Wow thanks Robert. To me, after briefly reading the AG opinion, the clerks’ reaction made more sense. It did seem to me that in terms of the clerk’s liability, there was not a clear distinction or separation of the images published on the internet and the images they allowed access to in the courthouse. Therefore, I don’t think you can blame the clerk’s for their ‘extreme’ reaction. After all, that is what legal language is all about, being very precise so the exact meaning is perfectly clear (to lawyers anyway!). The problems occur when legislation does not take into account the actual impact on the reality of our daily life.

As for what happens next and where this will lead, my guess is the images on the internet are over, and as for your other suggestions Robert they sound good. Although, I think the clerk reviewing every document before a copy is made is still a very cumbersome and costly task. Lines for copies were scary these last few days!

I do hope (selfishly) that for the title professionals who are in the courthouse every day, the restrictions will be adaptable for us so as not to interfere with our current daily routine. This also allows the clerks to spend more time servicing the public.

I must say the clerks in my area were very professional, apologetic and responsive throughout this process. Once the abatement was announced they reacted very quickly to get things back to normal.

OK how about this:

Internet access to images for title professionals only? We would have to register, etc. but would still be able to keep up the turnaround time that our clients are so used to at this point.

At least trees can breathe a sigh of relief! Today I had 140 pages on 2 reports the clerk had to print & review before I could read (which more than tripled the research time – and I was the first in line this am). At the end I only needed 65 pages in copies, which I then had to spend extra time to scan because, of course, I could no longer download! Sometimes technology sure is nice!