Navigating PACER Presented by: Tracy Galimore Andrews Myers, PC Houston, Texas

What is PACER? −Acronym for: Public Access to Court Electronic Records −Electronic public access service that allows users to obtain case and docket information from federal (no state district or county court cases) appellate, district and bankruptcy courts, and the PACER Case Locator via the Internet −PACER is provided/maintained by the federal Judiciary

Creating an Account -Must REGISTER by clicking link on home page and completing the Online PACER Registration Form -No registration fee, only fee for usage -Must provide Credit Card info for immediate access, otherwise will have to wait 7-10 days for log-in information to be mailed -Note: All new accounts automatically default to billing

Charges for Usage - Per-page charge applies to the number of pages that results from any search, regardless of the number of pages viewed, printed, or downloaded (Searches that result in no matches incur a charge for one page of data) - Usage is billed on a quarterly basis - No account is billed for usage of less than $15 in a quarter (increase from $10 pre-2012) - Statements are sent in January, April, July, and October with total amount due - Detailed transaction information is available at the “Manage My PACER Account” section of the PACER Service Center website - go here to obtain detailed transactions with client codes -The PACER Service Center's tax identification number is (also found on the PACER FAQs)

-In September 2011, the Judicial Conference of the United States authorized an increase in the Judiciary's electronic public access fee -The increase in the electronic public access (EPA) fee, from $.08 to $.10 per page, took effect on 4/1/2012 -However, PACER users who do not accrue charges of more than $15 in a quarterly billing cycle would not be charged a fee. (The current exemption is $10 per quarter.) Charges for Usage

How are individual items charged? Charges for Searches: Search results are calculated using a formula to determine the number of pages for an HTML formatted report Any information extracted from the CM/ECF database, such as data used to create a docket sheet, is billed using a formula based on the number of bytes extracted (4320 Bytes equal one billable page)

Charges for Usage How are individual items charged? Charges for Docket Reports: Docket reports are generated with the number of pages for a particular docket sheet before the document is reformatted for display as an HTML web page Billable pages are calculated using a formula to determine the number of pages for an HTML formatted report Any information extracted from the CM/ECF database, such as data used to create a docket sheet, is billed using a formula based on the number of bytes extracted. Four thousand three hundred twenty bytes equal one billable page Docket Reports are capped at 30 pages

What is available on PACER? - PACER includes case and docket information for all FEDERAL district, bankruptcy, and appellate court - PACER currently hosts 500 million case file documents. These are available immediately after they have been electronically filed. Examples of information available on PACER: Listing of all parties and participants including judges, attorneys and trustees Compilation of case related information such as cause of action, nature of suit and dollar demand Chronology of dates of case events entered in the case record Claims registry Listing of new cases each day in all courts Written judicial opinions Judgments or case status

- State Court proceedings - Certain Confidential Information: Personal identifiers must be removed or redacted before the records become public These identifiers include the following: First five digits of a Social Security number, Financial account numbers, The name of a minor, A person’s date of birth, and home addresses in a criminal case. In addition, certain types of documents may be unavailable to the general public What is not available on PACER?

Searching PACER - Search by case number, party name, SSN, or Tax ID in the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts - Search by case number, party name or filing date range in the U.S. District Courts - Search by case number or party name in the U.S. Courts of Appeals

FIRST NEXT, CLICK

How far back does PACER records go? -Varies from court to court -Click Court Information from the menu option at the top of the PACER Case Locator page -Will display a pop-up window that shows the available date ranges for the cases in each court Can I search on my phone or tablet? -YES – Apple or Android 2.2 or higher -Mobile PACER Case Locator can be accessed directly by visiting pcl.uscourts.gov/searchmobile. Searching PACER

The more information you have, the better! Search by Case Number: Did you receive a Notice to file Claim? Case Number can be found there Bankruptcy Case Numbers: Four-part numbers Typical case number is 1:05-bk or 1-05-bk-06794, “1" is the office (if the Court has more than one division), “05" is the year, “bk” is the case type, and “06794" is the case number. Search by Debtor or Party Name, full SSN, or Tax ID (in bankruptcy Courts)

Bankruptcy Chapters Chapter 7 - Typically filed as a no asset case Chapter 9 - Municipalities Chapter 11 - Reorganization Chapter 12 - Family Farmer/Fisherman Chapter 13 - Wage Earner Chapter 15 (formerly listed as Chapter 304) - Foreign proceeding

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Filter Search Results - Following your search, you can FILTER the results to see a smaller set - FILTER results by: - Court Type, - Specific Court, Year Filed, the Office, - Case Type, - Party role (list in Appendix of PACER Manual) - Or enter a search term in the Party Name field - # in parentheses equals the number of results for that filter criteria

Status? Case Summary Docket Report

Case number automatically appears Can adjust date range “Sort by” Docket Sheet

Designed to be the official record of a case The typical docket report contains information obtained from the Civil or Criminal Cover Sheet submitted by the plaintiff for each complaint filed –Parties appear on the first page of the docket report along with the counsel for each party with counsel’s address and telephone number –Followed by a list of events in the case

Docket Sheet Additional features of the docket report include: Header - Name of the U.S. federal court with jurisdiction over the case, divisional office where it is being administered, and the case number Assigned to - Name of the judge presiding over case Related BK Case - Adversary Proceedings (ap) case number associated with case Related BK Title - The name of debtor(s) Chapter - Chapter under which the bankruptcy is currently administered Voluntary/Involuntary - Debtor(s) filed bankruptcy voluntarily or was filed against Asset/No asset - Flag provides status of any property involved in this particular case –“Asset” v. “No asset” = property owned by a person that can be used to settle debt? Date Filed: - Date the bankruptcy/complaint was filed Date Terminated - If closed, filed date of closing docket entry Date Discharged (or) Dismissed - date discharge/dismissal ordered Docket entries - Provides a listing of events concerning this particular case

Can PACER help with a search? -Yes - PACER Service Center provides a service to retrieve and distribute case information if you cannot or wish not to perform your own search, but the following fees apply: -$26.00 for search + $0.08 per page per document delivered electronically up to 5 documents (30 page cap applies) -For printed copies, Fee is $ $0.50 per page (30 page cap does not apply) instead of $0.08 for -For documents in another case, a new $26.00 fee will apply -If PACER searches and fail to find anything, the fee is $ Search fees must be collected before any documents are delivered.

Need more help? Contact the PACER Service Center: By phone at (800) between 8am and 6pm CST Or

Questions? Presented by: Tracy Galimore Andrews Myers, PC Houston, Texas