Decades of Hamilton County Court Documents Now Publicly Available Online

A new online system gives the public access to decades of Hamilton County court documents.

Before, a public records request would need to be made for court documents, but now court records for the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas, Court of Appeals, Domestic Relations Court and Municipal Court can be accessed online, according to a press release from Hamilton County clerk of courts Pavan Parikh.

“The public has access to these records upon request, but it is time for us to leverage the technology that we have available and improve transparency in our records,” Parikh says in a Sept. 29 press release. “And this is just the beginning of our innovations.”

People can now search records by name or case number by visiting courtclerk.org and clicking on “records search.” 
“I believe strongly that as a public entity, we should make it as efficient as possible for the public to have access to these documents in our justice system. But we also have a duty to protect the privacy of vulnerable individuals in our community. This new policy strikes a perfect balance between these responsibilities,” Parikh says.

Protecting privacy

Personal identifiers and other sensitive information will be redacted from the court’s documents. Sealed cases, records involving minors and cases involving victims of certain crimes will not be made available online but may be available for in-person review.

“This is a key component of our democracy in Ohio,” common pleas judge Terry Nestor says in the release. “Getting your file is sometimes a challenging thing, and now the clerk’s website provides you with information that was previously not accessible.”

Decades of cases

Case records are available for all cases that have been converted electronically, which Parikh says goes all the way back to 1998. For cases before 1998, a public records request will need to be made at the clerk of courts office at the Hamilton County Courthouse, 1000 Main Street.