Entitlement to court records
Q: I wanted to get court records from the Richmond court. When I asked to get the records from my case the clerk said that I could not get any records until I put in my appeal. I also tried to put in a written declaration form and was told that it was too late. Can you help me?
A: Under a decision by the California Supreme Court (NBC Subsidiary (KNBC-TV) v. Superior Court, 20 Cal. 4th 1178 (1999)), court records are open to the public unless (1) the case falls into a limited category of cases that confidential by statute, such as some family law and juvenile cases, or (2) a judge has entered an order, after a proper hearing and after making certain findings, that the records should be sealed.
This requirement was subsequently included in the California Rules of Court, in Rules 243, 243.1 and 243.2. Even if there was some basis for not giving copies of the records to the public, you, as a party, should be entitled to see the records regardless of whether you have filed a notice of appeal. There are occasionally rare cases in which certain records are kept confidential even from one of the parties, but whether you can see the records or not should not be based on whether you have filed a notice of appeal. If a member of the public has a right to see the records under Rule 243, etc., it is difficult to understand why you would not be.