Blair Cnty. C.P. Case Record Public Access § 11

A. A party, or the party’s attorney, seeking to correct a clerical error in a case

record may submit a written request for correction.

1. A request to correct a clerical error in a case record of the Supreme

Court, Superior Court or Commonwealth Court shall be submitted to

the prothonotary of the proper appellate court.

2. A request to correct a clerical error in a case record of a court of

common pleas, [or] the Philadelphia Municipal Court, or a

magisterial district court shall be submitted to the applicable

custodian.

B. The request shall be made on a form designed and published by the

Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.

C. The requestor shall specifically set forth on the request form the information

that is alleged to be a clerical error and shall provide sufficient facts, including

supporting documentation, that corroborate the requestor’s allegation that the

information in question is in error.

D. The requestor shall provide copies of the request to all parties to the case.

E. Within 10 business days of receipt of a request, the custodian shall respond in

writing to the requestor and all parties to the case in one of the following

manners:

1. The request does not contain sufficient information and facts to

determine what information is alleged to be in error, and no

further action will be taken on the request.

2. The request does not concern a case record that is covered by this

policy, and no further action will be taken on the request.

3. A clerical error does exist in the case record and the information

in question has been corrected.

4. A clerical error does not exist in the case record.

5. The request has been received and an additional period not exceeding

30 business days is necessary to complete a review of the request.

F. A requestor may seek review of the custodian’s response under Subsections

E(1)-(4) within 10 business days of the mailing date of the response.

1. The request for review shall be submitted on a form that is designed

and published by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.

2. The request shall be reviewed by the judge(s) who presided over the

case. However, if the request for review concerns a magisterial

district court’s decision, it shall be reviewed by the president

judge or his/her designee.

Case records are as susceptible to clerical errors and omissions as any other public

record. The power of the court to correct errors in its own records is inherent. E.g.,

Jackson v. Hendrick, 746 A.2d 574 (Pa. 2000). It is important to emphasize that this

section does not provide a party who is dissatisfied with a court’s decision, ruling or

judgment a new avenue to appeal the same by merely alleging there is an error in the

court’s decision, ruling or judgment. Rather, this section permits a party to “fix”

information that appears in a case record which is not, for one reason or another, correct.

Particularly in the context of Internet publication of court records, a streamlined

process is appropriate for addressing clerical errors to allow for prompt resolution of

oversights and omissions. For example, to the extent that a docket in a court’s case

management system incorrectly reflects a court’s order, or a scanning error occurred with

regard to an uploaded document, such clerical inaccuracies may be promptly corrected by

the appropriate court staff, upon notification, without a court order. Since 2007, the

Electronic Case Record Public Access Policy of the Unified Judicial System of

Pennsylvania has provided a similar procedure for any errors maintained on the web

docket sheets of the PACMS, CPCMS and MDJS. The procedure has successfully

addressed clerical errors on docket entries in a timely and administratively simple

manner.

A party or party’s attorney is not required to utilize the procedures set forth in this

section before making a formal motion for correction of a case record in the first instance.

Alleged inaccuracies in orders and judgments themselves must be brought to the attention

of the court in accordance with existing procedures.

This section is not intended to provide relief for a party's or attorney's failure to

comply with Sections 7.0 and 8.0 of this policy. Sections 7.0 and 8.0 already provide for

remedial action in the event that non-compliance occurs.

With respect to this section, a custodian includes, but is not limited to, the county

prothonotaries, clerks of orphans’ court, [and] clerks of the court, and magisterial

district judges.

A log of all corrections made pursuant to this section may be maintained by the

custodian, so that there is a record if an objection is made in the future. Such a log

should remain confidential. It is suggested that custodians include a registry entry on the

case docket when a request is received and a response is issued.