M.R. Elec. Ct. Sys. 2

(A) As used in these rules, unless the context otherwise indicates, the

following terms have the following meanings:

(1) “Accept” or “Acceptance” in the context of electronic filing

indicates entry of an electronic document submitted to the electronic

filing system. Entry of a document submitted for electronic filing occurs

after a court clerk has determined that the submission complies with the

applicable civil and criminal procedural rules, including M.R. Civ. P. 5(f)

and Rule 34 of these rules. Once the document is entered, that electronic

filing becomes part of the electronic case file.

(2) “Accessible by the public” means that a court record is open

to inspection by any member of the public and may be reproduced as

permitted by these rules. Under these rules, some court records may be

accessible by the public only at a courthouse, and other court records

may be accessible by the public both remotely and at a courthouse.

“Accessible by the public” does not mean that the court will search for

records when the requester does not have information sufficient to

identify the specific court records sought.

(3) “Accessible by the public only at a courthouse” means that a

court record may be inspected by any member of the public at a public

access computer at the courthouse or by another means through the

clerk’s office. Juvenile case records that are accessible by the public only

at a courthouse cannot be copied electronically nor may hard copies be

provided by the court clerk. All other court records that are accessible by

the public only at a courthouse cannot be copied electronically, but hard

copies may be provided by the court clerk. A fee may be charged.

(4) “Accessible by the public remotely” means that a court

record may be inspected or reproduced by any member of the public

remotely through the court’s electronic access platform. Court records

that are accessible by the public remotely are also accessible by the public

at a courthouse.

(5) “Aggregate data” means summary information extracted,

assembled, or derived from compiled data. “Aggregate data” eliminates

any case- or party-identifying information including, but not limited to,

docket numbers, names, personally identifying information, and

addresses.

(6) “Bulk data” means an electronic collection of data comprising

information derived from multiple records, whose primary relationship

to each other is their shared origin from single or multiple databases.

“Bulk data” is different from multiple individual records.

(7) “By law” means by federal or state law or regulation, court

rule, including these rules, or administrative order.

(8) “Case management system” or “CMS” means an electronic

document repository maintained, administered, and managed by the

Maine Judicial Branch to track information and manage cases.

(9) “Child protection matter” means any child protection matter

filed under Title 22 of the Maine Revised Statutes.

(10) “Civil case” means any case that is not a criminal case subject

to Rule 5, a juvenile case subject to Rule 6, or a family matter, child

protection matter, or protection order case subject to Rule 7.

(11) “Compiled data” means information that is derived from the

selection, collection, or reformulation of all or some of the information

from the records of more than one case or judicial proceeding.

(12) “Conventional filing” and its variants mean any lawful

means of filing documents that does not use the EFS.

(13) “Conventional service” and its variants mean service

accomplished through any lawful means of serving documents that does

not use the EFS.

(14) “Court” means the Supreme Judicial Court, the Superior

Court, the District Court, and the specialty courts and dockets within

those courts.

(15) “Court clerk” means a manager of court operations, clerk of

court, deputy clerk, assistant clerk, associate clerk, administrative clerk,

staff of a clerk’s office, or staff of the Service Center/Violations Bureau.

(16) “Court record”

(a) “Court record” means any file, document, information,

or data received or maintained by a court in electronic form in

connection with a specific case or proceeding, including, but not

limited to:

(i) Pleadings, petitions, motions, briefs,

stipulations, other requests for relief, and their respective

attachments, correspondence, and documentary evidentiary

exhibits submitted with court filings;

(ii) Orders, judgments, opinions, and decrees;

(iii) Registries of actions, calendars, docket sheets,

and other information created or prepared by court clerks

that is related to a case or proceeding; and

(iv) Juvenile case records as defined in the Maine

Juvenile Code.

(b) “Court record” does not include the following

materials, even if they exist in connection with a specific case or

proceeding:

(i) Information gathered, maintained, or stored by a

governmental agency or other entity to which any employee

of the Maine Judicial Branch has access but that is not part of

a court record or file or is part of the court record but is

prohibited from release by law;

(ii) Notes, memoranda, and drafts thereof, and any

other material prepared or collected by a justice, judge, or

magistrate, court-appointed referee, or other court staff at

the direction of a judicial officer and used for a judicial

settlement conference, in recording the judicial officer’s

notes of a proceeding, or in researching or preparing orders,

judgments, opinions, or decrees;

(iii) Internal draft working documents, reports, or

data analysis prepared for or by a justice, judge, magistrate,

court-appointed referee, other court staff, bail

commissioner, or justice of the peace related to court

practices, schedules, work assignments, and procedures;

(iv) Legal work product, including drafts, and other

records or reports of any attorney, law clerk, intern, or other

person employed by or representing the Maine Judicial

Branch that are produced in the regular course of business

or during representation of the Maine Judicial Branch;

(v) Records of consultative, advisory, or deliberative

discussions pertaining to the rendering of decisions or the

management of cases;

(vi) Discovery materials served through the EFS

unless they have been otherwise filed through the EFS;

(vii) Exhibits and illustrative aids submitted at or in

preparation for trial or hearing unless they have been

otherwise filed through the EFS;

(viii) Juror information; and

(ix) Any other documents or information not

expressly defined as court records, including administrative

records or reports maintained by the Maine Judicial Branch.

