PACER (law)
Created by | Administrative Office of the United States Courts |
---|---|
URL | www |
Commercial | No |
PACER (
Each court maintains its own system, with a small subset of information from each case transferred to the U.S. Party/Case Index server, located in
PACER has been criticized for being technically out of date and hard to use, and for demanding fees for records that are in the
Available information
The PACER System offers electronic access to case dockets to retrieve information such as:
- A listing of all parties and participants including judges, attorneys, and trustees
- A compilation of case related information such as cause of action, case number, nature of suit, and dollar demand
- A chronology of dates of case events entered in the case record
- A claims registry
- A listing of new cases each day
- Appellate court opinions
- Judgments or case status
- Types of documents filed for certain cases
- Many courts offer imaged copies of documents
Acceptable use of information
The information gathered from the PACER system is a matter of public record and may be reproduced without permission.[2]
History
PACER started in 1988 as a system accessible only by terminals in libraries and office buildings.[3] Starting in 2001, PACER was made available over the Web.[3]
Fees
The United States Congress has given the Judicial Conference of the United States authority to impose user fees for electronic access to case information. All registered agencies or individuals are charged a user fee.
The fee, as of April 1, 2012, to access the web-based PACER systems is $0.10 per page. Prior to that the fee was $0.08 per page and prior to January 1, 2005, the fee was $0.07 per page. The per page charge applies to the number of pages that results from any search, including a search that yields no matches with a one-page charge for no matches. The charge applies whether or not pages are printed, viewed, or downloaded. There is a maximum charge of $3.00 for electronic access to any single document other than name searches, reports that are not case-specific, and transcripts of federal court proceedings.
In March 2001, the Judicial Conference of the United States decided that no fee would be owed until a user accrued more than $10 worth of charges in a calendar year. If an account does not accrue $10 worth of usage between January 1 and December 31 of a year, the amount owed would be zeroed. In March 2010, that limit was effectively quadrupled, with users not billed unless their charges exceed $10 in a quarterly billing period.[4] Beginning in 2012, the limit was $15 per quarter.[5] In September 2019 the limit was doubled to $30 per quarter amid claims they were collecting excessive fees.[6]
Effective with Version 2.4 (March 7, 2005) of the PACER software, to comply with the E-Government Act of 2002, written opinions that "set forth a reasoned explanation for a court's decision" are supposed to be free of charge,[7] but are sometimes billed for.[8][non-primary source needed] In order to facilitate access to written opinions, the court system also provides them on CourtWeb,[9] which does not require PACER registration[10] but only has records from (as of Aug 2016) 30 courts.[9]
Revenues
Fee revenues get plowed back to the courts to finance technology. The
Fee exemption
According to the Electronic Public Access Fee Schedule adopted by the Judicial Conference on 13 September 2011:[12]
- Consistent with Judicial Conference policy, courts may, upon a showing of cause, exempt not-for-profit organizations, court appointed pro bono attorneys, and pro bono ADR neutrals from payment of these fees. Courts must find that parties from the classes of persons or entities listed above seeking exemption have demonstrated that an exemption is necessary in order to avoid unreasonable burdensand to promote public access to information. For individual researchers, courts must also find that the defined research project is intended for academic research, and not for commercial purposes or internet redistribution. Any user granted an exemption agrees not to sell for profit the data obtained as a result. Any transfer of data obtained as the result of a fee exemption is prohibited unless expressly authorized by the court. Exemptions may be granted for a definite period of time and may be revoked at the discretion of the court granting the exemption.
A "policy note" attached to the Electronic Public Access Fee Schedule states:[12]
- Courts should not exempt local, state or federal government agencies, members of the media, attorneys or others not members of one of the groups listed above. Exemptions should be granted as the exception, not the rule. A court may not use this exemption language to exempt all users. An exemption applies only to access related to the case or purpose for which it was given. The prohibition on transfer of information received without fee is not intended to bar a quote or reference to information received as a result of a fee exemption in a scholarly or other similar work.
