Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Michigan

Re: Ingham County Friend of the Court Responsibility to your case folder.

The short reply is: the FOC (pronounce it as you wish!) workers are definitely covered by governmental immunity!

"Leaking" information you voluntarily gave them to the public would most likely NOT be considered bad enough conduct to get you past their gov't imnmunity in court.

There ARE cases in which government workers are found liable for disclosing private information, but it has to be pretty bad: the effect has to be serious, the breach of protocol has to be egregious and you have to show malice, a lack of any other explanation other than the worker's desire to inflict harm...Since you don't state any sort of retailiatory motive, I suspect you would have a hard time doing anything further than complaining about the disclosure through administrative procedures. File a complaint with the FOC review board. Attend one of their planning meetings.

FOC records should be "public records," just as divorce records are public records. You don't necessarily have the right to prevent the public from seeing them, even though they may be difficult for the public to get. The best way to keep things confidential with the FOC is not to tell them.