Divorce decrees and tax liens

[Steven Stutzman]

Hello everyone. I am trying to obtain divorce decree and tax lien lists from the county. I sent in an application and got a reply saying:

"Per court rule GR 31(g)(3): The use of court records, distributed in bulk form, for the purpose of commercial solicitation of individuals named in the court records is prohibited."

Am I going about this process in the wrong way? I'm honestly trying to help people in tough situations. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Davido Davido]

@Steven Stutzman,  Your choices are either to request the list with personal information redacted, identify those cases which interest you, and then use the case number to obtain those specific files by case number so you can review the files and add the previously redacted information, or to claim that you will not use the names of individuals for commercial purposes.

The WA Attorney General released an similar opinion letter last month (Aug 1, 2019) titled,

LISTINGS OF TAXABLE PROPERTY AS LISTS OF NAMES OF INDIVIDUALS REQUESTED FOR A COMMERCIAL PURPOSE

its available through this link,

https://www.atg.wa.gov/ago-opinions/listings-taxable-property-lists-names-individuals-requested-commercial-purpose

The relevant portion of the law discussed by the WA Attorney Gen in the link provided above is, RCW 42.56.070 (8)

"This chapter (WA public records Act) shall not be construed as giving authority to any agency, ... to give, sell or provide access to lists of individuals requested for commercial purposes, and agencies, ... shall not do so unless specifically authorized or directed by law: ..."

https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=42.56.070

What I get from it, is that if the county knows that a request for delinquent tax lists is being made for commercial purposes, then the county is expected/required to delete the names of property owners. This should not be a significant problem because the parcel numbers would still be provided and owner names and addresses can be accessed in most counties by putting individual parcel numbers into the county's treasurer's online database. Getting name and address information is merely an extra step.

Also of interest may be the entire list of WA Attorney General Opinions on what the WA Public Records Act permits and requires.

https://agportal-s3bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/uploadedfiles/Home/About_the_Office/Open_Government/Open_Government_Training/Chart%20AGO%20Opinions%20PRA%20February%202018.pdf
Best Wishes,