Fees are not charged against federal agencies providing services authorized by the Criminal Justice Act (18 U.S.C. § 3006A).[12]
RECAP (free alternative)
In 2009, a team from
Some courts such as the
RECAP is now maintained by the Free Law Project which continues to advocate for more open access to court records.[16]
Litigation over fees
In December 2015, Bryndon Fisher, a Seattle resident, filed a
In April 2016, three
In November 2016, another putative class action relating to PACER was filed in the
Proposed fees reform legislation
PACER reform proposals have been introduced in Congress since the
Reception
The New York Times has criticized PACER as "cumbersome, arcane and not free."[11] In 2008, an effort led by Carl Malamud (who said that PACER is "15 to 20 years out of date" and that it should not demand fees for documents that are in the public domain) spent $600,000 in contributions to put a 50-year archive of records from the federal courts of appeals online for free.[11] In a critical article, the magazine Reason described the system as "archaic as a barrister's wig."[38]
Also in 2008, district courts, with the help of the
See also
- Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF)
- California Court Case Management System (CCMS)
- New York State Courts Electronic Filing System (NYSCEF)
- MassCourts
- RECAP
- CaseMap
- RECAP US Federal Court Documents (collection)
References
- ^ a b Lee, Timothy (February 8, 2013). "The inside story of Aaron Swartz's campaign to liberate court filings". ars technica. Archived from the original on June 1, 2013. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
- ^ "CM/ECF Frequently Asked Questions". December 8, 2004. Archived from the original on April 28, 2010.
- ^ a b c Bobbie Johnson (November 11, 2009). "Recap: cracking open US courtrooms". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on October 8, 2018. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
- ^ "EPA Fee Schedule Update". Electronic Public Access. Archived from the original on May 5, 2010 – via pacer.psc.uscourts.gov.
- ^ "PACER brochure: How PACER Works" (PDF). March 26, 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
- ^ "Judiciary Doubles Fee Waiver for PACER Access to Court Records". news.bloomberglaw.com. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
- ^ "District CM/ECF Version 2.4 Release Notes". March 7, 2005. Archived from the original on November 25, 2011. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
- ^ "Electronic Case Filing". U.S. District Court - Middle District of Florida. Archived from the original on August 10, 2016. Retrieved August 4, 2016.
- ^ a b "CourtWeb: Online Federal Court Opinions Information System". U.S. Courts. Archived from the original on January 26, 2013. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
- ^ "CourtWeb and Written Opinions". CourtWeb. U.S. Courts. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
- ^ a b c d John Schwartz (February 12, 2009). "An Effort to Upgrade a Court Archive System to Free and Easy". New York Times. Archived from the original on August 19, 2017. Retrieved February 25, 2017.
- ^ a b c "Implementation of the Electronic Public Access Fee Increase" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
- ^ "RECAP The Law". 2015. Archived from the original on April 30, 2013. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
- ^ "CM/ECF - USDC Massachusetts - Version 5.1.1 as of 12/5/2011-United States District Court". Archived from the original on February 14, 2014. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
- ^ Hiltzik, Michael (September 28, 2009). "These crusaders bring transparency to government". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 6, 2010.
- ^ "Free Law Project".
- ^ Fisher v. United States, No. 15-1575, (Fed. Cl. September 26, 2016)
- ^ Williams, June (December 31, 2015). "Class Claims PACER Overcharges for Records". Courthouse News Service. Archived from the original on July 12, 2017. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
- ^ "Reported Opinion (Westlaw) AND Order on Motion to Certify Class – #133 in FISHER v. United States (Fed. Cl., 1:15-cv-01575-TMD) – CourtListener.com". CourtListener. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
- ^ "Order on Motion to Certify Interlocutory Appeal AND Reported Opinion (Federal Reporter) – #139 in FISHER v. United States (Fed. Cl., 1:15-cv-01575-TMD) – CourtListener.com". CourtListener. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
- D.D.C., filed April 21, 2016).
