FILED
Oct 13 2006
United States District Court
Northern District of Ohio
General Order
GENERAL ORDER NO. 2006-24
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO
)
ORDER RESTRICTING INTERNET )
ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS IN ) ORDER NO. 2006-24
E.R.I.S.A. CASES )
)
At the regular meeting of judges conducted on October 10, 2006, the Court agreed
that Internet access to the individual documents in Employee Retirement Income Security
Act (E.R.I.S.A.) cases will be limited to counsel of record and Court staff only. While the
Court is limiting Internet access to individual documents in these cases, it will continue to
provide access to the documents upon request at its Court Houses, just as it has in the
past. In addition, the docket sheets for E.R.I.S.A. cases will continue to be available to
the public online. A Docket sheet contains a listing of the documents filed in a case along
with a brief description of each document.
This action is adopted in recognition of the fact that individual documents in
E.R.I.S.A. cases typically contain social security numbers, financial account numbers,
medical records and other sensitive information that require unique handling in order to
protect the privacy rights of individuals. This action is consistent with the manner in which
the Court has provided access to documents in Social Security Cases since October,
1999 (see General Orders 99-55 and 2000-48 which designated social security cases for
electronic filing). The Court is sensitive to the fact that there is a vast difference between
making the documents in such cases available to anonymous individuals over the Internet
versus providing access to specific case files to individuals at the Court House.
The Court believes that in taking this action it is adopting the best option currently
available to protect individuals from identity theft and other forms of online abuse while
continuing to provide the public with access to Court records.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
FOR THE COURT
James G. Carr
Chief Judge
United States District Court
