1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to housing court; providing for expungement 
  1.3             of certain court records of eviction actions; amending 
  1.4             Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 484.014, subdivision 
  1.5             2, and by adding a subdivision. 
  1.6   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.7      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 484.014, 
  1.8   subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
  1.9      Subd. 2.  [DISCRETIONARY EXPUNGEMENT.] In cases that do not 
  1.10  meet the criteria in subdivision 2a, the court may order 
  1.11  expungement of an eviction case court file only upon motion of a 
  1.12  defendant and decision by the court, if the court finds that the 
  1.13  plaintiff's case is sufficiently without basis in fact or law, 
  1.14  which may include lack of jurisdiction over the case, that 
  1.15  expungement is clearly in the interests of justice and those 
  1.16  interests are not outweighed by the public's interest in knowing 
  1.17  about the record. 
  1.18     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 484.014, is 
  1.19  amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
  1.20     Subd. 2a.  [EVICTION RECORDS EXPUNGEMENT.] (a) The court on 
  1.21  its own motion, or upon motion by a party to the action, must 
  1.22  order that records of an eviction action be expunged in the 
  1.23  following circumstances: 
  1.24     (1) the court lacks either subject-matter jurisdiction in 
  1.25  the case or personal jurisdiction over the defendant; 
  2.1      (2) the case is dismissed; 
  2.2      (3) the tenant is a minor; 
  2.3      (4) the plaintiff does not appear at the initial hearing; 
  2.4      (5) the eviction action is determined in favor of the 
  2.5   tenant, including by a default judgment; 
  2.6      (6) the premises from which the tenant is sought to be 
  2.7   evicted is condemned, in the process of foreclosure, or has been 
  2.8   found to be in violation as defined in section 504B.001, 
  2.9   subdivision 14; 
  2.10     (7) a tenant commenced an action under section 504B.395 
  2.11  that predated the filing of the eviction action; 
  2.12     (8) the court finds that an eviction action was filed in 
  2.13  retaliation for or action by a tenant taken in response to a 
  2.14  violation of the tenant's rights by the plaintiff; 
  2.15     (9) the tenant is not removed from the premises, regardless 
  2.16  of the outcome of the eviction action; or 
  2.17     (10) a victim of domestic abuse is named as a party to an 
  2.18  eviction action as a result of actions of an abuser. 
  2.19     (b) The expungement order must not provide for destruction 
  2.20  of the records but must provide for sealing the records and not 
  2.21  disclosing their existence except upon statutory authority or 
  2.22  court order.