918. General provisions pertaining to records in offices of county clerks. 1. The clerk of each of the counties within the city of New York is authorized and empowered to do such further acts for rearrangement, care, repair, restoration, preservation, indexing and convenient examination of the records, documents, maps and papers filed or recorded in his office as in his judgment will best serve the public interest.
2. The clerk of the county of Richmond is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to destroy copies and originals of chattel mortgages, bills of sale and conditional bills of sale filed in his office, after the expiration of ten years from the date of filing.
3. All books, records, maps and other public papers which are now public records in the offices of the county clerks of New York, Kings, Bronx, Queens and Richmond shall continue to be public records. The county clerk may cause copies thereof to be made by photocopying or other process, in his discretion, whenever by reason of age, use, exposure or any casualty, such copies shall in his judgment be desirable. All copies of any records filed in any such office, when certified by any such clerk to be accurate copies thereof, shall for all purposes have the same force and effect as the original. Unless otherwise ordered by the appellate division pursuant to section eighty-nine of the judiciary law, the original shall be placed in a suitable enclosure and preserved, properly endorsed and indexed, for such examination as may be directed by an order of court in any proceeding in which the accuracy of the copy is questioned.
4. Any other laws to the contrary notwithstanding, the county clerk in each of the counties within the city of New York is authorized and empowered to maintain separate judgment docket volumes containing the printed transcript or transcripts, in strict alphabetical order of judgment made, entered and docketed in the civil court of the city of New York against individuals, corporations, and other entities on behalf of the parking violations bureau, the environmental control board, the taxi and limousine commission and the commissioner of jurors of the city of New York. These volumes may be maintained in the form of computer print outs which shall contain the date of judgment, the name and address of the judgment debtor or debtors, the amount of the judgment and other information which the county clerk may deem necessary to sufficiently describe the parties to the action or proceeding or nature or the manner of the entry of the judgment. Provided, however, with respect to judgments on behalf of the parking violations bureau the county clerk may, in his discretion, in lieu of such volumes, maintain the aforementioned data in a micrographic or computer retrievable format. With respect to judgments on behalf of the parking violations bureau such volumes or other format shall be maintained pursuant to this subdivision for only those individuals, corporations, and other entities having vehicles registered in the counties within the city of New York.
Last modified: February 3, 2019