Public Records
Research:
Sources, Search Tips and
Legal Basics
Workshop Web Site
www.virtualchase.com/wsu/
 Login: vchwsu
 Password: whi1560
 Login/password is case sensitive
 0 in the password is a zero
 Content expires before the start
of next Web Search University
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Workshop Objectives
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Recognize public vs private information
Identify potential public sources of
private information
Understand the limitations of electronic
government records
Review major online public records
research tools
Grasp the basics of how law affects
access and use of personal information
Public vs. Private
Information:
Finding What You Want to
Know, Legally
What’s the Difference?
Public records
 Private information
 Public information
 Quasi-public
information
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What is Public Record?
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Government records
Used to mean no access restrictions
 Rapidly changing both online & offline
 Redacted personal identifiers
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Court, property records
Business filings (incorp’s, dba’s, UCCs)
Public co. filings (EDGAR)
Professional licenses
Many agency records (IP, inspections)
But …
Not all government records are
public record
 What is public record varies by
jurisdiction
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 Rapsheets: public in PA, but not in NC
 Marriage certificates: public in NC, but
not in MD
Changes Affecting
Public Access or Status
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County recorder docs (deeds, tax liens, births,
deaths) - mandatory or voluntary removal of
SSNs
TX – AG op mandated removal of SSNs from all
county court records; superseded by law (2007
HB 2061)
AR – redact personal info from all court records
except the court transcript (court rule)
CO – court directive mandates removal of
sensitive info from court docs (2005, amended
in 2007)
Changes Affecting
Public Access or Status
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Several states, including MO, NY, CA,
CO, AZ, OR, NM, VT pull UCC images
from Web site (2007)
Plea agreements – removed from S.D.FL
and E.D.PA
NY – removed crimes resulting in 15
days or less in jail from criminal histories
provided by the NY Office of Court Adm
Oneida County, NY – gives online access
to recorder docs only to certain groups
Impact on Research
More time & money for on-site
research and retrieval
 Greater skill
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 Knowledge of sources
 Tenacious investigative skills
More than ever, online research
supplements on-site research
 Manage client/patron expectations
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Keeping Up with
Changes
Industry experts find it difficult
 TVC Alert Research News
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 www.virtualchase.com/tvcalert/
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BRB Public Records Blog
 publicrecordsblog.typepad.com
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PI Buzz
 www.pibuzz.com
What Is Not Public
Record?
FBI criminal records (NCIC)
 Income tax records
 Juvenile court records
 Any government record where
access is restricted by law. In some
states…
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 Criminal histories (rapsheets)
 Vital (birth, death) records
 Vehicle ownership
What Is Private
Information?
Personal or confidential
 SSN or date of birth
 Unpatented formulas
 Undisclosed business practices
 Medical and financial records
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 Bank account information
 Credit reports
Private Information May
Become Public When …
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You volunteer it
 Publicly listed telephone number
 Product registration forms
 Online résumés, blogs, forums
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You disclose it in a public record
 Assets in a divorce filing
 Names of minor children in a bankruptcy
filing
 SSN in real estate documents
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The public observes it
 Where you work
What’s Quasi-Public?
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Access restrictions & limited info
released
Life insurance policies
 www.mib.com
 MIB’s Policy Locator Service
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Military records
 Select information only
 Requires written request
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Some state criminal repository records
 May require fingerprints
 May require signed release
Determining Public
Status
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Major federal privacy laws
 FCRA & FACTA (consumer)
•
15 USC §6802(e)
 Gramm-Leach-Bliley (financial)
•
15 USC §1681b
 DPPA (driver)
•
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18 USC §2721
State open access laws
 Vary from state to state
BRB Publications Inc.
www.brbpub.com
 Leading publisher of U.S. public
records reference works
 The Sourcebook, 8th ed.
 Public Records Research System
 Public Record Retriever Network
(free)
 Free government record sites
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Public Record
Research System
Annual subscription fee
 Arranged by state/county
 Gives public status of government
records
 Informs how to obtain records
 Provides contact information and
Web sites, when available
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Test Your
Understanding
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True or false. If
the information
you seek is not
public record, you
cannot find it out
– legally or
ethically.
