Vermont: Online Access to State Court Documents

Summary

This video discusses how to access Vermont state court records online. It guides viewers through the Vermont Judiciary website's public portal, explaining how to search civil cases from home. Tips are provided for looking up cases by case number conventions and searching names using the 'sounds like' feature. The process for formally requesting records via email is outlined. Limitations around accessing criminal and family court records remotely are noted, but the ability to search those at courthouse public access terminals is highlighted.

Takeaways

• 😃 This video lesson teaches how to access state court records in Vermont online
• 📝 The Vermont Judiciary website has a public portal to search for civil court cases
• 🚫 Criminal, probate, and family court records can't be accessed from home
• 🖥️ The public portal allows searching cases by year and filing order convention
• 📃 Dockets show case events like filings and hearings that happened and are upcoming
• ✉️ Request specific records by emailing the court clerks with a filled out form
• 🔎 Use the 'sounds like' search to find alternate spellings of names
• 📸 Allowed to take phone photos of records when at public access terminals
• 🗄️ Same Odyssey system for records search exists at courthouses too
• ☎️ Instructor offers to answer further questions about Vermont court records access

Q & A

What is the purpose of the webinar series hosted by the New England First Amendment Coalition?

The webinar series aims to educate the public on how courts work, the types of access individuals are entitled to under the First Amendment, state law, and various court rules. It also covers state public record and open meeting laws, along with tutorials on using the federal Freedom of Information Act.

Who is the instructor for the session focused on online access to state court records in Vermont?

The instructor for the session on accessing state court records in Vermont is Emily Sweeney, a member of the NEAC executive committee and a reporter for the Boston Globe.

Why is it difficult to access state court records online in Vermont?

Accessing state court records online in Vermont is challenging due to the way the state's system and statutes are set up, which do not allow for immediate access to records from home.

What system does Vermont use for filing court records, and how can the public access it?

Vermont uses the Odyssey filing system for court records. The public can access it through the Vermont Judiciary's website and navigate to the public portal without needing to create an account for basic searches.

What limitations exist for searching court records from home in Vermont?

From home, individuals can only search civil court cases in Vermont. Criminal cases, probate, family court, and others are not accessible remotely and require visiting a courthouse to use Public Access Terminals.

How can someone request specific court records if they cannot access them online?

To request specific court records, individuals can fill out a 'Request Access to a Court Record' form available on the Vermont Judiciary's website, specifying the case number and document they need. The form can then be emailed to the court for processing.

What is the 'Smart Search' feature and how is it used?

The 'Smart Search' feature allows users to search for court records by case number, party name, or other details. For civil cases, users can search using the year and case number format to find specific filings and view docket sheets for case events.

What is the filing convention for civil cases in Vermont?

The filing convention for civil cases in Vermont includes the last two digits of the year, followed by 'CV' for civil cases, a dash, and then a five-digit sequence representing the order in which cases were filed.

Can the public take pictures of court records at the courthouse?

Yes, under Vermont statute, individuals are allowed to take pictures of the computer screen displaying court records at the courthouse, which can be a convenient way to obtain documents without needing a paper copy.

What advice is given for using advanced search options when looking for court cases?

The advice includes using the 'sounds like' feature in advanced filtering options to broaden search results. This is particularly useful if you're unsure of the exact spelling of a name or looking for variations of a name that sound similar.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Accessing New England State Court Records

Justin Silverman introduces the third lesson in a series focusing on understanding the courts and access rights under the First Amendment, state law, and court rules, emphasizing the cumulative nature of the series available through the New England First Amendment Coalition (NEFAC). The lesson, supported by entities like the Rhode Island Foundation and SBJ New England, features NEFAC executive committee member and Boston Globe reporter Emily Sweeney, who along with Liam Elder Connors from Vermont Public, will guide viewers through accessing online state court records in Vermont. They address the complexity of accessing these records online due to Vermont's system and statutes but promise to offer tips and workarounds for electronic access, especially for journalists.

05:03

🔍 Detailed Guide on Searching Vermont State Court Records Online

The second segment dives into a step-by-step tutorial led by Liam Elder Connors on navigating Vermont's judiciary website to access court records. Despite the challenging nature of online access in Vermont, Connors demonstrates how to use the Vermont Judiciary's Public Portal to reach Odyssey, the filing system. He explains the filing conventions for civil and criminal cases, showing viewers how to search for cases by year and case type. Additionally, Connors offers tips on understanding the docket sheet, which reveals case details such as events and involved parties, albeit without direct access to documents. For those needing specific documents, he outlines the process of requesting records via a PDF form on the judiciary's website, emphasizing the importance of detailed requests to facilitate the clerks' search and the method for emailing these requests to court-specific addresses.

