The Honorable J. Jack Kennedy, Jr.
Clerk, Circuit Court for Wise County and the City of Norton

July 27, 2000

My dear Mr. Kennedy:

You ask whether, pursuant to §17.1-225 of the Code of Virginia, a circuit court clerk may provide Internet access to case management data and/or the data provided by the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia through a direct dial-up service known as the Law Office and Public Access System ("LOPAS").

You explain that the case management information you wish to provide is available through LOPAS. You note that some users have difficulty accessing information through LOPAS. The Wise County Circuit Court, therefore, wishes to pilot a program that would provide on-line access through the Internet to the court's case management data. You state that you intend to redact from the case management data the social security numbers, race, address, and date of birth for individuals before the information is made available on the Internet.

Section 17.1-225 authorizes the clerk of a county or city circuit court to "provide remote access, including Internet access, to all nonconfidential court records maintained by his office." Before its amendment in 1997, §17-59.2, the predecessor statute to §17.1-225, contained no language authorizing a circuit court clerk to provide Internet access to court records.¹ In 1996, you requested the Attorney General's opinion on whether §17-59.2 permitted a clerk to place public records, such as judgment liens, deeds, marriage licenses, wills, and court documents, on-line electronically, thus making them available on the Internet. The Attorney General concluded that, absent language indicating a legislative intent to expand access to public records to include access through the Internet system, a circuit court clerk had no such statutory authority.² At its 1997 Session, the General Assembly amended the statute to expressly authorize a circuit court clerk to provide Internet access to court records.³

Clear and unambiguous words of statute must be accorded their plain meaning.4 Section 17.1-225 provides:

The clerk of the circuit court of any county or city may provide remote access, including Internet access, to all nonconfidential court records maintained by his office. The clerk shall be responsible for insuring that proper security measures are implemented and maintained to prevent remote access users from obtaining any data which is confidential under this Code and to prevent the modification or destruction of any records by remote access users.

The language of §17.1-225 is clear and unambiguous. The statute expressly authorizes a circuit court clerk to provide Internet access to all "nonconfidential court records maintained by his office." Although none of the statutes in Title 17.1 define the phrase "court records," this phrase is defined by §16.1-69.53 to include "case records" and "administrative records" of the court. Accordingly, a clerk may provide Internet access to nonconfidential case management data maintained by the clerk's office. Note, however, that §17.1-225 refers solely to court records "maintained by [the clerk's] office." Thus, a clerk may not provide Internet access to court records that, although available to the clerk's office through a system such as LOPAS, are not records maintained by his office.⁵

With kindest regards, I am

Very truly yours,
s/ Mark L. Early
Attorney General

Footnotes:

1. See 1997 Va. Acts ch. 413, at 622. At its 1998 Session, the General Assembly recodified Title 17 as Title 17.1 and renumbered §17-59.2 as §17.1-225. See 1998 Va. Acts ch. 872, at 2128, 2160.

2. 1996 Op. Va. Att'y Gen. 84, 85.

3. See 1997 Va. Acts ch. 413, supra.

4. See Ambrogi v. Koontz, 224 Va. 381, 297 S.E.2d (1982).

5. See 1996 Op. Va. Att'y Gen., supra note 2, at 84 (clerks have powers granted by general or special laws; "scope of their powers must be determined by reference to applicable statutes").