Public Records
Research:
It’s All About Sources
Facts About Online
Records
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35% of public records are online
Many are incomplete or inaccurate
 Lack identifying information (SSN, DOB)
 Lack disposition (or up-to-date) data
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Online verification is difficult
 Many free government sources do not
provide personal identifiers
 Verify by requesting a copy of the original
record
 On-site copy may not contain identifiers
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SSN Validator (www.ssnvalidator.com)
Primary Sources
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Who/what
generates the
data?
Who/what is
responsible for its
collection,
maintenance or
use?
Finding SSNs & DOBs
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Online if you are lucky
Filing forms changing to stop requesting
SSNs
Tax liens, UCCs
Deeds, mortgage documents
Bankruptcy filings
Vehicle accident reports
Divorce, custody filings, probate records
Property foreclosures (court records)
Death certificates
Finding Information
About Private Companies
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Identify regulating agencies
 Restaurants, food handlers (Health depts.)
 Human tissue, donor services (FDA, Health
depts.)
 Manufacturing (EPA, OSHA)
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Licenses and permits
 Business organization
 Special (liquor, gambling)
 Professional (insurance, doctor, dentist)
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Background check the owners
Major Online Sources
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U.S. Party/Case Index
 pacer.uspci.uscourts.gov
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EDGAR
 www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml
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Excluded Parties List System
 epls.arnet.gov
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LexisONE
 www.lexisone.com
The U.S. Party/Case
Index
Federal civil and criminal lawsuits
 Bankruptcies
 Register w/PACER to access
 Check “Courts Not On Index”
 Lastname, firstname
 Searching middle initials
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 Sometimes indexed, sometimes not
 For everything, search without
EDGAR
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2 search options
 Header data only
 Full-text for past 4 years
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Full-text option: Find mention of people
or private companies within documents
Supports Boolean or Natural Language
Operators must be capitalized (AND, OR,
NOT)
More on EDGAR
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Conceptual search engine
 Search for chocolate might retrieve cocoa
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Case sensitive searching
 But recent queries suggest no difference
between Donald Trump and donald trump
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Supports proximity (NEARn)
Supports wildcard (*) truncation
Undocumented – supports nesting
Excluded Parties List
System
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Contract or financial assistance
debarments or suspensions
Separate search for past exclusions
Supports wildcards (green* or anders?n;
differs from partial search)
Verification necessary for persons
 No identifiers (SSN, dob) online
 No street address for persons
 Street address provides for companies
LexisONE
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Free case law
Federal
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U.S. Supreme Court (all opinions)
Appellate courts (current 5 years)
No district (trial level) courts
No special (tax, military) courts
State
 Mostly appellate level; sometimes only high court
 Current 5 years
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Fee access to public records and verdicts &
settlements
Finding Tools –
General
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BRB Free Resource Center
 www.brbpub.com/
pubrecsites.asp?h=1
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Black Book Online
 www.blackbookonline.info
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The Virtual Chase
 www.virtualchase.com/topics/
 Database of Sources
Finding Tools –
Specific
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Legal Dockets Online
 www.legaldockets.com
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Business Filings Online
 tinyurl.com/qp3xd
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Portico Personal Property
 tinyurl.com/r3y3y
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Criminal Records
 www.virtualchase.com/topics/
criminal_records.shtml
Commercial Vendors
AutoTrackXP (CPO), Accurint (LN),
Merlin
 Mix private & public information
 Access requires permissible use
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 Contract details permissible uses
 Statutory restrictions (GLB, DPPA)
 Many commercial vendors disallow use
for FCRA-regulated activities
Public Records
Research:
Legal Issues
Major Federal Privacy
Laws
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Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB)
 15 USC §6802(e)
 Financial records
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Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)
 15 USC §1681b
 Consumer reports
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Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA)
 18 USC §2721
 Driver records
Permissible (Legal)
Uses
Each law has its own exceptions
 Business reasons
 Litigation and other legal reasons
 Employment reasons
 Other (signed written permission,
court order)
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Permissible Uses
Generally
Fraud prevention or detection
 Legal or beneficial interest
 Compliance with another law
 Fiduciary on behalf of consumer
 Current litigation or arbitration
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 Service of process
 Pre-trial investigations
 Enforcement of judgments
Permissible Uses—
FCRA
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Consumer reporting agencies (CRAs)
 People or entities that perform outside
research for employment or other FCRA
regulated purpose (15 USC §1681b(a))
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Special obligations to the research
subject might conflict with duty to client
Inside researcher (e.g., employer) is not
a CRA
Example FCRA
Regulated Activities
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Pre-employment & employment
 Exceptions under FACTA
Insurance underwriting
 Consumer credit transaction
 Determining eligibility for a license
issued by a government agency
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FCRA Is Complex
You (the outside researcher) cannot
run a criminal background check on
a client’s prospective employee
without the interviewee’s consent
(and fulfilling other obligations).
