Minn. Gen. R. Prac. 11.08
Rule 11 does not apply to search warrants or related documents filed administratively by law enforcement pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 626.17 and Rule 33.04(a) -(b) of the Rules of Criminal Procedure, except that if such a document contains a restricted identifier it shall be filed with a Form 11.2 Coyer Sheet for Non-Public Documents in the manner described in Rule 11. 03(a)(1) of these rules. Rule 11 does apply to search warrants and related documents filed by parties in a case.
If any person filing a medical record in a civil commitment case fails to designate the medical record as non-public upon filing, the court administrator shall not reject the filing due to the failure to do so.
Minn. Gen. R. Prac. 11.08
Advisory Committee Comment-2020 Amendments
Rule 11.01 is modified in 2020 to clarify the definition of financial account number, which has caused much confusion. Several important limitations are added. One is that only numbers that can be used by someone other than those authorized to access the account to obtain access to the account for unauthorized transactions are considered financial account numbers. The other limitation excludes any billing number issued by a government entity that is publicly accessible and these numbers are not a financial account number under this rule. For the convenience of filers, the state court administrator maintains a non-exclusive list of examples of financial account numbers on the judicial branch website (www.mncourts.gov). These changes will avoid an overbroad reading of the rule that some courts have adopted in regard to similar rules. See, e.g., In re Chubb, 426 B.R. 695, 699-700 (Bankr. E.D. Mich. 2010) (finding the twelve digit account number on statement of account that clearly and obviously relates to debtor's finances by identifying a debt is enough to bring it within the rule, without any showing that the information in question could be used to steal one's identity or be misused for some other purpose).
Rule 11.03 is amended in 2020 to expand the use of a required cover sheet that previously applied only to Financial Source Documents and now applies to all non-public documents being filed. The requirement applies to those filing electronically or on paper. The cover sheet itself serves as a guide to trigger filers' attention to certain non-public documents and information and sources of the same including the Rules of Public Access to Records of the Judicial Branch. By requiring a cover sheet for each individual document that is non-public, the cover sheet also serves to avoid the electronic filing of so-called "monster" documents. A monster document might contain, for example, a motion, notice of motion, affidavit, and any of a number of attachments all submitted as a single PDF document. The problem with monster documents is that if just one of the attachments is non-public, such as a medical record, then court staff must either keep the entire monster document non-public, which means the public is denied access to documents that it should be able to access, or court staff must separate out the attachments, which places an impossible burden on court staff Filers are directed in the Registered User Guide, applicable to e-filers under Gen. R. Prac. 14.03(g), to separate documents, in particular the nonpublic documents, when e-filing them. The separate documents can be submitted in the same electronic envelope, just like a handful of separate paper documents can be placed in the same paper envelope, for filing.
Use of the new Cover Sheet for Non-Public Documents can be avoided only if the document is being e-filed and a filing code already exists in the E-Filing System that is specifically assigned by state court administration as the filing code for a particular type of non-public document. The filing code appears in the E-Filing system with the words "Select Filing Code" followed by a drop down box when a filer
selects the most appropriate code for each individual document being filed. The filing code for a nonpublic document, such as a pre-sentence investigation report in a criminal case, serves the same purpose as, and becomes the electronic equivalent of, the Non-Public Document Cover Sheet. Just like a cover sheet, the filing code transfers from the E-Filing System to the case management system (known as MNCIS). The state court administrator's office publishes commonly used filing codes on the main branch website (go to www.mncourts.gov and look for "Civil Case type Index (also includes Civil Case Filing Codes)," "Expedited Process Child Support Filing Codes Index," and "Criminal and Juvenile Delinquency Filing Codes Index").
In addition to filing the separate Form 11.2 Cover Sheet for Non-Public Documents or selecting a nonpublic document filing code, under Rule 14.06 a filer must also designate in the E-filing system whether the document is Confidential or Sealed. This designation is made in the E-Filing System in a field marked "Filing Comments" with a box beneath it asking "Is Document Public, Confidential, or Sealed?" Although this designation may seem redundant, filers need to remember that the cover sheet is intended to work in both the paper and electronic filing context. When an electronic filer selects a filing code for a non-public document as an alternative to the cover sheet, the filer will not see anything in the filing process marking the document as confidential or sealed. Accordingly, there must be a separate step to make this clear for each document being electronically filed. For a walk-through of the e-filing process illustrating the Select Filing Code location and the Filing Comments entry box, go to the main branch website at www.mncourts.gov/efile and search for the Quick Reference Guide (QRG) titled "eFiling and eService into an Existing Case."
Rule 11 is also amended in 2020 to carve out certain exceptions in scope and enforcement impacting child protection, criminal, and juvenile delinquency case records. Rule 11.03(a) provides that juvenile protection filings that contain confidential information and confidential documents must be filed as provided in Rule 8.04 of the Rules of Juvenile Protection Procedure. This language is intended to preserve the current practice for juvenile protection cases: restricted identifiers are subject to the same rules as in other cases, while other types of confidential information and documents are governed by Juvenile Protection Rule 8.04. Juvenile Protection Rule 8.04, subd. 5(d), provides that if it is brought to the attention of court administration staff that confidential information or confidential documents have not been filed with the proper form, court administration staff shall designate the document as confidential, and direct the filer to file in compliance with Rule 8.04.
Rule 11.08 makes Rule 11 inapplicable to search warrants and related documents filed by law enforcement, but requires the same records filed by parties to comply with Rule 11. Regarding enforcement, criminal, civil commitment, and juvenile delinquency matters are exempted from striking of documents under Rule 11.05, and exempted from rejection of documents in rule 14.03(b), for violations of Rule 11.