Privacy Protections for Filings Made with the Court – Motions to Restrict Public

Access (a) Ex Parte Motions to Redact Personal Information. If a party submits documents to be docketed that contain information that should be redacted from public access pursuant to Fed. R. Bankr. P. 9037, the party shall file an ex parte motion requesting an order directing the Clerk of Court to restrict the unredacted document and the party shall thereafter tender separately a proposed order granting the same. Simultaneous with the filing of the ex parte motion, the party shall file an amended redacted document. The Clerk may restrict public access to the unredacted document pending entry of an order granting the ex parte motion.

(b) Filing Motions to Redact in Closed Cases; No Fee; Case Will Remain Closed. The granting of a motion to redact in a closed case is ministerial in nature and does 56 not impact the administration of the case. For that reason, a party seeking redaction in a closed case does not need to file a motion to reopen the case, and no fee for reopening shall be collected by the Clerk. A party seeking redaction may instead just file a motion to redact, with the proposed redaction included in the motion, and the case will remain closed.

Pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1930 and the Miscellaneous Fee Schedule and by enacting this Local Bankruptcy Rule, the court finds “appropriate circumstances” exist for waiving the fee. The redaction of personal information inadvertently filed in a bankruptcy case effectuates the privacy requirements approved by the Judicial Conference of the United States and is in the public interest. Further, the restriction of access to such information and the filing of an amended claim may be accomplished without the case being reopened and that such remedy furthers the purposes of the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of the relief requested.