Privacy Protection For Filings Made With The Court

(a) Definitions. (1) “Confidential” means information in a court record as described in Rule 3.4(b)(1) or as ordered by the court, which is protected from public access but remains accessible to the court and the parties. (2) “Redact” means to remove confidential information from a court record to protect it. (3) “Sealed” means court records that are protected from public access, party access and access by unauthorized court personnel. (b) Redacted Filings. (1) In General. Unless the court orders otherwise, a court record that contains an individual's social-security number, taxpayer-identification number, birth date, the name of an individual known to be a minor, or a financial-account number, including any credit, debit, investment or retirement account number, must be redacted to include only: (A) the last four digits of the social-security number and taxpayer-identification number; (B) the year of the individual's birth; (C) the minor's initials; (D) the last four digits of the financial-account number; and (E) if a victim requests, all victim contact information must be redacted from documents to be filed with the court in a criminal or delinquency case. (2) Responsibility of Party or Nonparty to Redact. A party or nonparty making a filing with the court is solely responsible for ensuring that information required to be redacted under Rule 3.4(b)(1) does not appear on the filing. (3) Exemptions from Redaction Requirement. The redaction requirement does not apply to the following: (A) any case record not accessible to the public under N.D. Sup. Ct. Admin. R. 41(3)(b)(6) and (7); (B) the record of an administrative or agency proceeding; (C) the record of a court or tribunal, if that record was not subject to the redaction requirement when originally filed; (D) a filing covered by Rule 3.4(c); (E) the name of an individual known to be a minor when the minor is a party, including: (i) in a non-criminal traffic case; (ii) in a change of name case; (iii) in a minor conservatorship case; (iv) named in a domestic violence protection order, disorderly conduct restraining order or sexual assault restraining order; (v) when the law requires the public disclosure of the minor’s full name; or (vi) as otherwise ordered by the court. (F) a defendant's date of birth in a court filing that is related to criminal matters, non-criminal motor vehicle and game and fish matters, and infractions. (c) Procedure to Protect from Public Access. (1) Parties may not seal otherwise public documents by consent or by labeling them “sealed” or “confidential.” (2) Motion. A party may move that a filing be designated “confidential” or “sealed.” In its motion, the party must show that protection of the filing is justified under the factors listed in N.D. Sup. Ct. Admin. R. 41(4)(a). A motion to protect a filing from public access, the filing in question, and any supporting documents, must be filed as “confidential” until the court makes its ruling. A court record may not be designated “confidential” or “sealed” under these rules when reasonable redaction will adequately resolve the issues and protect the parties. (3) Court Order. On motion, or on its own, the court may order that a filing be designated “confidential” or “sealed”. The court may later order that the filing be made public or order the person who made the filing to file a redacted version for the public record. (d) Filing a Confidential Information Form. (1) In General. A filing that contains redacted information must be filed together with a confidential information form (shown in Appendix H) that identifies each item of redacted information and specifies an appropriate identifier that uniquely corresponds to each item listed. The form will be confidential except as to the parties or as the court may direct. Any reference in the case to a listed identifier will be construed to refer to the corresponding item of information. (2) Defendant Information. In a criminal case, the prosecutor must file a confidential information form that includes, when known, the defendant's social security number. (e) Non-conforming Documents. (1) Waiver. A person waives the protection of Rule 3.4(b) as to the person's own information by filing it without redaction or without moving that the information be protected from public access. (2) An individual may apply to the court to redact the individual’s own improperly included protected information from a filed document and the clerk of court must temporarily restrict access to the document pending order by the court. (3) If the court finds protected information was improperly included in a filed document, the court must restrict access to the document and may order a properly redacted document to be filed. (f) Sanctions. If a filer fails to comply with this rule, the court, upon its own motion or upon the motion of any party, may impose sanctions. Sanctions may include: (1) an order requiring the pleading or other document to be returned to the party for redaction; (2) an order striking the document; and (3) an award of attorney’s fees and costs to an individual required to bring a motion under Rule 3.4(e)(2).