2024 California Rules of Court
Rule 2.518. Remote access by a party's designee
(a) Remote access generally permitted
A person who is a party in an action or proceeding may designate other persons to have remote access to electronic records in that action or proceeding.
(b) Level of remote access
(1) Except for criminal electronic records, juvenile justice electronic records, and child welfare electronic records, a party's designee may have the same access to a party's electronic records that a member of the public would be entitled to if he or she were to inspect the party's court records at the courthouse. A party's designee is not permitted remote access to criminal electronic records, juvenile justice electronic records, and child welfare electronic records.
(2) A party may limit the access to be afforded a designee to specific cases.
(3) A party may limit the access to be afforded a designee to a specific period of time.
(4) A party may modify or revoke a designee's level of access at any time.
(c) Terms of access
(1) A party's designee may access electronic records only for the purpose of assisting the party or the party's attorney in the action or proceeding.
(2) Any distribution for sale of electronic records obtained remotely under the rules in this article is strictly prohibited.
(3) All laws governing confidentiality and disclosure of court records apply to the records obtained under this article.
(4) Party designees must comply with any other terms of remote access required by the court.
(5) Failure to comply with these rules may result in the imposition of sanctions, including termination of access.
Rule 2.518 adopted effective January 1, 2019.
Advisory Committee Comment
A party must be a natural human being with the legal capacity to agree to the terms and conditions of a user agreement with the court to authorize designees for remote access. Under rule 2.501, for purposes of the rules, "person" refers to natural human beings Accordingly, the party's designee rule would not apply to parties that are organizations, which would need to gain remote access under the party's attorney rule or, for certain government entities with respect to specified electronic records, under the rules in article 4.