Blair Cnty. C.P. Case Record Public Access § 4

A. When desiring to inspect or copy case records, a member of the public

shall make an oral [or written] request to the applicable custodian,

unless otherwise provided by [court order or rule] a local rule or an

order issued by a court of record.

B. When the information that is the subject of the request is complex

or voluminous[. If the request is oral], the custodian may require a

written request. If the requestor does not submit a written request

when required, access may be delayed until the written request is

submitted or a time when an individual designated by the

custodian is available to monitor such access to ensure the

integrity of the case records is maintained.

C. Requests shall identify or describe the records sought with specificity to

enable the custodian to ascertain which records are being requested.

Public access requests to the courts and custodians are routinely straightforward

and often involve a limited number of records. Therefore, artificial administrative

barriers should not be erected so as to inhibit making these requests in an efficient

manner.

This policy provides the courts and custodians latitude to establish appropriate

administrative protocols for viewing/obtaining case records remotely. However, the

definition of “remote access” in Section 1.0 clarifies that a request under this section is

neither necessary nor expected under this policy.

Nonetheless, Subsection [A]B provides a custodian with the flexibility to require

that a more complex request be submitted in writing to avoid misunderstandings and

errors that can often result in more time being expended to provide the requested

information than is necessary. This approach is not novel; submission of a written

request form has been a longstanding practice under the Unified Judicial System’s

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

Pennsylvania [and Public Access Policy of the Unified Judicial System of

Pennsylvania: Official Case Records of the Magisterial District Courts].

Subsection [B]C does not require a requestor to identify a case by party or

case number in order to have access to the files, but the request shall clearly identify

or describe the records requested so that court personnel can fulfill the request.

Written requests should be substantially in the format designed and published by

the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.