By John Domurad
In a time when it seems there is a substantial data breach announced weekly, I wanted to take this opportunity to reinforce the importance of adhering to the privacy protections contained in Rule 5.2 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Under this Rule, special attention is required when filing a document containing an individual’s Social Security or taxpayer number, date of birth, names of minor children or financial account numbers.
With increasing regularity, legal and business platforms are immediately capturing and downloading documents filed via CM/ECF. Accordingly, prior to filing documents, attorneys are encouraged to balance the competing interests of the right of the public to access court filings against the privacy interests of the parties. To assist reminding attorneys of these requirements, the CM/ECF system provides two specific warnings regarding the need to redact personal identifiers prior to being able to file a document.
While the task of protecting the privacy interests of the litigants rests squarely on the document filer, if a Northern District of New York Clerk’s Office teammate notices a personal identifier within a pleading, the Clerk’s Office will reach out to the attorney to inquire if this was intentional or if they would like to file a redacted document. Please note, this review is only for pleadings (not attachments) and is only cursory in nature. Persons filing documents with the Court should not rely upon a Clerk’s Office review to satisfy the filer’s obligations under Fed. R. Civ. Proc. 5.2.
We understand the difficulty of maintaining the delicate balance between filing necessary documents to advance a case and protecting an individual’s privacy. We would encourage all filers to review our Local Rule of Civil Practice 5.2, and Criminal Rule 49.1 for further guidance on this issue. Also, if you have any questions, or you have any ideas on how we can assist you, please feel free to call or email me, John Domurad, at (518) 257-1809, [email protected] or Chief Deputy Dan McAllister, at (315) 234-8505, [email protected].