1. Easy Access to Public Records: From Investigating Companies to the Dead! 2008 ORALL Annual Meeting
Sue Altmeyer, JD, MLS
Electronic Services Librarian
Cleveland Marshall College of Law Library
October 17, 2008

2. URL for this presentation
Powerpoint: documents/ORALLpubrectalk.ppt
Handouts: Will be available November 4 at

3. What is available? ▪ medical records Only public records.
Ohio records: See ORC
Some items excluded from definition of public records:
▪ medical records
▪ probation records
▪ adoption records
▪ confidential law enforcement investigatory records

4. What is available? Federal government will not disclose
▪ national defense information
▪ personal and medical information
▪ ongoing law enforcement investigations and confidential sources
▪ certain geological information
▪ information exempt under federal law
See 5 USC 552(b)., (FOIA)

5. Restrictions on Accessing
Statutes limiting access to government records.
Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, 18 USC 2721
Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681 et seq. – applies when obtaining information from a seller of “consumer reports”
Driver’s Privacy Protection Act – need a permissible purpose to access driver’s license information. Civil or Criminal investigation is a permissible purpose.

6. Restrictions on Accessing, Cont’d
Social Security Number protection, for example:
Ohio 127th GA SB 6 (R.C (B)(1) and (2))
Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, 42 U.S.C.A. § 405c(2)C(vi)(II)
Pending legislation: Social Security Number Misuse Prevention Act

7. Restrictions on Accessing
Court policies limiting records available. See the Ohio Supreme Court’s Proposed Superintendence Rules 44-47
Public records may not be published or readily available – may have to do information request.

8. Is “free background check” on the Web possible?
Only to a certain extent.
Free materials available on-line are discrete bits of information. Pay databases retrieve information from many sources.
Not every court and government agency makes records available via a Web site.

9. For Fee Databases Westlaw & LexisNexis
Accurint signup is free – you only pay for each search.
Openonline has minimal set-up fee and annual cost, then you pay for each search.
Other reputable fee services include: Choicepoint, KnowX.com, 1800US Search.com, NetDetective.net, SearchSystems.com.

10. Important Tips
Cross-check results among multiple databases or websites to ensure accuracy.
Check the coverage of the database. How far does it go back ? What states or counties are included?

11. Doing the Search – Starting Points and Portals
Comprehensive reports available from a fee service, such as Lexis, Accurint, Westlaw
Cleveland Law Library’s Public Records FAQ
Netronline
SearchSystems.net
PublicRecords.com

12. People Finders
Public Libraries may offer Reference USA, Haines Criss+Cross, etc.
Free People Finders on the web:
pipl.com: Searches Deep Web.
Whitepages.com - Leading Provider
More: Cleveland Law Library’s People Finder FAQ

13. Sneaky Ways to Find People
Professional license databases
Voting Records
Driver’s License databases
Return of Service in court cases
Accident reports
Find their relatives or neighbors

14. Example: Use portal and voter records to find an address
Connect to searchsystems.net
Search terms “voter registration Ohio”
System lists online voter registration databases.
To go further via searchsystems.net costs money. So, just google Franklin County Board of Elections.
Franklin County Voter Inquiry

15. Accident Reports
Accident reports – Mail request to Department of Public Safety in Columbus.
Some accident reports online: Policereports.us.
Some States and cities do so too (eg, Arkansas) but usually have fee.

16. Problem – Cell phone and Unlisted Numbers
For-fee databases with credit header info.
New Lexis database Alternate Phones
Cell Phone Search; Intellius – name search for fee, reverse lookup is free.
Web Detective – cell & unlisted – for fee.
Mobile Phone Number .com – voluntary listings free.
National Cellular Directory – free, but must provide YOUR cellphone for the directory.

17. Finding Married/Divorced Women
Look at marriage licenses, divorce dockets, possibly probate court name change records to determine woman’s current name.
See vital records section, below.

18. Neighbors, Friends & Relatives
County Auditor – Lucas County Auditor –
Infospace.com
Relatives
Peoplefinders.com ; Intelius; Spock
Last name only search
Friends/Associates
MySpace ; Facebook; Friendster.com; LinkedIn; Xing; Ning

19. Assets – Generally Pay Databases the easiest, most comprehensive
Check recent divorce filings.
Portico: real estate, aircraft, boats

20. Assets – Real Estate
Nationally-Portico for county recorders, Property Assessment Databases for auditors.
Ohio - Butler County Clerk Statewide Property Search –recorders’ offices Statewide Real Estate Tax Search –county auditors' offices.

