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The Reach That is Needed for a Meaningful Remedy

By E.L. Lipman

In an important published decision issued today, a panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals held that the District Courts have the authority to direct the expungement of judicially-created records ? even if those records have been transferred to, and are held by, agencies in the Executive Branch. Noting that courts may reach these records ?when doing so is necessary or conducive to providing a meaningful remedy? for the petitioner seeking expungement, Judge Renee Worke wrote for the appellate panel:

[T]he records sought to be expunged were not merely created for use in a judicial proceeding but, rather, were generated as a result of a judicial proceeding. The public information generated in the district court and disseminated to the [Bureau of Criminal Apprehension], which maintains custodianship of this information, includes: offense, court of conviction, date of the conviction, and sentence information. Therefore, when a district court orders an expungement of a criminal record by way of its inherent authority, that expungement order includes the judicially created public record maintained by the BCA.

The panel?s complete analysis, and a special concurring opinion from Judge Gordon Shumaker, is accessible here.

Because the decision arrives like Cupid's arrow, it will be interesting to learn if it will be the object of affection, or rebuffed at the door, during this Valentine's Day event on Thursday.

Full post as published by Within the Scope on February 12, 2008 (boomark / email).