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Judge, clerk to resolve hidden dockets

The civil cases involved are being reviewed. Some dockets and case files have been opened.

By JAMAL THALJI
Published July 31, 2006

NEW PORT RICHEY - It's okay to seal certain civil court files in Florida from public view. Cases involving adoptions, for example, or the termination of parental rights.

But it's not okay to seal the docket of those cases - the public record of their very existence.

That's exactly what happened to dozens of Pasco County civil cases over the years.

Now Clerk of the Circuit Court Jed Pittman's staff and Pasco-Pinellas Chief Judge David Demers are working to fix the problems that led to a hidden docket of 157 individually sealed court cases in Pasco County. An additional 151 sexual violence injunction cases had been sealed by blanket order.

Officials stressed that the records were not intentionally kept from the public.

"No one has done that here," Pittman said.

Hidden court dockets have cropped up in Broward, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties in recent weeks. Now Pasco is grappling with the problem. Officials from the clerk's office and the circuit spoke to the St. Petersburg Times these past weeks as they addressed the issue.

"It has never been the circuit's policy to hide the existence of court proceedings," Ron Stuart, the circuit spokesman, said in a written statement Friday.

First Amendment Foundation director Adria Harper, whose nonprofit is committed to open government, said Floridians have not only a statutory right to public records but also a constitutional right.

"I don't think there is a justification for a secret docket," Harper said. "They can close (a file) by a court rule or court order if the reason and justification are met under the law.

"But that's not the same thing as completely wiping a case from the system as if it never happened."

The discovery of a hidden docket in Pinellas led to an audit of similar files in the circuit's other county, Pasco. That led to the restoration of dozens of civil cases to Pasco's public docket.

That includes the 151 sexual violence injunction cases. They had been sealed and stripped from public dockets by Demers' 2004 order to protect the identities of the victims.

The chief judge recently amended that order. Now the case files and the dockets are open, but the victims' identities are withheld from public view.

As for the 157 individually sealed cases, 10 were recently returned to public view by the clerk of the court because they had been improperly sealed.

The remaining 147 do not deal with sexual violence injunctions or the other usual exemptions from public records law, the clerk's office said.

It appears 116 of them could be connected to court files that are exempt from public viewing in the circuit, said Dennis Alfonso, the attorney for the clerk of the court.

In 2003 the circuit's chief judge issued an order sealing Baker and Marchman act cases from public viewing. Under those acts, people with mental health or substance abuse problems can be involuntarily committed to treatment facilities.

The 116 cases were not filed under those acts but may have been connected to other cases that were, Alfonso said.

It appears the remaining 31 cases deal with a range of subjects, including divorce, domestic violence, guardianship and name changes.

The chief judge is reviewing 32 of the files and could look at more. Alfonso said Demers is examining the "least clear" judicial orders. If any should be restored to public dockets, the circuit's spokesman said, he expects Demers will do just that.

Pittman said his office has put in place new policies and procedures to ensure no more court files are improperly stripped from the public docket. A specialist will review a judge's order to make sure it is explicitly followed. Also, Pittman's staff will ask judges to clarify confusing orders.

But judges still have the power to order court files kept off public dockets. Alfonso said it's not the clerk's job to challenge judges on what should be sealed, and what should be public record.

"We maintain the court record at the pleasure of the court," Alfonso said. "So we follow their directives concerning court records. We don't test them."

[Last modified July 30, 2006, 21:58:11]