10:04

📅 Tips for Efficient Document Request and Search Strategies

The final segment elaborates on the practical aspects of requesting court records and searching for cases involving specific individuals. Connors discusses the expected turnaround time for record requests, which varies by court workload but typically ranges from a few hours to a day. He highlights the utility of the 'sounds like' search feature for broadening name searches, a useful tool for journalists investigating cases with potentially misspelled names. Lastly, Connors touches on accessing criminal dockets and the legality of photographing public access terminal screens in courthouses for record keeping. The tutorial concludes with an appreciation for the audience's participation and an open invitation for further questions, underscoring the webinar's aim to demystify the process of accessing Vermont court records online.

Keywords

💡court records

Court records refer to the documents filed in court cases, such as complaints, motions, orders, transcripts, etc. Accessing court records is a key theme in the video, with Liam explaining the process for how to request access to civil court records in Vermont from home. He notes limitations in accessing criminal, family, and probate records remotely.

💡public portal

The public portal refers to the Vermont Judiciary's online system for accessing certain court records. Liam demonstrates searching for cases on the portal and accessing docket sheets. However, downloading full court documents requires physically going to a courthouse to use the public access terminals.

💡Odyssey

Odyssey is the case management system used by the Vermont Judiciary to organize and file court records. Understanding the naming conventions used in Odyssey (e.g. year-case type-5 digit case number) allows for more effective searching for cases.

💡docket sheet

A docket sheet provides a chronological list of all the filings, proceedings, orders, etc. in a court case. Though the full records cannot be downloaded from home, Liam shows how the docket sheets available on the public portal provide useful information on a case.

💡public access terminal

Public access terminals located in courthouses allow viewing and printing of full court records across all case types. Liam contrasts the limited remote access with the broader access available at the courthouses.

💡records request

To obtain full court records remotely, Liam guides viewers through submitting a records request form to the court clerk. This includes details like case number, parties, requested documents, delivery method, etc. He notes receiving records via email within hours or days through requests.

💡search tips

Liam provides various search tips to more effectively find cases on the public portal, such as using broad filters and the "sounds like" feature to catch name variations.

💡First Amendment

Though not emphasized directly, accessing court records relates to principles of open courts and transparency, tied to rights protected under the First Amendment.

💡Limitations

A recurring theme is discussing the limitations and difficulties with accessing Vermont court records remotely compared to being physically present in a courthouse.

💡Workarounds

Given the limitations, Liam focuses much of the instruction on workarounds for obtaining court records from home, such as records requests and search tips.

Highlights

Justin Silverman of the New England First Amendment Coalition introduces the lesson on New England state courts.

The lesson is part of a series on court workings, access rights under the First Amendment, state law, and court rules.

Previous lessons and resources on public record and open meeting laws, and the federal Freedom of Information Act are available online.

Special thanks given to supporters like the Rhode Island Foundation, SBJ New England, and the New England Society of News Editors.

Emily Sweeney from the Boston Globe is introduced as the instructor for the webinar.

The session focuses on accessing online state court records in Vermont.

Liam Elder Connors of Vermont Public discusses the challenges of accessing Vermont state court records online.

Introduction to the Vermont judiciary's website and the Odyssey filing system.

Explanation on how to use the Vermont Judiciary public portal to access court records.

Details on the limitations of searching for criminal, probate, and family court cases from home.

Instructions on filling out and submitting a request form for access to court records.

Discussion on the use of public access terminals at courthouses for comprehensive case searches.

Tips on using the Odyssey system for efficient search of court records.

How to request electronic delivery of court records by email.

Liam Elder Connors offers additional search tips and explains the 'sounds like' feature for broader searches.

