COURT DOCUMENTS ONLINE

Mary M. McCormick

FSU Law Library, Spring 2005

Federal Courts

U.S Supreme Court

Appellate Courts

12 circuits organized by

region

Court of Appeals for

the Federal Circuit

Trial Courts94 Federal districts,

including a bankruptcy court

U.S. Court of Federal Claims

Court of International

Trade

Federal Courts – Some Statistics*

US Courts of Appeals56,534 cases filed in 2002 (+.8% over 2001)39,536 cases pending at the end of 2002 (-2.6% from 2001)

US District Courts – Civil Cases265,091 cases filed in 2002 (+4.2% over 2001)265,321 cases pending at the end of 2002 (+6.5% over 2001)

US District Courts – Criminal Cases63,515 cases filed in 2002 (+.1% over 2001)52,713 cases pending at the end of 2002 (+9.7% over 2001)

*http://www.uscourts.gov/library/statisticsalreports.html

Federal Court Documents: Why Do You Need Them?

• Only 3.2% of federal civil cases make it to trial completion

• Only 11% of federal criminal cases make it to trial completion

• Only 15% of federal district court decisions are reported

• Only 50-70% of federal appellate court decisions are reported (varies by Circuit)

Federal Court Documents: Why Do You Need Them?

• Almost all federal and state trial court decisions, and 30-50% of all federal and state appellate court decisions are unreported

• Documents filed by the parties with the courts can be very useful for many reasons

Docket Sheets v. Documents

• Many courts now post docket sheets

• Docket sheets are a chronological table of contents to a court file

• Sample Docket Sheet

• Fewer courts post documents filed with the Court

Docket Sheets

• Answer the questions• Has my client been sued but not served?• Who else has sued the party my client

wants to sue?

• Serve as a current awareness tool• Who is suing who• Hot topics in litigation

Docket Sheets

• Provide information about clients and potential clients• Is the client litigious?• Has the client filed for bankruptcy?• Has the client been involved in fraud?• Has the client filed a legal malpractice

action?• Has the client been sued for attorney’s

fees?

Docket Sheets

• Provide information about potential hires• Routine background checks

• Bankruptcy• Debt• Fraud

• Conflicts between firm and prospective hire’s existing clients

Filed Documents

• Fewer courts permit electronic access to documents filed with the court

• Filed Documents can include• Sample pleadings• Missing pleadings• Background information on the types of cases

heard by particular judges• Types of cases opposing counsel usually deals

with• How judge typically rules on motion for summary

judgment

Federal Courts Online

• PACER: http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/ Public Access to Court Electronic Records

• Electronic public access service that allows users to obtain• case information• Docket information• Documents

• From federal courts• Courts of Appeal (not all courts of appeal)• District and Bankruptcy courts• U.S. Party/Case Index (not all courts)

PACER Home Page

Florida Courts on Pacer

Federal Court Documents

• U.S. Party/Case Index (on PACER)• National index for U.S. district, bankruptcy, and

appellate courts• A small subset of information from each case is

transferred each night to the U.S. Party/Case Index server located in San Antonio, Texas at the PACER Service Center

• 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.

PACER: U.S. Party-Case Index

State Court Documents

• Some state courts now load filed pleadings and other court documents, too.

• Leon County Clerk of Court• Dockets

• High-profile cases

• Online interactive court forms

• Other Florida courts• Docket information and high-profile cases only

pursuant to Florida Supreme Court Administrative Order AOSC04-4

Florida Supreme Court Documents

• Florida Supreme Court Briefs and Records Project

• Florida law school consortium database of briefs and opinions

• Maintained by FSU College of Law Library

Other Court Resources

• Courtlink: (Lexis front-end to PACER, permitting better searching of the PACER databases)

• Mealey’s: http://www.mealeys.com/ (Lexis publications in (mostly) litigation areas, with some court documents

• CourtExpress: (front end for PACER and a document delivery service)

• Legal Dockets Online • WestDocket

• DOCK-FL-SDCT• DOCK-DCT-ALL

• Westlaw Lawsuit Filings• LS-FL• LS-ALL

Why Use Commercial Services?

• PACER searching is clunky; commercial services have enhanced searching capability

• PACER doesn’t offer document delivery if the court doesn’t participate in Electronic Court Filing (ECF)

Additional Resources

• LLRX: ttp://www.llrx.com/courtrules/

• Findlaw: http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/

• Google: www.google.com (use party names or docket number)

Caselaw - Unreported

• Unreported decisions are judicial opinions that have not been published in any official or near-official case reporter. They are also called "unpublished decisions," "unreported opinions" and "unpublished opinions.“

• Federal unreported decisions may be found on Lexis and Westlaw.

• Unreported decisions from state cases may be found in a local/regional legal newspaper or on Lexis or Westlaw.

• Opinions can also be retrieved from the relevant court.

Caselaw – Where to Find It for Free

US Supreme Court:Official Slip Opinions: http://www.supremecourtus.govLegal Information Institute: http://www.law.cornell.eduLexisONE: http://www.lexisone.com/ (Click on “Find Cases for Free”)

US Circuit Courts:Office of US Courts: http://www.uscourts.gov/links.htmlFederal Courts Finder: http://law.emory.edu/caselaw/

US District Courts:Office of US Courts: http://www.uscourts.gov/links.htmlLegal Information Institute: http://www.law.cornell.edu/federal/districts.html

Caselaw – Using Legal Newspapers

Regional Legal News Sources:American Lawyer Media publications:

http://www.lawcatalog.com/ (see Newspapers)

Lawyers Weekly publications:

http://www.lawyersweekly.com/

Chicago Daily Law Bulletin

http://www.lawbulletin.com

Need Answers?

• Zimmerman’s Guide: http://www.lexisone.com/zimmermanguide/index.html• An online legal encyclopedia providing definitions, examples,

explanations and useful links

• The Virtual Chase How-To Guides: http://www.virtualchase.com/resources/how_to_guides.html• An annotated guide to sources of information on various types of

legal research

• Court documents guide: http://www.virtualchase.com/resources/dockets.html

• Public Law Libraries: http://www.aallnet.org/sis/sccll/• AALL State, Court and County Libraries SIS

Need Answers?

• LLRX: Court Rules, Forms, and Dockets

• http://www.llrx.com/courtrules/