Filing Under a Pseudonym
Caselaw
New Hampshire reported cases with Doe plaintiffs are almost exclusively limited to family law or child abuse or sexual abuse of minors, and include no discussion of pseudonymity. An adult plaintiff will have great difficulty successfully arguing that harm to them caused by suing under their true name is as great as those to abused minors. Family law, similarly, is quite distinguishable. See, e.g., Niedzielski v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 589 A.2d 130 (N.H. 1991) (Doe is minor patient of defendant dentist who is sexually abused at appointment).
Filing Requirements & Availability of Court Records
New Hampshire civil procedure rules do not exactly track the federal rules.
N.H. SUPER. CT. R. 2-A (2010) provides:
Writs will not be accepted for entry unless the mail address and actual street address of each party plaintiff appear thereon (except domestic violence petitions, in accordance with RSA 173-B:3), and no appearance card shall be filed unless it contains the mail address and actual street address of each party defendant included in said appearance card. For good cause shown, any writ or appearance card rejected for non-compliance with this rule may, upon motion and compliance, be admitted for filing.
Supreme Court opinions are available at http://www.courts.state.nh.us/supreme/opinions/index.htm (last visited Apr. 20, 2010).
Relevant Statutes
N.H. REV. STAT. ANN. § 169-B:35 (2010) provides for confidential court records for juvenile cases.
N.H. REV. STAT. ANN. § 169-D:25 (2010) provides for confidential court records where “children are in need of services.” Similarly, under N.H. REV. STAT. ANN. § 169-C:25 (2010), court records under the Child Protection Act are to be confidential.
N.H. SUP. CT. R. 12 (2010) provides the procedure for seeking confidentiality of Supreme Court records; note however, that confidentiality is akin to sealing records, and does not include pseudonymity.