§ 33.14 Sealing of records pertaining to treatment for mental illness.

(a) (1) Any person who has been admitted to receive inpatient or
outpatient services for mental illness may commence a special proceeding
in the supreme court for an order directing the sealing of those records
held by the office of mental health, a facility, or any other individual
or public or private entity which has been made a party to the
proceeding, which identify the petitioner as a recipient of services for
mental illness. The court may order that the petitioner's records be
sealed, subject to such limitations or exceptions as the court may
impose, upon a finding that:

a. the petitioner was illegally detained by a facility by reason of
fraud, error or falsified documents, and the records pertain to such
illegal detention; or

b. the petitioner has demonstrated by competent medical evidence that
he is not currently suffering from a mental illness, has not for a
period of three years received inpatient services for the treatment of a
mental illness, and the interests of the petitioner and society would
best be served by sealing the petitioner's records. It shall be presumed
that it would be in the best interests of the petitioner and society to
seal any record of a petitioner's receipt of services for the treatment
of mental illness prior to his sixteenth birthday.

(2) Except for such limitations as the court may impose, a court order
directing the office of mental health, a facility, or other individual
or entity to seal records shall require the office of mental health,
facility or other individual or entity to respond to any official or
unofficial inquiry concerning the petitioner's history of mental illness
as though the admission or receipt of services documented in the sealed
records had never occurred.

(3) A petitioner who has obtained an order directing that his or her
records be sealed may respond to any official or unofficial inquiry by
any person or agency concerning the petitioner's history of mental
illness as though the admission or receipt of services documented in the
sealed records had never occurred.

(b) Records sealed pursuant to this section may be unsealed and made
available only:

(1) upon request of the person who is the subject of the sealed
records;

(2) by order of a court upon a demonstration by the party seeking to
have the records unsealed that such unsealing is essential to the
interests of justice;

(3) upon the commencement of a suit by the person who is the subject
of the sealed records or his representative in which such person's
confinement or treatment during confinement as documented in the sealed
records is at issue; or

(4) seventy-five years after the record has been sealed.