21. Assets – Real Estate Special Cuyahoga County Databases:
Foreclosure Sales – Cuyahoga county.
Neo Cando – Property, tax and transfer information for Northeast Ohio.
Cuyahoga Enterprise Geographic Information System (CEGIS) detailed information on houses and businesses

22. Assets – UCC & Airplanes
UCC filings – Ohio Secretary of State
National Association of Secretaries of State – Links to Secretary of State offices in all fifty states.
Searchsystems.net for UCC filings.
UCC Article 9 filings may be with county recorder.
Airplanes - Landings

23. Criminal Records
So-called "national" databases inaccessible to non-governmental users.
See “National Criminal Background Checks: Myths, Realities & Resources” by Jackie Walters.
Pay databases– LexisNexis, Westlaw, Openonline and Accurint may not pick up misdemeanors or all arrests. Examine scope of database before pay to search it.

24. Criminal Records
Cuyahoga County felony arrest records can be obtained at County Sheriff’s office. Cost = $ Back to early 1970s.
for other Sheriff’s offices
Do docket search of individual courts.

25. Criminal Records Free Internet Databases:
Criminalsearches.com: Searches across numerous states and counties. Does not include all courts/counties.
Federal Bureau of Prisons (Incarcerated 1982
to present. Minimal info.)
Ohio Dept of Corrections Offenders sentenced to serve time in a STATE facility.
Corrections.com – Links to other states’ databases.

26. Criminal Records Sex offender databases:
National Sex Offender Public Registry: Search for names of sex offenders in multiple state databases at once.
FBI's State Sex Offender Registries: Links to state sex offender databases.

27. More options for Criminal Records
Ohio Attorney General’s Office WebCheck: For fee, need fingerprints and driver’s license. Arrests for felonies and escalating misdemeanors.
Federal denied persons list
Newspapers, Court Dockets.
BMV records, if permissible purpose.

28. Bankruptcy and Court Records
U.S. Party Case Name Index (PACER)
Justia Federal District Court Dockets
LLRX Court Rules & Dockets ; National Center for State Courts ; Butler County Statewide Court Records Seach – Links to dockets.
Know-X Civil Lawsuit Finder – Searches all states at once for $2.95.

29. Vital Records – Birth & Death Records
National Center for Health Statistics
Ohio Department of Health – order online or info on local offices’ Web sites.
Cleveland Necrology File
Social Security Death Index
Americas Obituaries and Death Notices
Online Searchable Death Indexes

30. Vital Records – Marriage and Divorce
Abstracts can be ordered from Ohio Dept of Health
Copies of marriage licenses/ divorce decrees must be ordered from the probate court/domestic relations court
Lexis has marriage and divorce records for 15 states, Westlaw has these for some states too.

31. Social Security Numbers
In court documents (especially divorce and UCC filings), but recently courts enacted rules to redact this information.
Most pay databases have removed social security numbers or mask last four digits, including LexisNexis, Westlaw, Openonline, Accurint and KnowX.
LexisNexis, Openonline will provide authorized users with certain type of account that gives access to Social Security numbers.

32. Social Security Numbers
Free verifiers:
Social Security Number Validator
Carnegie Mellon Social Security Number Watch
The Social Security Death Index - for people who died since 1963

33. Professional Licenses
Ohio License Center
Ohio Medical Board Disciplinary Actions
Ohio Supreme Court: Attorney Information Search
Certified Financial Planner Look-up
Cleveland Law Library’s Public Records FAQ

34. Campaign Donations
FECInfo: Donor look-up for federal campaign contributors.
Opensecrets.org: Donor name lookup for federal elections.
Ohio Secretary of State
Follow the Money.org: State political campaign donations.

35. Other Info about People
Spock finds news articles about people. It searches networking sites and the Web.
Zoominfo - gathers information about people in their professional capacities and about companies.
Newspapers and General Internet Searches

36. Dead People To find heirs, try obituaries:
Americas Obituaries and Death Notices (Newsbank)
Online Searchable Death Indexes
Cleveland Necrology File
Cleveland News Index
Try relative databases, discussed above

37. Company Information Company’s Website SEC’s Edgar for public companies
New IDEA database coming soon. See SEC's Press Release
Searching SEC docs easier on SECInfo.com, Lexis, Westlaw, Mergent.
Cleveland Law Library Guide to Business Information lots more links.

38. Information about Companies
Check local public library for databases such as Mergent, Gale’s Business & Company Resource Center
Secretary of State – Corporate charters, articles of incorporation, UCC
The National Association of Secretaries of State Contact Roster

39. Company Information Most popular for-fee database - Dun & Bradstreet
Nice free ones with public and private company info:
Hoover's Online
Forbes – America’s Largest Private Companies
ThomasNet