Hi all. It's almost 4 years now since my CH7 discharge. Things seem to be going well. And, then, I saw the following, this morning.
Every so often, I "Google" myself, just to see what it shows. When I did it this morning, I came upon a site called "UniCourt" which, apparently, is a database of Court cases as filed in various Court clerk's offices (mostly State and County courts). Lo and behold, I discovered the record for the original lawsuit case American Express Centurion Bank filed against me for the Debt Collection. Its status is "Pending - Other Pending." There is no record of any updates since the original filing in 2018. They were the only creditor that went "all the way" and filed a lawsuit. Like I said, "$*@& $*(#&".
Of course, the CH7 filing I completed in April, 2019 (discharged 07/30/2019) negated and cancelled the above lawsuit. It now shows on the County Clerk's records as "Closed." But, apparently, this "Unicourt" database didn't get the memo, and they haven't updated the record to reflect that the case was closed based on the CH7 filing. The court case does not have a status of "dismissed," meaning that the judge took action. That could be a factor, but I'm not sure. Perhaps, I could file a petition to have the case declared "dismissed," but not sure if I need to do that.
Ordinarily, this wouldn't be a big deal, with one exception. A year ago, I started a new business as a "Notary Public." I'm fully commissioned, etc. etc. And I've passed all the background checks needed for that commission as well as being a "Loan Signing Agent" which requires a background check every year. I would imagine that if my Ch7 was a problem in re: my new status as a Notary Public, I'd have been DQ'ed by now. I haven't been. Not by the State of Florida, at least.
However, when people are looking for a new Notary and they Google my name, and this UniCourt record comes up, that could very well dissuade a lot of potential customers! So, now I'm wondering what to do. I have followed Unicourt's procedure for "Name Redaction" but I don't know how successful that will be, as they seem to have a "Public has a right to know" mindset about them. I will also check with my County Clerk's office to see if they can send Unicourt an update to change the record. Short of taking "legal action" against Unicourt (for which which I have no idea as to the feasibility), I'm not sure what else I can do. I wonder if I could file suit against their practice of making the their database "indexable/searchable" to Google. I'll keep everyone posted on what happens with Unicourt. But has anyone ever had any issues with a company like this and how did you resolve them?
Regards,
Arnold.
Every so often, I "Google" myself, just to see what it shows. When I did it this morning, I came upon a site called "UniCourt" which, apparently, is a database of Court cases as filed in various Court clerk's offices (mostly State and County courts). Lo and behold, I discovered the record for the original lawsuit case American Express Centurion Bank filed against me for the Debt Collection. Its status is "Pending - Other Pending." There is no record of any updates since the original filing in 2018. They were the only creditor that went "all the way" and filed a lawsuit. Like I said, "$*@& $*(#&".
Of course, the CH7 filing I completed in April, 2019 (discharged 07/30/2019) negated and cancelled the above lawsuit. It now shows on the County Clerk's records as "Closed." But, apparently, this "Unicourt" database didn't get the memo, and they haven't updated the record to reflect that the case was closed based on the CH7 filing. The court case does not have a status of "dismissed," meaning that the judge took action. That could be a factor, but I'm not sure. Perhaps, I could file a petition to have the case declared "dismissed," but not sure if I need to do that.
Ordinarily, this wouldn't be a big deal, with one exception. A year ago, I started a new business as a "Notary Public." I'm fully commissioned, etc. etc. And I've passed all the background checks needed for that commission as well as being a "Loan Signing Agent" which requires a background check every year. I would imagine that if my Ch7 was a problem in re: my new status as a Notary Public, I'd have been DQ'ed by now. I haven't been. Not by the State of Florida, at least.
However, when people are looking for a new Notary and they Google my name, and this UniCourt record comes up, that could very well dissuade a lot of potential customers! So, now I'm wondering what to do. I have followed Unicourt's procedure for "Name Redaction" but I don't know how successful that will be, as they seem to have a "Public has a right to know" mindset about them. I will also check with my County Clerk's office to see if they can send Unicourt an update to change the record. Short of taking "legal action" against Unicourt (for which which I have no idea as to the feasibility), I'm not sure what else I can do. I wonder if I could file suit against their practice of making the their database "indexable/searchable" to Google. I'll keep everyone posted on what happens with Unicourt. But has anyone ever had any issues with a company like this and how did you resolve them?
Regards,
Arnold.
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