Nothing Personal: A Guide to Redacting Personal Identifiers in Filings in the Federal and New Jersey State Courts
As of September 1, 2009, the New Jersey Court Rules require that personal identifiers be redacted in papers filed with the Court, largely due to the new rules allowing public access to court documents. This is similar to what practitioners have been doing in the Federal Courts. There are, however, some differences between the State and Federal requirements.
New Jersey State Court
Attorneys must certify that personal identifiers have been and will be redacted in all filings. The certification language is on the new Case Information Statement, so signing the new CIS satisfies the certification requirement. If you are filing an initial pleading in a court that doesn’t use a CIS (e.g. Special Civil Part), then you have to add the following language to your first filed pleading: “I certify that confidential personal identifiers have been redacted from documents now submitted in the future in accordance with Rule 1:38-7(b).”
Per Rule 1:38-7(a), the following are considered confidential personal identifiers and must be redacted: Social Security number, driver’s license number, vehicle plate number, insurance policy number, active financial account number and active credit card number. In the event an active financial account is the subject of litigation, the number should be redacted except for the last four digits. R. 1:38-(b). By extension, insurance policy and credit card numbers likewise could be identified by only the last four digits. Although Rule 1:38-7 does not address the identification of minors, it is a good practice to identify them only by their initials.
Federal Court
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2 requires that the following be redacted in any filed document: Social Security number, taxpayer identification number, date of birth, the name of a minor, and a financial account number. The following information, however, may remain: the last four digits of a Social Security or taxpayer identification number, the year of a person’s birth, a minor’s initials, the last four digits of a financial account number.
Quick Reference Guide
| NJ State Court (Rule 1:38-7) |
Federal Court (Fed. R. Civ. P. 5.2) |
Must redact the following:
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Must redact the following:
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Tags: court rules, personal identifiers, redact