Pacing Yourself with PACER: Federal court filings at your fingertips

1. Pacing Yourself with PACER:Federal court filings at your fingertips Amy Levine, Head of Reference and Research Services Madeline Cohen, Circuit Librarian U.S. Courts Library, 10th Circuit Denver, CO 16 August 2010

2. What is PACER? • PACER stands for Public Access to Court Electronic Records. • It is an electronic public access service that allows users to obtain case and docket information from federal appellate, district and bankruptcy courts via the Internet. • PACER is a service of the U.S. Judiciary, but each court maintains its own database with case information.

3. Why Use PACER? • The system is a fast, inexpensive and comprehensive way to search and retrieve case information. • It is easy to use and requires no additional software or training, other than what is available through the PACER web page. • The U.S. Courts Library offers a public Internet terminal for accessing PACER.

4. What’s Available on PACER? • List of parties to and participants in a case, including attorneys, judges and trustees. • Chronology of dates for case events entered into the record. • Summary of the cause(s) of action, nature of the suit, and dollar demand. • Imaged or scanned copies of documents. • Judgments, opinions and case status.

5. PACER from the Internet

7. How to Access PACER • Determine the court where the case originated or to which it has been appealed. • Select the hotlink that corresponds to the court. • Follow the instruction to login to the PACER system. • Select a search strategy and enter required information. • Follow instructions to either download or print your results.

9. OLD NEWS: U.S./Party Case Index • Not all federal courts participated in the U.S. Party/Case Index. • In order to complete a nationwide search, you had to search the data for each non-participating court individually. • You could search the index by Social Security number, name or nature of suit. • Results included party name, court of jurisdiction, case number, filing date, nature of suit and bankruptcy chapter.

10. New Case Locator!! • National index for U.S. district, bankruptcy, and appellate courts. • A small subset of information from each case is transferred to the PACER Case Locator each night. • The system serves as a locator index for PACER. You may conduct nationwide searches to determine whether or not a party is involved in federal litigation. • As of 7/29/10, cases from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit are NOT on Case Locator.

11. New Case Locator

12. Once you log on….

13. Case Locator – Search page

14. Results Page

15. More Information

16. Getting a Report/Docket

19. Query

20. Case Search • The General Docket can include: • Docket number. • Information about the court of origination. • Party and attorney information. • Case status. • Case type information. • Summary of actions, documents and pleadings.

21. Case Search • Cases can be searched by: • Case number range. • Party name. • Attorney name. • Entering information will give you a “Case Selection Table” with hotlinks to cases. • By clicking on a hotlink , you can access the General Docket for the case.

22. Case Searching

23. Example of a Case

24. Case Search • Clicking on the “Case No.” link will give you the summary of the case. • Clicking on the “Short Title” link will give you the names of parties, attorneys, links to the originating case and the ability to form a query. • Clicking on the “Originating Case No.” link will give you a summary of the originating case. • Can download information in XML or ASCII formats.

25. Case Search Results -- KS

26. Civil Reports -- OKND

27. Opinions • Clicking on the “Opinions” hotlink takes you to the 10th Circuit Clerk’s case management page. • From this page, you can access: • Today’s unpublished opinions. • Opinions from the entire week. • Opinions from 1995 to present, searchable by keyword or by date.

28. Orders and Judgments • By selecting the “Orders/Judgments” hotlink, you will have access to reports on: • Per curiam orders. • Clerk orders. • Opinions. • Per curiam opinions. • Judgments. • Per curiam judgments. • You can search by case number range or by the day or month that a case was filed or entered.

30. Briefs

31. Briefs

32. Briefs

33. More Court Information

34. PACER FAQ’s • Is PACER available on the Internet? • Yes. Please click here for links to courts providing access. You will need a Javascript enabled browser. • How do I register for PACER? • Go to the online registration page and fill out the form. There is no charge to register. • How do I pay for my transactions? • A statement will be mailed to you once you accrue charges of $10.00 or more. The cost per page is $.08. There is a $2.40 cap for any given document, regardless of the number of pages it contains. Taken from http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/faq.html

35. New PACER Fee Schedule • 28 U.S.C. § 1913, 1914, 1926, 1930, 1932) • $.08/page, with the total for any document, docket sheet, or case-specific report not to exceed the fee for 30 pages (transcripts of federal court proceedings not subject to the 30-page fee limit) • No fee is owed under this provision until an account holder accrues charges of more than $10 in a quarterly billing cycle • $.10/page for printing copies of any record or document accessed electronically at a public terminal in the courthouse • $26/item or name for every search of court records conducted by the PACER Service Center

36. Fee Schedule, cont. • $.50/page for the PACER Service Center to reproduce on paper any record pertaining to a PACER account, if this information is remotely available through electronic access • $45 for a check paid to the PACER Service Center that is returned for lack of funds • Provide other local court information at no cost. Examples of information that can be provided at no cost include: local rules, court forms, news items, court calendars, opinions, and other information – such as court hours, court location, telephone listings – determined locally to benefit the public and the court

37. PACER FAQ’s • How do I bill my clients for PACER charges? • You can set up client codes in PACER, which must be entered at the time of the transaction. PACER also has a “Review Transaction History” function that allows you to sort and total transaction by client code. • Is anyone exempt from user fees? • No, everyone is subject to user fees, including government agencies. • Are there any additional fees for using PACER? • No, there is no per minute charge, only a per page charge. • How often is case information updated? • Case information appears on the PACER system in real time and is available for retrieval immediately.

38. PACER FAQ’s • Is there a way to get free PACER access? • You must petition the court in order to waive PACER fees. Fees may be waived to avoid unreasonable burdens and to promote public access to such information. A party must demonstrate that both standards have been met in order for a court to grant an exemption from payment of this fee. • The PACER Pilot Project • How far back does case information go? • Since each court maintains its own case information database, there will be some variations among jurisdictions as to the date ranges of information offered. Contact the court directly to find out how far back case information is available on PACER in a particular jurisdiction.

39. PACER FAQ’s • Are there restrictions on using data obtained from PACER? • No, the information is public record and may be used without restriction. PACER users assume all responsibility for consequences of unrestricted use. • What does PACER do to protect privacy? • Social Security numbers, dates of birth, financial account numbers and names of minor children will be modified or partially redacted by the litigants. Electronic public access to documents will not be available for criminal cases, although a court may allow electronic public access to counsel, the U.S. Marshal and other court units.

40. PACER FAQ’s • How do I save a file from a PACER website? • Go to “File” and select “Save as”. You can then open the file using your word processing software. Formatted reports will be saved in HTML format. • Can I use PACER on a Macintosh computer? • Yes. • How do I print from PACER? • If there is a frame, click on the specific frame you want to print or else just click in the body of the text. Click on the “print” button on your browser.

41. What is CM/ECF? • A new case management system for all bankruptcy, district and appellate courts. • Allows online filing and retrieval of court documents via the Internet. • The public can access case data in CM/ECF unless it has been sealed by the court; it will require a user to enter a PACER login and password. • For assistance, please refer to the CM/ECF FAQ’s, contact the court Help Desk or visit the U.S. Courts Library (303-844-3591).

42. CM/ECF for Attorneys • Attorneys must be registered to file electronically within a specific court. • Each court will have its own specific guidelines for filing and retrieving information. • Attorneys will receive a login and password for CM/ECF (provided by the court) that is separate from the PACER login and password. • For additional assistance in using the CM/ECF service, please refer to the FAQ’s, call the specific Help Desk number for your court, or visit the U.S. Courts Library (303-844-3591).