Month: May 2021

The Maine Judicial Branch entered a fee sharing arrangement with Tyler technologies to make electronic records available to the public. In addition to reducing access to court records (a value that the MJB has elevated over personal privacy), fees for access to public court records will have a disproportionate negative impact on non-lawyers who do not have the funds to pay for record searches.

According to the Maine Sunday Telegram Article:

The current Odyssey system allows free searches by name or docket number. Under the new platform called re:Search there will be paid subscriptions for extra features, like the ability to save searches or get alerts about certain cases, costing $99 and $900 a year.

The MJB set the fees at the same rates users pay to make paper copies at a courthouse: $2 for the first page and $1 for each subsequent page. Most states with digital court records charge lower fees, and a small number provide access for free.

The rules waive fees for parties and attorneys of record, who can access documents in their own cases at no cost. Also, a court can grant a waiver if cost is a barrier, but the process to request waiver is not clear.

By way of comparison, federal courts use a digital document system that charges 10 cents per page and typically has a cap of $3 for documents.

See Maine Sunday Telegram article from May 30, 2021:

https://www.pressherald.com/2021/05/30/high-fees-could-hurt-public-access-as-maine-court-records-go-digital/

Here is a pdf of that same article from the MST:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CFV9OB8dpumnaF9QO3_9o0JodhloPeKIvfPW6HAYf2Y/edit?usp=sharing

Judge Nancy Torrenson will hear the Motion to Dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction and for failure to state a claim, Motion Dismiss Intervenor Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint,  Second Motion for Preliminary Injunction and SecondMotion for Injunctive Relief on 6/9/2021 at 11:00.

Editor Bill Girdner critiques, the Maine Judicial Branch’s revenue sharing arrangement with its technology vendor, Tyler Technologies. Under the agreement, the MJB obtains services from Tyler and in exchange shares revenue from court record searches. The result is disproportionately high fees for court users and those seeking what the court has deemed “public information.”

“In Maine the court bureaucracy is hiding behind a contract with a vendor that is onerous indeed, and should serve as a lesson to other state courts. I keep bringing it up in Maine because the judiciary’s deal is so bad. Public servants are getting into bed with a huge and highly profitable company and they are being abused.”

The full column can be found on Courthouse News Service Website (May 11, 2021):