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Keep Records Open in People's Court Maybe the reason that 107 civil-court cases aren't listed on the public docket really is just a misunderstanding between Broward judges and the clerk's office. Maybe. If so, the chief judge and clerk shouldn't lose a single minute in correcting the errors and finding ways to communicate better. At least 18 judges have ''supersealed'' cases, placing them on a secret docket outside public scrutiny, according to a Miami Herald review of court files. Four of the judges say that they only intended to seal sensitive information -- not conceal the cases entirely. The other judges either didn't respond to reporters' queries or referred questions to Judge Ross. Following judges' orders For his part, Chief Judge Ross says that he didn't even know any cases in the Broward courts had been secretly docketed. Mr. Forman says that his employees are merely doing what the judges order. When a case is marked ''confidential,'' court clerks put it in the secret docket and seal it, he said. For these two public officials to each deny their share of responsibility for the disposition of these cases is unacceptable. Regardless of the whys of the secret cases, the practice must stop. Concealment of lawsuits, divorces and other contested civil cases is unconstitutional according to two appellate rulings -- one from the 11th U.S. Court of Appeals and the other a state court in West Palm Beach. In a 1988 decision that opened a sealed divorce file, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that there is a ''strong presumption of public access'' to court proceedings and records. Establish strict rules Given these rulings, Judge Ross should make sure that he gives clear and precise instructions to the judges he supervises about how they should handle requests to seal a case. Clerk Forman should make it mandatory that his staff understand exactly what information is requested to be sealed. And he should have strict rules for doing just that and nothing more. There are valid reasons to keep sensitive information confidential -- children's privacy, shielding a police officer's home address, protecting trade information. But surely there can be very few times when sealing the entire case is justified. In their ruling, Florida justices said confidentiality in court cases should be ''no broader than necessary.'' Using this guideline, a Broward judge should have little reason to take an entire file off the docket and only rarely request that information in files be sealed.
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A Feast
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