Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Court’s online access charges defended

Subscription fees have been charged since April for online access to Clark County District Court civil case documents, but the district attorney's office said this differs from the Internet proposal that got County Recorder Fran Deane in hot water.

The court document access is through a three-year contract the county has signed with Wiznet Inc., a Delray Beach, Fla., company that provides computer access to government and business records.

Deane was roundly criticized for proposing earlier this year to set up a company -- in which she would profit -- to provide web access to recorder's office documents for a charge. The idea was dropped after she was informed by the district attorney's office that such an idea would violate state law.

But Assistant District Attorney Mary Miller said the online court document access arranged by Clark County Clerk Shirley Parraguirre is different because the county's share of the subscription proceeds, 15 percent, goes into the county's general fund. The balance, 85 percent, goes to Wiznet.

"The problem we had with Fran Deane is that the county had already entered into an agreement with a company for Internet access," Miller said. "Our concern was that she was interfering in a valid contract and was talking about forming her own corporation to do business with the county in order to make a profit.

"Shirley Parraguirre is not profiting from this contract with Wiznet. That's a big difference."

Parraguirre, who doubles as clerk of the district court, said the county's dealings with Wiznet began last year, when the company arranged for local attorneys to be able to file construction defect litigation with the court online for $10 per filing. In the past year, 200 attorneys have made filings involving 80 cases.

She said the arrangement was so successful that the county agreed to do business with Wiznet to provide online access to civil case documents.

"This doesn't cost Clark County one dime," Parraguirre said.

For the county to make these records available online on its own would cost taxpayers at least $500,000, she said. But she said that expense wouldn't be worth it since most of the users would be local attorneys.

"If I asked the county to give me $500,000 to benefit 4,000 attorneys, the county would probably say 'no,' " Parraguirre said.

The county has long had a government website that gives users free access to court case numbers, attorneys and parties to the litigation, and updates on the status of those lawsuits. But in order to gain access to the actual case complaint and subsequent filings, one has had to visit the court to view the documents.

The exception has been fee-based web services that give subscribers access to court decisions. Wiznet goes beyond that by providing access to the entire case record, making Clark County's district court the first in the state to offer such access. Nonsubscribers must continue to go to the court to gain access to those documents.

Parraguirre said the reason the online service is restricted to civil cases is because of concerns raised by attorneys who specialize in criminal cases. Although criminal case records that haven't been sealed are available for public viewing at the courthouse, the attorneys raised concerns that personal information contained in criminal court records would be abused if made easily available via the Internet.

"The concern is that the information would be more accessible to the general public," she said. "They were afraid that if criminal records were out there, the public would want it for all the wrong reasons."

As of last week, the service had 169 subscribers, mostly local attorneys. The subscription fees depend on the number of users who can have access to the service. Single-user access costs $75 a month or $750 a year. For up to 25 users, the cost is $600 a month or $6,000 a year. In essence, a customer who signs up for an annual subscription gets two months free.

Parraguirre said Wiznet gets the lion's share of the subscription fees because the company has to spend a lot of money as the host website. As of last week, the online service had 6 million pages of county court records, dating back to January 2001.

She said the county doesn't profit from its 15-percent cut because it already charges $1 a page in copying costs for court records. Parraguirre estimated that Wiznet has collected about $150,000 in subscription fees so far, which translates to $22,500 for the county's general fund.

Clark County Bar Association President Connie Akridge said fellow attorneys have embraced the online service and haven't complained to her about it.

"I know that it has been well received by the legal community," Akridge said. "If you're working on a brief or on a case in your office, it's nice to have access to the court documents."

Parraguirre said this also benefits her staff, because it means they don't have to copy as many documents, which frees them up to perform other tasks.

The online web address for the court documents is: http:// documentaccess.wiznet.com

archive