e-Filing: Reminder of Confidentiality Notice Requirement and Pending Change

In the March 1 edition of the Florida Bar news, the clerks office points out that some filers are failing to mark document as confidential when they should be doing so… see below regarding an upcoming change that will remove the need for a separate notice of confidentiality:

Florida Bar News March 1: E-filers must take care when filing confidential information:

… a review of calls and filings shows that not all filers are marking their documents as confidential or noting they contain confidential information when they contain sensitive information as defined in the Rules of Judicial Administration.

When submitting a document through the portal, the filer must choose one of two options: the document does not contain confidential or sensitive information or the document does contain confidential or sensitive information. If it does contain confidential information, the filer must protect that information by complying with Rules of Judicial Administration 2.420 and 2.425. The filer also must include a Notice of Confidential Information, filed as a document along with the submission.

Currently, the portal does not allow a filer the option to note that a document should be flagged as confidential in its entirely, nor to omit the Notice of Confidentiality form in such cases. However, portal updates planned for late March will include a new, third option. That will allow filers to select a checkbox to mark a document as completely confidential and which will be in a file that is being kept confidential. The notice for this check box will read: “The entire file is maintained as confidential either by statute, court rule, or court order and pursuant to [Rule of Judicial Administration] 2.420(d)(2), neither a certification or notice of confidential information with court filing is required.” 

No Notice of Confidential Information will be needed in this situation.