JusticeP – I have a couple more questions if you don’t mind. Who is responsible for seeing to it that individuals who abuse the Judicial with frivolous lawsuits if the Attorney General is inept, partisan, and crooked? Is it possible for all of the innocent individuals who have been falsely sued to get together and do something about the criminal who makes a living off suing people? What if the same individual has a record of making false criminal charges that ultimately are dismissed in the Courts, do the Courts ever review such an individual’s statistics and take action to prevent the same crime from happening again and or to protect the taxpayer’s from spending money needlessly? And if the individual can be proven to have written a number of false police reports against others, does that constitute a law enforcement issue and/or an issue which the Courts will/can take action upon? What if an individual has a history of frivilous lawsuits in District, Municipal and Federal judiciaries, do the three have a mechanism that goes into play to prevent more from the same individual? Does the US Attorney have a role in any of this? What if the State’s Attorney General has political or any other questionable affiliation with the individual, can the State’s Attorney General be put under investigation? Who investigates/prosecutes that entity?

JusticeP – thank you very much for your time, politeness and answers.

Qui Tam:
Federal Bankruptcy cases are located at: http://www.nmcourt.fed.us/usbc/.  I can not speak to “Foreclosures? What about tax liens.”, but they should be matter of public record.
 
As far as a specific judge vs. whoever, the online posting would allow you to read each and every pleading made by either party and the judges response or ruling.  You would have total access at your fingertips.
 
As to: “Is there ever a time when an individual who has been in a multitude of court cases finds their fraud equivilant to a criminal activity which falls into the jurisdiction of law enforcement? Isn’t wasting taxpayer’s monies on frivolous lawsuits a law enforcement issue?” The answer to these questions may depend upon the definition of law enforcement.  Regular police enforcement I would say No.  I would say that the Attorney General’s Office could petition or move a superior court to bar litigants from filing additional suits without the permission of the court and also to bar informa pauperis filings without full payment.
I would say that unless special circumstances arise, and maybe I am not aware of any, that it is a court issue not a law enforcement issue.  This is not to say that courts are not law enforcement per se, but my definition of law enforcement as you are speaking does not include the judiciary.

JusticeP – Thank you for the clarification. It arises a few questions. Are federal bankrupsy cases listed on http://www.nmcourts.com? Foreclosures? What about tax liens? Those issues are important to voters when they look at a politician’s court record. The second issue I was trying to address but I guess didn’t make clear was that of a specific Judge’s decision in regard to a specific case involving say a politician or individual who may have made a campaign contribution to the Judge or that the Judge may have given a contribution too. In other words, what percentage of favorable decisions are made as opposed to unfavorable when two politicians (one sitting on the bench) collide in a courtroom. That for me would be quite revealing. In regard to the third point, wouldn’t it be a law enforcement issue if the civil case included false police reports as evidence? What if there were multiple false police reports? And what if the plaintiff had engaged in more than one civil suit and provided false police reports in the different suits? Would it then become a law enforcement issue? Is there ever a time when an individual who has been in a multitude of court cases finds their fraud equivilant to a criminal activity which falls into the jurisdiction of law enforcement? Isn’t wasting taxpayer’s monies on frivolous lawsuits a law enforcement issue? I ask these questions honestly and look for clear answers…thank you in advance.

One other question, would it behove taxpayers to be able to access all court records including municipal, district and federal all on the same website for the specific purpose of cross reference?

Qui Tam:
“This is a hugely important issue on many levels.”
The above statement is very true, however I believe that your focus is misplaced.
The “First” issue you speak of can presently be found on nmcourts.com.
The “Second” issue you speak of: “the People could look at the decisions Judges have made in the past” can usually be found on the NM Supreme Court website under opinions. Actual decisions of controversy are usually at the appellate or supreme court level and matter of public record. At the district court level usually the judge is an arbitrator on a plea bargain or a jury decision without any decision other than procedural.
The “Third” issue you speak of:“unscrupulous individuals try to make a living off of suing people” is not a law enforcement issue.  It is a court issue of abusing the system with litigation.

This is a hugely important issue on many levels.

First, being able to look up the criminal and civil cases of any politician running for office would be a valuable tool for voters and to the media as they review a person’s character and taudry activities. Say for example a candidate had been involved in thirty plus lawsuits and had also declared bankrupsy more than once. Wouldn’t that be important for voters to take into account as they headed to the polls? What if the candidate had been sued incessantly by a number of different entities for non-payment of debt? What if the candidate had been charged with animal cruelty or dwi? Yes, documentation of court activities certainly would allow voters to clearly understand a person’s character.

Secondly, in areas where voters elect Judges, the People could look at the decisions Judges have made in the past and the voters also would be allowed a certain level of transparency if say the Judge heard the cases of those individuals whom they recieved either corporate or personal campaign contributions from or for that matter gave to…

Another value to having complete online access to court records would be that law enforcement could also detect whether an individual is costing taxpayers exorbanent amounts of money by constantly using/abusing the Judicial system. It is a well known fact, that some unscrupulous individuals try to make a living off of suing people and one may ask what if such an individual was actually running for public office. Such a revelation could be a winfall for both the taxpayer and potential victims as the practice could be stopped in it’s tracks with the transparency provided.

I personally think it would be difficult to improve on the e-filing system the federal court has in place.  I have found it to be very user friendly and fail proof.  I would disagree with Daniels in implementing the $6 and $4 dollar fee for e-filing instead of the .08 cents per page to view and print.  The filer gets one free look he can print for his records and an automatic service to the opposing party.  However, either way will make the system very efficient and needed for updating.  One good move on his part.