Or, if the contractor you want to fix the roof has been successfully sued for breach of contract?

It just got harder to find out the details.

Earlier this week, the state Supreme Court issued rules closing several online records that were previously open. The rules also require personal information to be redacted from paper files.

The state's high court oversees a system putting records from 13 district courts and the appellate courts online. The type of information available online varies from county to county.

The court Web site can be accessed at www.tulsaworld.com/oscn.

Tulsa and Oklahoma counties are among the counties that make court filings available online to the public.

Some information allows the public to review divorce information, look up probate documents and learn the details of home foreclosures.

It also provides information on contract disputes, license revocations, state agency lawsuits and child support.

Oklahoma Supreme Court Chief Justice James Winchester said Friday that the rules closing online records and redacting personal information from files will be "refined."

In the next 90 days, the state's high court will look at the particulars of how its new rules will work, he said.

The new rules take effect June 10.

Winchester said the court needs to balance privacy with the public's desire for information.

"Although the Supreme Court has offered web-based access to dockets for a number of years, there has never been a uniform, statewide policy to guide the court clerks in handling sensitive information," Winchester said in a recent letter to a lawmaker explaining the reasoning behind the decision. "As a result, a few counties took the step of scanning and posting every document filed in each case to the court's Web site. In some instances, these documents include personal identifiers such as Social Security numbers, bank account numbers and other private information."

The rules require litigants to redact personal information, such as birth dates, social security numbers and home addresses, and file them under a separate cover sheet if need be.

The new rules take many filings, such as legal briefs and supporting documents, offline. Under the new rules, only the docket sheet, or list of events in a case, will be available online.

To learn the specifics of a case, a person will have to drive to the courthouse and review the paper files.

"It is sort of like being allowed to read the table of contents but not allowed to buy the book unless you get in your car and go to the store and buy it," said Mark Thomas, Oklahoma Press Association executive vice president. "People have come to expect the convenience of accessing those records online. To just suddenly remove those electronic records is something the public is going to be very upset about."

Thomas said that if you want all your information to be private, settle your affairs in private.

"If you have to resort to using the public courts, paid for by taxpayers, expect most of the information to be public," he said.

Thomas said many people have come to rely on the online court records to check on prospective employees and businesses they might contract with.

"They are just starting to find out that those records no longer are available and they are starting to scream," Thomas said.

Mike Evans, administrative director of the courts, said he has received calls, including some from the media and court clerks, wondering why personal information is available on the Internet, supplied by the courts, especially during a time when identity theft is a concern.

"Also, we have had a lot of members of the public who saw their own information available on the Internet and contacted our office and clerks criticizing the fact that the information is publicly dis played," Evans said.

He said eventually the court may choose to have a restrictive system allowing access.

"We hope in the future to go to a restrictive-access system that allows someone to receive this information once the files are cleaned up," Evans said. "They are going to be cleaned up when lawyers and litigants begin not putting this information in court files at all. The Supreme Court is trying to put together a uniform court management system to allow us to make some of this information available in the future if the court chose to do it."

Evans said that while there is a statutory basis for having the files at a courthouse, there is not a legal basis for having Internet services to display the records.

Barbara Hoberock (405) 528-2465
barbara.hoberock@tulsaworld.com

Open government awards Monday

FOI Oklahoma Inc. on Monday will present three awards dealing with open government:

• The Ben Blackstock Award goes to the nongovernmental person or organization that has done the most to better the free flow of information in the state.
• The Sunshine Award goes to a public official or governmental body that has done the most to bring openness to government.
• The Black Hole Award goes to the government agency that has done the most to impede the free flow of information.

To find out more about open records, go to www.tulsaworld.com/foioklahoma