DEFINITIONS

(A) As used in these rules, unless the context otherwise indicates, the following terms have the following meanings: (1) “Accept” or “Acceptance” in the context of electronic filing indicates entry of an electronic document submitted to the electronic filing system. Entry of a document submitted for electronic filing occurs after a court clerk has determined that the submission complies with the applicable civil and criminal procedural rules, including M.R. Civ. P. 5(f) and Rule 34 of these rules. Once the document is entered, that electronic filing becomes part of the electronic case file. (2) “Accessible by the public” means that a court record is open to inspection by any member of the public and may be reproduced as permitted by these rules. Under these rules, some court records may be accessible by the public only at a courthouse, and other court records may be accessible by the public both remotely and at a courthouse. “Accessible by the public” does not mean that the court will search for records when the requester does not have information sufficient to identify the specific court records sought. (3) “Accessible by the public only at a courthouse” means that a court record may be inspected by any member of the public at a public access computer at the courthouse or by another means through the clerk’s office. Juvenile case records that are accessible by the public only at a courthouse cannot be copied electronically nor may hard copies be provided by the court clerk. All other court records that are accessible by the public only at a courthouse cannot be copied electronically, but hard copies may be provided by the court clerk. A fee may be charged. (4) “Accessible by the public remotely” means that a court record may be inspected or reproduced by any member of the public 3 remotely through the court’s electronic access platform. Court records that are accessible by the public remotely are also accessible by the public at a courthouse. (5) “Aggregate data” means summary information extracted, assembled, or derived from compiled data. “Aggregate data” eliminates any case- or party-identifying information including, but not limited to, docket numbers, names, personally information, and addresses. identifying (6) “Bulk data” means an electronic collection of data comprising information derived from multiple records, whose primary relationship to each other is their shared origin from single or multiple databases. “Bulk data” is different from multiple individual records. (7) “By law” means by federal or state law or regulation, court rule, including these rules, or administrative order. (8) “Case management system” or “CMS” means an electronic document repository maintained, administered, and managed by the Maine Judicial Branch to track information and manage cases. (9) “Child protection matter” means any child protection matter filed under Title 22 of the Maine Revised Statutes. (10) “Civil case” means any case that is not a criminal case subject to Rule 5, a juvenile case subject to Rule 6, or a family matter, child protection matter, or protection order case subject to Rule 7. (11) “Compiled data” means information that is derived from the selection, collection, or reformulation of all or some of the information from the records of more than one case or judicial proceeding. (12) “Conventional filing” and its variants mean any lawful means of filing documents that does not use the EFS. (13) “Conventional service” and its variants mean service accomplished through any lawful means of serving documents that does not use the EFS. 4 (14) “Court” means the Supreme Judicial Court, the Superior Court, the District Court, and the specialty courts and dockets within those courts. (15) “Court clerk” means a manager of court operations, clerk of court, deputy clerk, assistant clerk, associate clerk, administrative clerk, staff of a clerk’s office, or staff of the Service Center/Violations Bureau. (16) “Court record” (a) “Court record” means any file, document, information, or data received or maintained by a court in electronic form in connection with a specific case or proceeding, including, but not limited to: (i) Pleadings, briefs, stipulations, other requests for relief, and their respective attachments, correspondence, and documentary evidentiary exhibits submitted with court filings; petitions, motions, (ii) Orders, judgments, opinions, and decrees; (iii) Registries of actions, calendars, docket sheets, and other information created or prepared by court clerks that is related to a case or proceeding; and (iv) Juvenile Code. Juvenile case records as defined in the Maine (b) “Court record” does not following materials, even if they exist in connection with a specific case or proceeding: include the (i) Information gathered, maintained, or stored by a governmental agency or other entity to which any employee of the Maine Judicial Branch has access but that is not part of a court record or file or is part of the court record but is prohibited from release by law; 5 (ii) Notes, memoranda, and drafts thereof, and any other material prepared or collected by a justice, judge, or magistrate, court-appointed referee, or other court staff at the direction of a judicial officer and used for a judicial settlement conference, in recording the judicial officer’s notes of a proceeding, or in researching or preparing orders, judgments, opinions, or decrees; (iii) Internal draft working documents, reports, or data analysis prepared for or by a justice, judge, magistrate, court-appointed bail commissioner, or justice of the peace related to court practices, schedules, work assignments, and procedures; referee, other court staff, (iv) Legal work product, including drafts, and other records or reports of any attorney, law clerk, intern, or other person employed by or representing the Maine Judicial Branch that are produced in the regular course of business or during representation of the Maine Judicial Branch; (v) Records of consultative, advisory, or deliberative discussions pertaining to the rendering of decisions or the management of cases; (vi) Discovery materials served through the EFS unless they have been otherwise filed through the EFS; (vii) Exhibits and illustrative aids submitted at or in preparation for trial or hearing unless they have been otherwise filed through the EFS; (viii) Juror information; and (ix) Any other documents or information not expressly defined as court records, including administrative records or reports maintained by the Maine Judicial Branch. (17) “Courthouse” means any facility in which a State of Maine District Court or Superior Court or the Supreme Judicial Court is housed. “Courthouse” does not include county probate courts. 