Definitions

As used in this chapter, the following definitions apply:

(1) "Authorized person" means a person authorized by a legal organization, qualified legal services project, or government entity to access electronic records.

(2) "Brief legal services" means legal assistance provided without, or before, becoming a party's attorney. It includes giving advice, having a consultation, performing research, investigating case facts, drafting documents, and making limited third party contacts on behalf of a client.

(3) "Court record" is any document, paper, or exhibit filed in an action or proceeding; any order or judgment of the court; and any item listed in Government Code section 68151(a)-excluding any reporter's transcript for which the reporter is entitled to receive a fee for any copy-that is maintained by the court in the ordinary course of the judicial process. The term does not include the personal notes or preliminary memoranda of judges or other judicial branch personnel, statutorily mandated reporting between or within government entities, judicial administrative records, court case information, or compilations of data drawn from court records where the compilations are not themselves contained in a court record.

(4) "Court case information" refers to data that is stored in a court's case management system or case histories. This data supports the court's management or tracking of the action and is not part of the official court record for the case or cases.

(5) "Electronic access" means access by electronic means to court records available through public terminals at the courthouse and remotely, unless otherwise specified in the rules in this chapter.

(6) "Electronic record" is a court record that requires the use of an electronic device to access. The term includes both a record that has been filed electronically and an electronic copy or version of a record that was filed in paper form. The term does not include a court record that is maintained only on microfiche, paper, or any other medium that can be read without the use of an electronic device.

(7) "Government entity" means a legal entity organized to carry on some function of the State of California or a political subdivision of the State of California. Government entity also means a federally recognized Indian tribe or a reservation, department, subdivision, or court of a federally recognized Indian tribe.

(8) "Legal organization" means a licensed attorney or group of attorneys, nonprofit legal aid organization, government legal office, in-house legal office of a nongovernmental organization, or legal program organized to provide for indigent criminal, civil, or juvenile law representation.

(9) "Party" means a plaintiff, defendant, cross-complainant, cross-defendant, petitioner, respondent, intervenor, objector, or anyone expressly defined by statute as a party in a court case.

(10) "Person" means a natural human being.

(11) "The public" means a person, a group, or an entity, including print or electronic media, regardless of any legal or other interest in a particular court record.

(12) "Qualified legal services project" has the same meaning under the rules of this chapter as in Business and Professions Code section 6213(a).

(13) "Remote access" means electronic access from a location other than a public terminal at the courthouse.

(14) "User" means an individual person, a group, or an entity that accesses electronic records.