(17) “Courthouse” means any facility in which a State of Maine

District Court or Superior Court or the Supreme Judicial Court is housed.

“Courthouse” does not include county probate courts.

(18) “Electronic case file” means the dataset that includes any

document, information, data, or other item created, collected, received,

or maintained by the Maine Judicial Branch in connection with a specific

case that is readable through the use of an electronic device. The

electronic case file does not include anything that is not a court record

as defined in these rules.

(19) “Electronic document” means the electronic form of

pleadings, notices, motions, warrants, orders, exhibits, briefs,

judgments, writs of execution, and other records accepted by a court

clerk for filing or issued by the court. Electronic documents include

documents filed in digitized format or converted to digitized format by

a court clerk.

(20) “Electronic filing” and its variants mean the filing of a

document using the EFS. An electronic filing under these rules does not

include the submission or transmission of documents to a court through

other electronic means such as email, facsimile, or external USB drives.

(21) “Electronic filing system” or “EFS” means the system

approved by the Maine Judicial Branch for the filing and service of

electronic documents.

(22) “Electronic service” and its variants mean the electronic

transmission, using the EFS, of a document or information to a party who

is a required user pursuant to Rule 33(B), an elective user pursuant to

Rule 33(E), or a party’s attorney.

(23) “Electronic notification message” means an automatic

electronic message generated by the CMS and sent to all attorneys or

parties in a specific case to denote the receipt of a filing.

(24) “Family matters” means cases or proceedings, including

post-judgment proceedings, for the following:

(a) Divorce;

(b) Annulment or judicial separation;

(c) Parental rights and responsibilities, including the

establishment or enforcement of a child support obligation and

petitions to terminate parental rights and responsibilities filed

under 19-A M.R.S. § 1658;

(d) Paternity or any type of parentage, including actions to

enforce or obtain remedies for noncompliance with a gestational

carrier agreement;

(e) Grandparent or great-grandparent visitation; and

(f) Adoption, guardianship, name change, or

emancipation of a minor.

(25) “Filer” means a person registered with the electronic filing

system using the EFS to submit documents for filing with the court or for

service on other parties through the EFS. The filer may be an attorney

representing a party in the case, a party, or anyone authorized to submit

documents for filing on their behalf. The filer may also be another person

or entity authorized by the court or required by law to submit reports,

evaluations, or other communications.

(26) “Inspection” means only visual review of court records and

does not include photocopying, photographing, or otherwise

reproducing those records.

(27) “Juror information” means the following for all jurors and

prospective jurors:

(a) Names;

(b) Telephone numbers, addresses, including email or

other electronic addresses, and other contact information;

(c) Social Security numbers;

(d) Dates of birth;

(e) Source lists;

(f) Seating charts;

(g) Qualification questionnaires;

(h) Information obtained by special screening

questionnaires or in voir dire proceedings that personally identifies

jurors; and

(i) All other personally identifying information of a juror

or information from which a juror’s identity could be learned.

(28) “Nonpublic” means access by the public is restricted or

prohibited by law.

(29) “Personally identifying information” means information

that can be used to distinguish, detect, discover, or trace an individual,

either alone or when combined with other personal or identifying

information that is linked or linkable to a specific individual, or as

otherwise defined by law.

(30) “Protection order case” means any protection from abuse or

protection from harassment case.

(31) “Public”

(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), “public” means

the following:

(i) Any person, business, media organization, or

entity; and

(ii) A government agency or commission for which

there is no existing federal or state law, court rule, or court

order defining that agency’s access to court records.

(b) “Public” does not mean the following:

(i) Court staff, justices, judges, and magistrates;

(ii) The parties to a specific case or proceeding, their

attorneys and their attorneys’ authorized agents, and

persons identified by law as having access to the court record

in that case or proceeding;

(iii) Private or governmental persons, vendors, or

entities that assist the Maine Judicial Branch in performing

its functions and are subject to court restrictions on the use

and dissemination of information from court records,

including bail commissioners, justices of the peace,

interpreters, court-appointed referees, and Court Alternative

Dispute Resolution Service (CADRES) and Foreclosure

Diversion Program (FDP) mediators;

(iv) Persons or governmental entities whose access

to court records is governed by law, or by a policy set by the

State Court Administrator;

(v) Persons who are authorized by law to access

court records;

(vi) An alleged victim in a criminal or juvenile

proceeding;

(vii) The parent, guardian, or legal custodian of an

alleged victim in a criminal or juvenile proceeding when the

alleged victim is a minor;

(viii) An immediate family member, parent, guardian,

legal custodian, or a licensed investigator acting on behalf of

an alleged victim in a criminal or juvenile proceeding when

the alleged victim cannot act on his or her own behalf due to

death, age, physical or mental disease, or disability; and

(ix) An attorney representing the alleged victim in a

criminal or juvenile proceeding.

(32) “Public access computer” means a facility within a

courthouse to access the Maine Judicial Branch’s closed-loop system.

(33) “Registry of actions,” formerly identified as “docket entries,”

means the list of case information maintained by the court clerk that

contains the case caption; docket number; a chronological entry

identifying the date and title of each complaint, motion, order, judgment,

notice, action, or other document filed in a case; and the dates of events

in the case.

(34) “Unrepresented litigant” means a person or entity, other

than an attorney, who is not represented by an attorney in a court

proceeding.