Opinion ID: 1880293
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Civil Litigation Matter

Text: During the investigation of Terrazas, the Director discovered a court of appeals decision in a family law case in which Terrazas was a party. No one involved in the family law matter had filed a complaint Terrazas. Nevertheless, an investigator from the Director's office reviewed the entire court file and learned that fees had been assessed against Terrazas, which he had not paid, and that Terrazas had not complied with a discovery request. The Director filed a supplementary petition against Terrazas based on the information from the court file. The referee dismissed the supplementary petition because the investigator, before reviewing the child custody court file, did not comply with Minn.Stat. § 257.70, which regulates the privacy of records in actions brought under the parentage act. Minn.Stat. §§ 257.51-.74 (1996).