Rule 41.1. Sealing Documents and Settlement Agreements

• Library: South Carolina Rules Annotated (SCBar) (2020 Ed.)

RULE 41.1. SEALING DOCUMENTS AND SETTLEMENT AGREEMENTS

(a) Purpose.

Because South Carolina has a long history of maintaining open court proceedings and records, this Rule is intended to establish guidelines for governing the filing under seal of settlements and other documents. Article I, § 9, of the South Carolina Constitution provides that all courts of this state shall be public and this Rule is intended to ensure that that Constitutional provision is fulfilled. However, the Court recognizes that as technology advances, court records will be more readily available and this Rule seeks to balance the right of public access to court records with the need for parties to protect truly private or proprietary information from public view and to insure that rules of court are fairly applied. This Rule does not apply to private settlement agreements and shall not be interpreted as approving confidentiality provisions in private settlement agreements where the parties agree to have the matter voluntarily dismissed under Rule 41(a)(1), SCRCP, without court involvement. The enforceability of those provisions is governed by general legal principles, not by this Rule.

(b) Filing Documents Under Seal.

Should Rule 26(b)(5), SCRCP, be inapplicable, and absent another governing rule, statute, or order, any party seeking to file documents under seal shall file and serve a "Motion to Seal." The motion shall identify, with specificity, the documents or portions of documents for which sealing is considered necessary, shall contain a non-confidential description of the documents, and shall be accompanied by a...