Custodian of records," the person designated by the appointing authority as responsible for the safekeeping of any records held in the clerk’s office;

(e) "Compiled information," information that is derived from the selection, aggregation or reformulation by the court of some of the information from more than one individual court record, including statistical reports and information that is not already available in an existing record or report;

(f) "Data element," information contained in a field in the computer database;

(g) "Electronic records," digital records, whether created by data entry, electronic filing, or digital imaging;

(h) "Person," any individual, nonprofit or profit corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, or other type of business organization;

(i) "Personnel records," all records relating to the employment of persons within the judiciary with the exception of name, position, and salary;

(j) "Public" includes:


(1) Any person and any business or non-profit entity, organization, or association;

(2) Any governmental agency for which there is no existing policy defining the agency’s access to court records;

(3) Media organizations; and

(4) Entities that gather and disseminate information for whatever reason, regardless of whether it is done with the intent of making a profit, and without distinction as to nature or extent of access.


(k) "Public access" means that the public may inspect and obtain a copy of the information in a court record either by direct access in the court house or remote access over the Internet if and when it becomes available.

(l) "Record," information produced or available to the court regardless of physical form or storage medium used.


COURT OPERATING  RULE 2.04 - ACCESS TO CASE RECORDS


(a) Public records from which a person can be identified will be made available upon request only by inquiry of a single case or by accessing any public index.  Electronic public indexes will be available on the Internet by:


(1) Case number;

(2) File date;

(3) Party name;

(4) Calendar date; and

(5) Judgment against.



An index may contain the above elements plus case title, case type, and status.

(b) Internet access to electronic records that are public and from which a person can be identified will include only the following data elements, if not confidential by statute or rule:

Civil Cases


(1) Attorneys' addresses;

(2) Attorneys' names;

(3) Calendar dates;

(4) Case number;

(5) Case type;

(6) Year of birth;

(7) Disposition type;

(8) Docket entries;

(9) File date;

(10) General execution, garnishment, and sequestration information as provided in COR 4.19.1 and indexing number if available;

(11) Trial judge currently assigned;

(12) Trial judge at disposition;

(13) Judgment or appellate decision;

(14) Judgment or appellate mandate date;

(15) Party address;

(16) Party name and type, except the names of victims of domestic violence shall not be available pursuant to 18 USC 2265(d)(3); and

(17) Satisfaction of judgment date.


Cases filed under chapter 455, RSMo, (adult and child protection orders) shall be available only by entering the exact case number until a full order of protection shall have been granted.  Thereafter, the case shall be available in accordance with COR 2.04(a) and COR 2.04(b).

Criminal Cases


(1) Appellate mandate date;

(2) Appellate opinion;

(3) Attorneys' addresses;

(4) Attorneys' names;

(5) Bail amount;

(6) Calendar dates;

(7) Case number;

(8) Case type;

(9) Pending charges;

(10) Year of birth;

(11) Defendant address;

(12) Defendant name;

(13) Disposition type;

(14) Docket entries;

(15) File date;

(16) Finding and finding date;

(17) Judgment and judgment date;

(18) Sentence and sentence date and offenses for which sentenced;

(19) Trial judge currently assigned;

(20) Trial judge at disposition;

(21) Law enforcement agency;

(22) Offense tracking number;

(23) Violation code, date and description; and

(24) Suspended imposition of sentence prior to successful completion of probation.
Notwithstanding the provisions of the section, upon initial filing of a criminal case, a prosecuting attorney may request a court to temporarily remove the case from Internet access if:


(1) A warrant has been requested; and

(2) There is believed to be a high risk of physical injury to officers or other persons if defendant should become aware of the issuance of the warrant.


Such removal will be for a period of five calendar days from the date the case is filed or until the warrant is executed, whichever occurs first.

(c) If available in an electronic format, liens on real estate pursuant to chapter 429, RSMo, during the time they are enforceable as liens, final civil judgments (excluding post-conviction proceedings), probate orders serving as judgments, and decrees may be made remotely accessible to the public if not confidential by statute or rule.