- ^ Sullivan, Casey C. (April 25, 2016). "PACER Fees Are Too Damn High, Class Action Alleges". Findlaw. Archived from the original on June 1, 2016. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
- ^ Barry, Kyle (April 21, 2016). "Alliance for Justice sues the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts for charging excessive and illegal fees to access court records" (Press release). Alliance for Justice. Archived from the original on April 25, 2016. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
- ^ Weiss, Debra Cassens (January 26, 2017). "Judge certifies class action claiming Pacer fees are too high". ABA Journal. Archived from the original on May 19, 2017. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
- ^ Nat'l Veterans Legal Servs. Program v. United States, 291 F. Supp. 3d 123 (D.D.C. 2018).
- ^ Serbu, Jared (August 6, 2020). "Federal judiciary can't use PACER as IT slush fund, appeals court rules". Federal News Network. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
- ^ National Veterans Legal Services Program, et al. v. United States, nos. 2019-1081, 2019-1083, (Fed. Cir. Aug. 6, 2020).
- ^ Raymond, Nate (March 21, 2024). "Judge approves $125 million PACER fees settlement with US judiciary". Reuters. Archived from the original on March 27, 2024. Retrieved March 27, 2024.
- ^ D'Apuzzo v. United States, 16-62769 (S.D. Fla. 2016).
- ^ D'Apuzzo v. United States, no. 16-62769 (S.D. Fla. Jun. 27, 2019)
- ^ D'Apuzzo v. United States, no. 2019-2311 (Fed. Cir. Jun. 15, 2020)
- ^ "Fed. Circ. Backs PACER In Atty's Suit Over Opinion Fees - Law360". Law 360. June 15, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
- ^ Raymond, Nate (December 9, 2021). ""Free PACER? Bill to end fees for online court records advances in Senate"". Reuters. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
A U.S. Senate panel on Thursday [2021-12-09] advanced a bipartisan bill that would overhaul the federal judiciary's PACER electronic court record system and make the downloading of filings free for the public through the elimination of costly fees.…To fund the new system, on a short-term basis, high-volume PACER users who currently spend more than $25,000 a quarter to download filings would still be charged fees as would federal agencies.
- ^
Nate, Raymond (September 28, 2022). "Making PACER database free could require more money for U.S. judiciary, CBO says". Reuters. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
The CBO said once the core work is done, the new system would cost $15 million annually, about one-fifth of the current one. ...Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, a bill sponsor, in a statement called the CBO's cost estimates 'vastly higher than what agencies and experts have told my office the update can be expected to cost.'
- ^ Tashea, Jason (September 18, 2018). "Proposed legislation would eliminate PACER fees". ABA Journal. Archived from the original on August 26, 2022. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
The Electronic Court Records Reform Act would require that documents downloaded from the PACER database be free.
- ^ a b
Goggin, Kayla (February 13, 2019). Written at Atlanta, GA. "Bill Would Make Online Access to Federal Court Records Free". Pasadena, CA: Courthouse News Service. Archived from the original on February 13, 2019. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
House lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill Wednesday [2019-02-03] that would remove online paywalls and make federal court records free to the public. … Lawmakers introduced a similar bill in September [of 2018] but failed to get a hearing.
, Courthouse News, February 13, 2019 - ^ "Access to Court Records: Will it soon be completely free for the public?". American Bar Association. September 22, 2019. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
Representative Doug Collins (R-GA) and Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) introduced the Electronic Courts Record Reform Act of 2019 (H.R. 1164 and S. 2064) in response to concerns that the PACER system is outdated and unnecessarily expensive.
- ^ Beato, Greg (June 2012). "Tear Down This Paywall". Reason. Archived from the original on July 3, 2012. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
- ^ a b Singel, Ryan (October 5, 2009). "FBI Investigated Coder for Liberating Paywalled Court Records". Wired.com. Archived from the original on February 11, 2014.