 But the employer can run a criminal
check w/o consent and disclosure if
he does the research himself.
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FTC Interpretive
Guidance
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FTC Staff Opinion Letter
 http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fcra/
sum.htm
 Haynes-Sum, 15 September 1999
 Law firms could be CRAs under the Act
 FCRA covers any information used for
a regulated purpose, including public
records
Interesting Case Law

Remsburg v. Docusearch, 816 A.2d
1001 (NH, 2003)
 tinyurl.com/kpd7w
 Researchers owe a duty to exercise
reasonable care not to subject the
research subject to an unreasonable
risk of harm
Test Your
Understanding

Do you need a
permissible use
(legal reason) to
access public
records?
Open Access Laws
and Privacy Issues:
Keeping Up with the Changes
Professional Reading
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BRB Public Records Blog
 publicrecordsblog.typepad.com
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PI Buzz
 pibuzz.com
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Reporters Committee for Freedom
of the Press
 www.rcfp.org
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TVC Alert Research News
 www.virtualchase.com/tvcalert/
Public Records
Research:
Company Research and
Business People
Finding Personal
Identifiers
Becoming increasingly difficult
 Commercial vendors (LN/Accurint,
CPO/AutoTrackXP, Merlin)
 Disclosed in public records
 General Web searching
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 Online résumés, personal Web sites
(blogs, MySpace), discussion forums,
Martindale-Hubbell, Who’s Who, bios
Common Name
Searching
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Need personal identifiers for verification
 Full name, SSN or date of birth
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Helpful in combination w/a name
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Profession, occupation or industry
Hobbies, interests
Residence, place of work
Memberships, affiliations
Difficult for both manual research and
online searching
Researching Business
People
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Professional licenses
+ disciplinary data**
Business filings
Court records
(including
bankruptcies and
liens)
Case law
News stories
Campaign donations
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Intellectual property
Authored works
Congressional
testimony
Agency comment
letters
EDGAR, SEC
“litigation” Web site
Internet Archive
**Often includes telephone research
Free Search Tools for
Business People
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ZoomInfo (www.zoominfo.com)
EDGAR (www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml)
Authoratory (www.authoratory.com)
Social networks
 LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) targets
business people
 MySpace
 Facebook
 Wink (queries multiple social networks +
special Web sites)
Due Diligence Research
on Companies
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Databases by regulating agencies
 MAUDE (medical devices, tinyurl.com/3nbzt)
 FCC (filed comments, tinyurl.com/4f83)
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OSHA Accidents (tinyurl.com/ruudd) &
Inspections (tinyurl.com/ms4rw)
Envirofacts (www.epa.gov/enviro/)
 Integrates data from 7 EPA databases
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GPO Access (www.gpoaccess.gov;
Federal Register, Congressional Record,
hearings)
Search Engine
Strategies

For best results, run multiple queries in several
search engines
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“donald trump”
“donald j trump”
“mars inc”
“mars incorporated”
Common name + what you know
 “gary price” + librarian
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Uncommon last name + what you know
 tyburski + “ballard spahr”
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Query limiters
 site:.gov or site:.state.xx.us
Search Engine
Strategies Cont.
"not for public dissemination"
 "not for public release"
 "official use only" (variations
include FOUO and U//FOUO)
 "company confidential"
 "internal use only"
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Final Questions?
Presenter Information
Genie Tyburski
Web Manager, The Virtual Chase
Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll,
LLP
EM: tvceditor@virtualchase.com