CALIFORNIA COURTS
A number of California Counties have removed the DOB from their public index.
This abrupt change is the result of a legal decision against the Riverside Superior Court where a judge ruled that displaying a DOB on electronic indexes is prohibited. The California Court of Appeal recently ruled in All of Us or None of Us v. Hamrick that an individual’s date of birth and driver’s license number cannot be used as data identifying a criminal defendant in public records. The ruling will, if upheld, affect employers and third-party consumer reporting agencies when conducting background checks on applicants or employees.
The counties currently affected are Fresno, Kern, Riverside, Santa Clara, Tulare, Ventura, Los Angeles & Yuba.
We are able to index all searches submitted, but possible cases are “name-match-only” and must be checked for ID match.
While we have partial solutions in all affected counties, this additional barrier is causing increased delays in completing searches with possible cases.
The Central Court intends to apply GC 70627(c) to clerk index checks, the text of which reads:
“The fee for a search of records or files conducted by a court employee that requires more than 10 minutes is fifteen dollars ($15) for each search.”
Consequently, it appears any search subjects with possible records may be subjected to a court fee of up to $15 per search.
There is no delay for clear results.
Source: Baxter Research
