News Item

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New Court Rules training opportunities announced

Posted: Monday, November 23, 2020

A new Continuing Legal Education (CLE) presentation for those who wish to learn about the recent amendments to the Minnesota Rules of Court  has been announced. The presentation, “Important New Amendments to the Court Rules: What You Need to Know,” will cover the new amendments to several Rules, which will take effect on January 1, 2020.

The CLEs are being offered via Zoom, and are free and open to all attorneys, legal professionals, and filers. Registration is required. In total there will be 11 opportunities for those who wish to participate.

Among other provisions, these rules changes are intended to emphasize that anyone who files court documents is responsible for removing restricted identifiers and other non-public information, and, in many instances, will give court staff the authority to reject filings that contain non-public information. The orders regarding the Court Rules amendments can be found at the links below:

• Rules of Public Access to Records of the Judicial Branch
• General Rules of Practice for the District Courts
• Rules of Civil Procedure

Key provisions include:

• In many case types (excluding criminal, juvenile delinquency, juvenile protection, and civil commitment cases), if district court staff are processing incoming documents and notice the filer has failed to properly separate non-public information or documents, they are authorized to reject the documents.
• If district court staff notice that a court file contains a publicly accessible document with non-public information, they are to increase the document security and send the filer a notice to re-file it. If the filer doesn’t re-file within three days, the document is marked “stricken” and updated so that judges cannot view it. This does not apply to criminal, juvenile delinquency, or civil commitment cases. Striking in juvenile protection cases is only authorized for restricted identifiers.
• Except in civil commitment cases, medical records are public unless the person who filed them designates them as non-public. District court staff are not authorized to reject or strike medical records.
• Paternity cases are made public from their inception. This is on a day-forward basis only. Paternity cases initiated before January 1, 2021, will continue to be treated as they currently are, and will only become public after a final adjudication of paternity.

Training opportunities for the public are available on the following dates:

• December 1, 2020 – Co-Sponsor 7^th District
  • 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
• December 2, 2020 – Co-Sponsor Minnesota Attorney General’s Office
  • 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
• December 3, 2020 – Co-Sponsor 8^th District

• 12:00 pm – 1:30 p.m.

• December 4, 2020 – Co-Sponsor 3^rd District
  • 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
• December 4, 2020 – Co-Sponsor MSBA/HCBA-Civil Litigation Section*
  • 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
• December 9, 2020 – Co-Sponsor 5^th District
  • 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
• December 10, 2020 – Co-Sponsor 3^rd District
  • 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
• December 11, 2020 – Co-Sponsor Hennepin County Law Library
  • 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
• December 16, 2020 – Co-Sponsor 6^th District
  • 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
• December 17, 2020 – Co-Sponsor Washington County Law Library
  • 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
• December 29,2020 – Co-Sponsor 9^th District
  • 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
• January 5, 2020 – Co-Sponsor Minnesota State Law Library
  • 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

* There is a $20 fee assessed for non-section members for this training only.
 
Final details related to remote viewing of designated sessions and links to register will be available at: https://www.mncourts.gov/SupremeCourt/Court-Rules/Rules-Amendments-CLE.aspx.