COURT OPERATING RULE 2.05 - ACCESS TO PERSONAL INFORMATION

 (a) Official court files.  Case records containing social security numbers and personal information may be disseminated pursuant to COR 2.02, if such records are otherwise open to the public pursuant to statute.  Unless required by statute, court personnel shall not expunge or redact social security numbers or personal information that appears in case records.

(b) Case management databases.  Social security numbers and personal information may be collected and used by the courts for internal purposes such as party identification, compilation of jury lists, collection of fees, fines, or restitution.  Dissemination of social security numbers and personal information appearing in court databases shall be restricted to court personnel and to those state or federal agencies to which the court has a statutory or constitutional duty to disclose, including, but not limited to,  child support enforcement, social security administration, and department of revenue.

(c) Public inquiries.  Any public inquiries specifically requesting personal information shall be answered only by providing access to the case files.  The clerks shall not provide such information verbally or by facsimile, or e-mail.  Personal information includes, but is not limited to:


(1) Social security numbers;

(2) Motor vehicle operator license numbers;

(3) Victim information including name, address, and other contact information;

(4) Informant information including name, address, and other contact information;

(5) Witness information including name, address, and other contact information;

(6) State identification numbers; and

(7) Financial institution account numbers, credit card numbers, personal identification numbers, or passwords used to secure accounts.


COURT OPERATING  RULE 2.06 - ACCESS TO ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS

Administrative records are generally considered to be open to the public.  Exceptions include personnel records and any other record considered confidential pursuant to chapter 610, RSMo.


COURT OPERATING  RULE 2.07 -ACCESS TO COMPILED INFORMATION FROM COURT RECORDS

If a compiled report used within the judiciary is prepared from or contains case management data elements, the report shall be made available only if:

(a) All of the data elements in the report would have been made available under this COR 2; or

(b) The report is of summary data consisting of non-identifying information.
There is no obligation for the courts to compile information from court records.


COURT OPERATING  RULE 2.08 - ACCESS PROCEDURES

A custodian of records shall be named for each clerk’s office to approve or reject requests for records.  If a custodian of records has not been named, the appointing authority for that office shall be the custodian of records.

The court may:

(a) Develop and make available to the public the procedures that are to be followed to obtain access to electronic and paper records;

(b) Develop procedures to ensure that confidential records are protected from disclosure to the public; and

(c) Provide appropriate training to court staff concerning the provisions of this COR 2.

Requests for access may be submitted orally or in writing, as determined by the custodian of records.  However, requests for administrative records shall be in writing.  The requesting person shall not be required to disclose the purpose of the request.

The custodian of records shall respond to the request as promptly as practical.

Denials of access requests shall be in writing if desired by the requesting person.

The following information in a court record will only be publicly accessible at a court facility in the jurisdiction in which the case was filed:


(1) Findings of non-paternity under section 210.846, RSMo;

(2) Pleadings and orders in child abuse and neglect cases under section 211.319, RSMo;

(3) Pleadings and orders in termination of parental rights cases under section 211.319, RSMo;

(4) All records in felony A and B delinquency cases under section 211.321, RSMo; and

(5) Final disposition of criminal case under section 610.105, RSMo.


COURT OPERATING  RULE 2.09 - ACCESS DENIAL REVIEW

The state judicial records committee, upon receipt of a written request, may review any request for access to information that has been denied.  The state judicial records committee shall not review any determination by the custodian of records as to the payment of fees.  The request will be reviewed at the next regular meeting of the committee.  The requesting person and the custodian of records shall be notified in writing of the committee’s decision as soon as possible after a determination has been made.


COURT OPERATING  RULE 2.10- REQUESTS FOR BULK DISTRIBUTION OF COURT RECORDS

Bulk distribution of court records shall be made only upon approval of the state judicial records committee.  Under no circumstances shall bulk distribution of court records be made for commercial gain.


COURT OPERATING  RULE 2.11 - FEES

Reasonable fees may be charged for services provided.