Transcripts

I'm Justin Silverman of the New England

First Amendment Coalition thank you for

joining us for this lesson on New

England state courts this lesson is the

third in our series of classes

discussing how the courts work and what

types of access you're entitled to under

the First Amendment state law and

various court rules each lesson is

cumulative so if you haven't already

please view the previous two lessons you

can find them on our YouTube channel 5

freedoms are in our foi guide at nea.org

you'll also find there lessons on state

public record and open meeting laws as

well as tutorials on how to use the

federal Freedom of Information Act

collectively these lessons provide a

curriculum you won't find anywhere else

a special thanks to those who are

supporting these classes and keeping

them free and open to the public the

road Island Foundation SBJ New England

and the New England society of news

editors

now to introduce you to today's

instructor neac executive committee

member and Boston Globe reporter Emily

Sweeney hey everybody I'm Emily Sweeney

from the Boston Globe and I want to

thank you all for joining us for this

webinar which is brought to you by the

New England First Amendment Coalition

this session is going to focus on online

access to state court records in Vermont

and with us is Liam Elder Connors from

Vermont Public Liam thank you so much

for being here

yeah thanks for having me Emily um yeah

so we're going to get right into

accessing state court records in Vermont

I'm going to show you step by step uh

how you can do that in Vermont um I'll

say right off the bat um it's a bit

difficult there's not actually a great

way to say sit at home and access state

court records online uh the way Vermont

system is set up and the statute is

written um you can't really get records

immediately but there are some things

that I do uh as a reporter who covers a

lot of court cases and whatnot to be

able to get some electronic access to

them so we're just gonna hop in now I'm

G to share the screen so the first thing

to do is to go to the Vermont

judiciary's website which is Vermont

spelled out

judiciary.com public portal which it's

in this second column here when you hit

the menu um and the public portal is

where we're going to be able to get to

Odyssey which is the filing system that

Vermont switched to a couple of years

ago uh and as you see on this page here

there's a lot of different things kind

of talking about it um there's this

Vermont Judiciary public portal user

guide which does have some useful

information I'm not going to go on that

today I'm going to kind of try to keep

this as simple and straightforward as

possible uh for folks so if you want to

get to the system where you can actually

kind of start looking up court records

you're going to scroll right down here

to this access the public portal button

and just click on that public portal say

yep continue to leave and it's going to

take you here to the public portal page

um you do not need to create an account

to search in here there you could create

an account um that's more useful if

let's say you're an attorney or somebody

who is not a journalist or general

member of the public because you could

get elevated access which actually would

let you download court cases and court

records as just a normal kind of member

of the public or a journalist I don't

have that elevated access so we're just

going to do the normal kind of searching

that you can do and you're going to go

down to Smart search um and click on

that and when you get to that you'll

you'll be here and I should also start

off by saying that from home I can only

search things that are in the Civil

courts in Vermont so any criminal case

probate Family Court all of those things

I can't search from home you can go to a

courthouse and all cour houses do have

computers they're called Public Access

Terminals and from that terminal you can

search all court cases around the state

including criminal and so what I'm going

to try do now is show some tips for

using this Odyssey feature from home

which you can also then use if you go to

the public portal uh at a courthouse and

use the access system um things like

knowing the the filing conventions

essentially for court cases can help you

look up things

so for looking up a civil case let's say

you don't have a specific thing that

you're looking for but you maybe want to

see what's been filed recently um a

little bit of a manual process but the

filing convention in Vermont for cases

are uh the year the last two digits of

the year so in this let's say we're

looking for something in 2021 it would

be

21 Das CV which is for any civil case

it's CV for civil it'd be uh CR if it's

in criminal court and then another Dash

and then five digits and the five digits

is the the order in which the cases are

filed so let's go to the let's say the

10th case filed in 2021 in civil court

so it would be uh let's see one two

three four five so three zeros and a 10

and when you hit

submit it should give you great so it

will pull up that case and what we can

do is we can click on the case and we

will actually be able to look at the

docket sheet for it which can tell you

sort of what records you might want to

request so right now you know you can

see that it's a let's see what is this

it's in Rutland uh it was filed on

January 4th

2021 it's a credit card collection case

um all this information is really useful

um and then you can see a little bit

more costs of actions the case events I

find very useful because it it's a way

to kind of check up on civil cases that

I'm following or that might be

interested in sort of see what recent

things have happened and you can see all

the different filings as you can see I

can't click on any of them if I was at a

courthouse there'd be a little uh PDF

icon that I could click on and then

actually look at those records um but

right now I can just sort of see what's

been filed you can also see what

hearings are coming up um and what

happened in those you can see this there

was a bench trial that was supposed to

happen that got cancelled um and so

there's a lot of information here it you

can't get the records just by clicking

on them but let's say I wanted to get

the complaint in this case and I didn't

want to drive to a courthouse so now I

know what the case number is I also know

