How to Remove Court Cases from the Internet: Tips and Tricks

Need to know how to remove court cases from the internet? Call a Court Case Removal Expert today at 941-259-4554!

Everyone makes mistakes. But imagine if your biggest mistake was the first result on Google when someone searched your name. Reputation Defender: Your Internet reputation is more important than ever.

We bet you’d start researching how to remove court cases from the internet and repair your reputation pretty fast. 

For instance, you might be looking at companies like Reputation Defender.

In a day and age when your career, dating prospects, creditworthiness, and reputation score can all be destroyed by your online reputation, you must protect your privacy. Your internet footprint can be devastating, so opting out of personal information aggregating websites like Whitepages and MyLife might be on your to-do list.

Given how devastating your internet footprint can be, opting out of personal information aggregating websites like Whitepages might be at the top of your to-do list.

The last thing you want is a petty juvenile offense or case where the charges were dropped, haunting you forever.

If you are experiencing a sudden influx of negative results online, there are several ways to deal with it. For instance, you may be dealing with an ancient mistake, like a DUI from your college days.

You should consider having the record sealed or expunged when that suddenly pops up.
Sometimes, having your criminal record sealed or expunged will not be possible. The judge will make the decision depending on several factors. For instance:

• How severe the crime was
• The type of record (civil or criminal)
• Whether the public is entitled to know the contents of the record (sex offenders, etc.)
• How old the record is

So, for example, if the records you are trying to expunge are 30 years old and for a minor offense, it’s much more likely that you’ll have your request granted than if you were arrested for murder a few weeks ago.

If sealing or expungement is not an option, consider developing a reputation management strategy.

What is a Court Record?

A court record is any court case record, including evidence, witness statements, transcripts of trials, and other documents collected during legal actions.

Typically, the county Clerk of Courts collects and maintains a court record.

Why Do I Have to Learn How to Remove Public Court Records

From the Internet in the First Place?

Even though it feels like an infringement of your privacy, you do not own any information in your public records. Many federal laws support making court records public information.

The First Amendment and the Freedom of Information Act, for instance. And on top of those precedents, individual state laws about public records exist.

However, there are exceptions to the law. You must prove that your right to privacy outweighs the public’s right and/or need to access your records.

If you are currently listed as a sex offender, your request to delete public court records will be denied in the interest of public safety.
Likewise, if you were arrested for murder or grand larceny, it would be difficult to have the public records removed.

In these cases, the public’s right to know outweighs your right to privacy.

Why Is Old Information Showing Up At the Top of Google?

Many people who experience this problem have the same question. “There’s plenty of other information about me; why do court records rank so highly on Google?”

This happens for a variety of reasons, all of which are tied to Google’s algorithms. Google’s number one goal is to deliver the information you’re searching for in as few clicks as possible. To make sure users get the right information fast, they take into account information like the following:

Domain Authority

Every website has a certain level of authority or “consumer trust” on Google. It’s exactly like citing sources back in school. Sites like CNN, Hubspot, and Forbes are “primary sources” because they are trusted.
Whereas a random kittykatlunches.pizza website is barely a blip on the radar.
Court cases rank so highly because the third-party sites they’re listed on have high domain authority.

• Radris.com
• Justia.com
• Juralindex.com
• Casetext.com
• Docketbird.com
• Pacermonitor.com
• Plainsite.org
• Atlaspublicrecords.com
• Open-public-records.com
• Courtlistener.com
• Courtrecords.org

These are just a few third-party sites that collect public court records from courts, government offices, and other legal professionals for the public to browse. When you research how to remove public court documents and cases and open public records online, remember that you’ll need to address each site individually.

Traffic

Clicks are the number one ranking factor on Google. If people consistently click on a link, it increases rankings.
This is because more traffic indicates higher relevancy. Unfortunately, people are much more likely to click on a court record result in the search results than a LinkedIn Profile.

External Links

Are you noticing that press releases and other blog sites appear underneath the court record results? This could be the result of backlinking.

As mentioned above, domain authority is like a “primary source.” Backlinking is just like citing those sources.

When sites write articles and link back to a public record, it gives them more credibility. It also proves that the court record is a useful document. This becomes a feedback loop.

So, if enough people link to a court record, it gives their article authority while verifying the legitimate court document.

What Are My Options?

How To Remove Public Records from Court Cases on the Internet

Now that you understand why negative results are showing up, it’s time to learn how to fix it. There are two methods you can choose from. Which one works best for you will depend on your specific circumstances.

Option One: Complete Removal

This is the ideal scenario and what you should shoot for if it’s at all possible. To have your court records completely removed from the internet, you will have to file a motion to expunge or seal your court records.

After you file, a judge will decide whether or not to grant your request.
The exact steps vary by state, but, generally speaking, there are two types of cases:

Civil Court Records

• Trade secrets
• Patents
• Settlement agreements
• Divorce decrees
• Medical records

If you are eligible, a judge is much more likely to seal civil records on request than criminal records because it’s much easier for attorneys to prove that your right to privacy outweighs the public right to know.

Criminal Court Records

Criminal Court Records include:

• Arrest records
• Mugshots
• The Penal Code section violated
• Case number
• Trial transcripts (if any)

Unless the crime is very old, very minor, or occurred when you were a minor, it probably won’t be expunged. If you can prove that it is dangerous to your personal safety or materially damaging your career, that may help.

For instance, if you committed a crime under duress, and the abusive party can find you through public records, this endangers you and your family.

Another example would be if you were caught in possession of marijuana at age 19. You were arrested and tried as an adult but caused no harm to anyone, and now you’re an upstanding citizen.

In most cases, if you want to work in banking or the medical field, this could keep you from getting a job or may damage your social security number.

Improve Your Chances

You can improve your chances of having your records expunged or sealed if you limit your request. For instance, ask the judge to seal certain documents or sections instead of the whole record.
For instance, maybe you want an employment case to be sealed because it’s scaring off potential employers.

You can have all the documents about your medical conditions or records sealed because that’s protected private information.

If your court records are successfully sealed or expunged, they will be automatically removed from some third-party sites. But not all. You will likely still have to petition the sites one by one to have your information removed.

If they do not remove the records despite your court order, speak to an attorney.

And remember, removing court records from these sites does not guarantee their complete removal from the internet. Especially if your court case was highly publicized, there may be shares on social media, screenshots, or news reports.

Option Two: Online Reputation Management

If the judge denies your request to seal, remove personal information , or expunge your records from web pages and search engines, the next best option is search engine suppression. This process is based on the information above about how Google algorithms work and show public records on web search results.

You reverse the concept to create your own content for public access and rank it on Google search results.

If you can’t beat them, join them! And by “join them,” we mean to start creating meaningful, relevant content that Google and other websites will pick up.

Apply certain criteria to use keywords, backlinks, and other SEO methods to encourage traffic and clicks and rank highly.

Over time, with enough content and consistent online posting, you should be able to bury past negative results with positive ones.

Less than 10% of people go to the second page of Google, so to succeed, you must move the records down to 11th place!

Don’t you have the time, inclination, or tech know-how to start your SEO campaign? You can always seek professional help and hire reputation management firms that specialize in reshaping Google search results and help you maintain a healthy online presence.

Be the person in charge and reclaim your reputation.

Contact us today or call 941-259-4554 to learn how to quickly remove court cases from the internet and protect your online reputation!

For more information about our services, visit us here.