BarTalk August 2002
Volume 14, Number 4

Internet access only in specific cases

In response to concerns raised by members of the public and legal profession, Chief Justice Brenner of the Supreme Court of BC initiated a review of the Court’s practice of publishing family law decisions on the Internet. The Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch was encouraged to provide input for the Court’s consideration, and members of the CBABC’s Provincial Council were asked to canvass the profession for input.

Madam Justice Martinson and Mr. Justice Preston attended the CBABC Provincial Council meeting on June 22, 2002, to receive comments from Council members. The Justices expressed the Court’s wish to strike a balance among a number of passionate and competing interests regarding privacy protection and ensuring access to court decisions.

Members of Council raised several issues and proposals, reflecting the varied opinions on the matter within the profession. Many members spoke in favour of maintaining electronic access. This was viewed as particularly important for rural practitioners experiencing the brunt of cutbacks to courthouse libraries and other resources, which has made Internet access invaluable.

Given the importance of access to court decisions, both for the profession and for lay litigants, it was suggested that privacy concerns could be resolved by removing identifying features from the decisions, as is done in cases involving young offenders. The Justices indicated that lack of resources would make this a difficult practice to put into place for all decisions.

The difficulty facing the judges is that protecting privacy is not simply a matter of using initials, but also of “sanitizing” the judgments to remove other identifying features.

Many members expressed their support for parents who had told them they were dismayed and outraged at discovering that very personal matters in their own and their children’s lives were available to “the kid next door” cruising the Internet. Some members suggested a password system, that would ensure that only lawyers and/or those who had a specific reason for trying to access the case could do so.

In a letter to President Carman Overholt following the meeting, Chief Justice Brenner thanked the CBABC for the Bar’s input.

In light of the competing policy concerns, Chief Justice Brenner announced that effective September 1, 2002, the Supreme Court of BC will no longer publish judgments in family law cases on the Court’s Web site, with one important exception: If a judge or master of the Court considers that his or her judgment is one that should be posted on the court’s Web site for any reason, including the fact that it is considered to have precedential value, then the judgment will be posted. For judgments that are to be posted, the judge or master will remove names and other sensitive personal information before the judgment is released.

Judgments will continue to be available through legal publishers, in the court registries and, as of September 1, 2002, on request from the BC Courthouse Library.

This article was published in the August 2002 issue of BarTalk and is subject to the copyright by the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, 2005, all rights reserved.