what the the parties in the case I know

when it was filed I know where it was

filed I can go back to the judiciary's

website which is vermontjudiciary.org

I'm going to click on menu again and go

to

media and

when we get to Media we're going to

scroll down to records

requests requests for access to the

court

and uh let's see we're going to scroll

down all the way to the bottom to this

form it's a PDF it's request access to a

court record going to open that up in a

new

tab and as you can see it loads um it's

just it's a fillable PDF form that we're

going to fill out out so I don't

remember where all this was but let's

say the case was in

Bennington it's a civil case it's 21-

cv- 2222 whatever it is and then just

fill out your info about yourself you

know my name phone number uh the kind of

case it is you don't necessarily need to

put the case type in here um it can help

but if you have the case number and the

name of the case that's going to help

out the clerk they're going to be able

to find it no problem so I would usually

just fill out that information the kind

of information you're looking for maybe

I want the whole file if I know that I

just want a spec a specific document

I'll say I just want the

complaint then you would click

electronic

certification which means they'll send

it to you by email requested delivery

method email fill out the date signature

I usually just do a you know two slashes

put my name there and then uh then save

this PDF title it you know records

request and the docket number for it and

so once you have that you're going to

email the court there's a lot of steps

here I know it's kind of cumbersome but

this is frankly the the best way I have

you know from home of getting access to

court records um so once I filled out

that form I'm going to go back to the

Vermont judiciaries page and scroll back

up up to email addresses for all the

courts and you click on

that and this will tell you all the

email addresses for all the courts um so

this one is in Bennington copy and paste

that and email them the subject line is

actually valuable and and in this is

that you want to make sure it goes to

the right division of the whatever Court

you're requesting to so in this case

it's civil so in your subject line you'd

put the docket sheet uh you know let's

say it was in Bennington Bennington

Civil Division I usually also put in

like records requests in all capitals

either at the front or at the back end

of this just to make sure it gets

flagged and then the time that it takes

for them to get back to you can can

change a little bit um different courts

and depending on how busy it is it might

take a little longer or shorter but I

usually get things within a couple of

hours to a day at most um so it's a

pretty quick turnaround time and can be

useful if let's say you're not on an

intense deadline um and that you maybe

just sort of need to uh you know get

something if you're fishing around and

are interested in a case it's a good way

to sort of gather uh documents there

so that's generally a way of of doing it

it's a little cumbersome but um all of

these sort of search skills are

applicable if you go into the public

portal um I want to go back to the uh to

our web page sorry about that the uh

uh where is it I'll go back to the

public portal and just sort of talk a

little bit about Goods sort of search

tips if you're looking for names of a

person um because that can also be a

little

tricky um so we're going to go back to

the public portal going to

continue smart

search

um and generally you know it's last name

first name middle name suffix um and you

know that can be good so let's say let's

see if there's anything for me right in

civil nothing I don't have any civil

court cases thankfully um but let's say

you're pretty sure that the name of a

person involved in a case that you're

looking for his pretty sure his name is

Liam maybe not totally sure uh a feature

that I really like to use is I go to

advaned filtering options

I generally leave you know all locations

I don't really I want it to be as broad

as possible and I'll scroll down to

sounds like and this will sort of give

me names that are close to what I'm

searching and this can be kind of a good

way to broaden your searches if you're

pretty sure that you know a person who's

involved in a case but that they're not

coming up for whatever reason so once

you hit that and hit

submit we're going to it gets Connor's

Leon uh Connor's Lynn so as you can see

sort of it it's sounds like Liam Connor

it's not exactly um and I've used that

before in reporting about um rental

housing and trying to find cases that

were filed by uh tenants against the

landlord and small claims court and I

was using the sounds likee feature to

sort of broadly look to make sure I

wasn't missing any of this landlord's

various like llc's or or his different

you know if his name was one thing or or

different thing depending on how the

tenant filed it so that that's kind of a

a good like tool that I like to use when

I'm uh searching

cases um so those are those are kind of

the big things that you can do if you're

trying to get access to Vermont court

records from home um again this same

system this aicy system here it's going

to look just like this if you go to a

courthouse uh and use the public access

terminal there it's it's going to have

all of the same stuff except you'll be

able to search the criminal docket as

well which um is useful and then you can

click on the filings you can either

print them out and you know pay a fee to

get a copy of them but you can also what

I do sometimes is I'll take a picture of

the computer screen with my phone that

is allowed under Vermont statute that is

not going to be a problem and it can be

a good way if you're just sort of you

know not sure if you need a paper copy

but still want to have a copy there as

well um so those are the big those are

the big things on accessing Vermont

court records online I wish sometimes it

was a little a little simpler but um

yeah that is that's what we got Liam

thank you so much for for for you know

guiding us through how to get uh court

records in Vermont I appreciate it happy

to do it and people feel free to follow

up if they have any more questions even

after the fact happy to chat about this

anytime all right excellent all right

well hey thanks

everybody