New Court Rule to Protect Personal Information in Court Filings

Given the growing risk of identity theft, the New York State Office of Court Administration (OCA) is taking additional steps to protect personal information included in court filings.

The OCA recently announced changes to the Uniform Civil Rules of the New York Supreme and County Court, which will take effect next year. The new rules will place the onus on attorneys to omit or protect personal information from documents filed with the courts, including:

• Social security numbers (except last four digits);
• Employer identification numbers (except last four digits);
• Date of birth (except the year);
• The full name of a minor (except initials); and
• Financial account numbers, including those identifying credit/debit cards, bank accounts, investment accounts, and insurance accounts (except last four digits).

“After looking at this for years, and looking at the federal model, we feel this is an appropriate balance in a world where identity theft is so prevalent,” said David Bookstaver, a spokesman for the Unified Court System. “We really felt we had a responsibility to protect litigants’ personal information from getting into the hands of identity thieves.”

New York’s new data protection rule largely tracks Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2(a), which restricts the inclusion of personal identifiers, such as social security numbers and financial account information, in court filings. However, the New York rule does provide exceptions for certain actions, including matrimonial and surrogate court actions as well as guardianship proceedings under Article 81 of the state’s Mental Hygiene Law.

In addition, the requirements do not apply to the last four digits of relevant account numbers in actions arising out of a consumer credit transaction if the defendant appears and denies responsibility for the account. In such cases, the plaintiff may amend the filing to include the complete account number for in camera review by the court.

The new rule is effective January 1, 2015. However, compliance will be voluntary from January 1, 2015 through February 28, 2015, and mandatory thereafter.

Do you want to know more about how you can protect personal information? Feel free to post any questions or concerns in the comment section below.