6 (18) “Electronic case file” means the dataset that includes any document, information, data, or other item created, collected, received, or maintained by the Maine Judicial Branch in connection with a specific case that is readable through the use of an electronic device. The electronic case file does not include anything that is not a court record as defined in these rules. (19) “Electronic document” means the electronic form of pleadings, notices, motions, warrants, orders, exhibits, briefs, judgments, writs of execution, and other records accepted by a court clerk for filing or issued by the court. Electronic documents include documents filed in digitized format or converted to digitized format by a court clerk. (20) “Electronic filing” and its variants mean the filing of a document using the EFS. An electronic filing under these rules does not include the submission or transmission of documents to a court through other electronic means such as email, facsimile, or external USB drives. (21) “Electronic filing system” or “EFS” means the system approved by the Maine Judicial Branch for the filing and service of electronic documents. (22) “Electronic service” and its variants mean the electronic transmission, using the EFS, of a document or information to a party who is a required user pursuant to Rule 33(B), an elective user pursuant to Rule 33(E), or a party’s attorney. (23) “Electronic notification message” means an automatic electronic message generated by the CMS and sent to all attorneys or parties in a specific case to denote the receipt of a filing. (24) “Family matters” means cases or proceedings, including post-judgment proceedings, for the following: (a) Divorce; (b) Annulment or judicial separation; 7 (c) Parental rights and responsibilities, including the establishment or enforcement of a child support obligation and petitions to terminate parental rights and responsibilities filed under 19-A M.R.S. § 1658; (d) Paternity or any type of parentage, including actions to enforce or obtain remedies for noncompliance with a gestational carrier agreement; (e) Grandparent or great-grandparent visitation; and (f) Adoption, guardianship, name change, or emancipation of a minor. (25) “Filer” means a person registered with the electronic filing system using the EFS to submit documents for filing with the court or for service on other parties through the EFS. The filer may be an attorney representing a party in the case, a party, or anyone authorized to submit documents for filing on their behalf. The filer may also be another person or entity authorized by the court or required by law to submit reports, evaluations, or other communications. (26) “Inspection” means only visual review of court records and include photocopying, photographing, or otherwise does not reproducing those records. (27) “Juror information” means the following for all jurors and prospective jurors: (a) Names; (b) Telephone numbers, addresses, including email or other electronic addresses, and other contact information; (c) Social Security numbers; (d) Dates of birth; (e) Source lists; (f) Seating charts; 8 (g) Qualification questionnaires; (h) Information screening obtained questionnaires or in voir dire proceedings that personally identifies jurors; and special by (i) All other personally identifying information of a juror or information from which a juror’s identity could be learned. (28) “Nonpublic” means access by the public is restricted or prohibited by law. (29) “Personally identifying information” means information that can be used to distinguish, detect, discover, or trace an individual, either alone or when combined with other personal or identifying information that is linked or linkable to a specific individual, or as otherwise defined by law. (30) “Protection order case” means any protection from abuse or protection from harassment case. (31) “Public” (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), “public” means the following: (i) Any person, business, media organization, or entity; and (ii) A government agency or commission for which there is no existing federal or state law, court rule, or court order defining that agency’s access to court records. (b) “Public” does not mean the following: (i) Court staff, justices, judges, and magistrates; (ii) The parties to a specific case or proceeding, their attorneys and their attorneys’ authorized agents, and persons identified by law as having access to the court record in that case or proceeding; 9 (iii) Private or governmental persons, vendors, or entities that assist the Maine Judicial Branch in performing its functions and are subject to court restrictions on the use and dissemination of information from court records, including bail commissioners, justices of the peace, interpreters, court-appointed referees, and Court Alternative Dispute Resolution Service (CADRES) and Foreclosure Diversion Program (FDP) mediators; (iv) Persons or governmental entities whose access to court records is governed by law, or by a policy set by the State Court Administrator; (v) Persons who are authorized by law to access court records; (vi) An alleged victim in a criminal or juvenile proceeding; (vii) The parent, guardian, or legal custodian of an alleged victim in a criminal or juvenile proceeding when the alleged victim is a minor; (viii) An immediate family member, parent, guardian, legal custodian, or a licensed investigator acting on behalf of an alleged victim in a criminal or juvenile proceeding when the alleged victim cannot act on his or her own behalf due to death, age, physical or mental disease, or disability; and (ix) An attorney representing the alleged victim in a criminal or juvenile proceeding. (32) “Public access computer” means a facility within a courthouse to access the Maine Judicial Branch’s closed-loop system. (33) “Registry of actions,” formerly identified as “docket entries,” means the list of case information maintained by the court clerk that contains the case caption; docket number; a chronological entry identifying the date and title of each complaint, motion, order, judgment, 10 notice, action, or other document filed in a case; and the dates of events in the case. (34) “Unrepresented litigant” means a person or entity, other than an attorney, who is not represented by an attorney in a court proceeding. Advisory Note – January 2026