Sanctions - E Government Act - Failure to Redact - Joseph Hage Aaronson

Commercial Litigation and Arbitration

Commercial Litigation and Arbitration

Sanctions — E Government Act — Failure to Redact

The E Government Act of 2002 requires that personal identifiers, such as Social Security numbers, financial accounts to the last four digits, and names of minor children be redacted from federal court filings. The Judicial Conference of the United States has a Privacy Policy in place, the Standing Committee is finalizing rules on the subject that will go into effect on December 1, 2007, and many districts have local rules requiring such redaction. It is critical to keep these limitations in mind. In Luster v. City of Lebanon, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 813 (S.D. Ill. Jan. 8, 2007), defense counsel filed a document exhibiting plaintiff's social security number. Because the filing violated the E-Government Act of 2002, the District Court's Local Rule 5.1(d), and Rule 6 of the District Court's Electronic Filing Rules, the Judge issued an order to show cause why defense counsel should not be held in civil contempt. Redaction is not something that can be ignored in connection with federal court filings.

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