Of
Interest to Lawyers
If you think your subject
may have been involved in litigation involving federal law (including bankruptcy,
which is always federal), then you need to know a little about federal
records access.
There are three levels in
the federal system, namely, The Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals,
and the U.S. District Courts. You'll probably be concerned only with the
latter.
The U.S. District Courts are
where the actual trials -- civil and criminal -- take place. Specialized
District Courts, called Bankruptcy Courts, handle bankruptcies.
How do you search for cases involving
your subject in federal District Courts? There are a couple ways to go about
it.
- Hire a public records researcher.
This is the simplest and most reliable way to go. First, determine which federal
District Court you need to search (you may wish to consult the federal
government section in the front part of your "white pages" telephone directory
for this information); then, call the court and ask for the name of a good
local federal records researcher. (WRA can handle
this for you and supervise completion of the work for a modest charge.) Contact
the recommended researcher, provide details regarding your needs, inquire
about applicable charges and turnaround times, and specify how you wish to
have the records delivered to you (by phone, fax, mail, etc.).
Of course, you can become your own
public records researcher if you have the time to do the work yourself. Simply
call or visit the federal clerk's office in your local federal building; inform
the clerk that you wish to conduct a litigation search. The clerk will instruct
you on how to conduct the search (possibly it can be done by a mail-in request).
- Another method is to access the
federal system online. This can be a little tricky. If you go this route,
your first step is to visit the U.S.
Party/Case Index website. Here you'll have fee-based access to all U.S.
District, Bankruptcy, and Appellate Courts. You can search by your subject's
name to determine if he or she is currently involved in federal litigation
anywhere in the U.S. (If you're searching for possible bankruptcies, you'll
need your subject's social security number.)
Note, however, that this system is usable
only for open cases. If your interest encompasses possible past (closed) litigation
as well, you'll still need a public records researcher (or us, a href="infopro.html">WRA),
assuming you prefer not to perform the work yourself. You can't research closed
cases with much confidence online since archived case information offered online
is at best spotty in the federal system.
If, on the other hand, you do discover
current litigation via the a href="http://pacer.uspci.uscourts.gov">U.S. Party/Case
Index site, and want docket info (that is, a case history), you can get
it electronically through another, closely related federal online system, called
PACER. PACER is discussed below.
More information on... HOW TO
ACCESS FEDERAL RECORDS
PACER is the much ballyhooed federal
online case records accessing system. PACER is an acronym for Public Access
to Electronic Court Records. The system is probably of more use to lawyers than
to background investigators. You can use it to find docket information on virtually
all open federal civil, criminal and bankruptcy cases. But there are catches:
- PACER is not an Internet system;
it's a dial-up system. To access it you need an account (which you can readily
obtain by calling 800-676-6856). Also, it's fee- based. Newer, Internet-based
systems, namely "PACER-Net" and "webPACER" are in the works but are only regionally
available so far.
- PACER can be counted on only
for access to open cases. Yes, some federal courts do provide some access
to closed cases via PACER, but archiving lengths vary widely.
In general, if your goal is a thorough
background investigation involving a check into possible present and past federal
litigation, your best best is still to either hire someone else (e.g., WRA)
to personally call or visit the appropriate federal office, or to personally call
or visit the office yourself.
OF INTEREST TO LAWYERS
Online Resources for Legal
Research
The following is a non-exhaustive listing of U.S. District Court phone
numbers.
Alabama, Northern (205-731-1701)
Alabama, Middle (334-223-7308)
Alabama, Southern (334-690-2371)
Alaska (907-271-5568)
Arizona, Phoneix Div. (602-514-7101)
Arizona, Tucson Div. (520-620-7200)
Arkansas, Eastern (501-324-5351)
Arkansas, Western (501-862-1202)
California, Northern (415-556-3031)
California, Eastern (916-551-2615)
California, Central (213-894-5261)
California, Southern (619-557-5600)
Colorado (303-844-3157)
Connecticut (203-773-2140)
Delaware (302-573-6170)
District of Columbia (202-273-0555)
Florida, Northern (904-942-8826)
Florida, Central (904-232-2320)r
Florida, Southern (912-652-4281)
Hawaii (808-541-1300)
Idaho (208-334-1361)
Illinois, Northern (312-435-5684)
Illinois, Central (217-492-4020)
Illinois, Southern (618-482-9371)
Indiana, Northern (219-236-8260)
Indiana, Southern (317-226-6670)
Iowa, Northern (319-364-2447)
Iowa, Southern (515-284-6284)
Kansas (316-269-6491)
Kentucky, Eastern (606-233-2503)
Kentucky, Western (502-582-5126)
Louisiana, Eastern (504-589-4471)
Louisiana, Central (504-389-3950)
Louisiana, Western (318-676-4273)
Maine (207-780-3356)
Maryland (301-962-2600)
Massachusetts (617-223-9152)
Michigan, Eastern (313-226-7060)
Michigan, Western (616-456-2381)
Minnesota (612-348-1821)
Mississippi, Northern (601-234-1971)
Mississippi, Southern (601-965-4439)
Missouri, Eastern (314-539-2315)
Missouri, Western (816-426-2811)
Montana (406-657-6366)
Nebraska (402-221-4761)
Nevada (702-455-4011)
New Hampshire (603-225-1423)
New Jersey (201-645-3730)
New Mexico (505-766-2851)
New York, Northern (518-472-5651)
New York, Southern (212-791-0108)
New York, Eastern (718-330-7671)
New York, Western (716-846-4211)
North Carolina, Eastern (919-856-4370)
North Carolina, Central (919-333-5347)
North Carolina, Western (704-255-4702)
North Dakota (701-222-6690)
Ohio, Northern (216-522-4356)
Ohio, Southern (614-469-5835)
Oklahoma, Northern (918-581-7796)
Oklahoma, Eastern (918-687-2471)
Oklahoma, Western (405-231-4792)
Oregon (503-326-5412)
Pennsylvania, Eastern (215-597-7704)
Pennsylvania, Central (717-347-0205)
Pennsylvania, Western (412-644-3528)
Puerto Rico (809-766-6484)
Rhode Island (401-528-5100)
South Carolina (803-765-5816)
South Dakota (605-330-4447)
Tennessee, Eastern (615-545-4228)
Tennessee, Central (615-736-5498)
Tennessee, Western (901-544-3315)
Texas, Northern (214-767-0787)
Texas, Southern (713-250-5500)
Texas, Eastern (903-592-8195
Texas, Western (512-229-6550)
Utah (801-524-5160)
Vermont (802-951-6301)
Virginia, Eastern (703-557-5131)
Virginia, Western (703-982-4661)
Washington, Eastern (509-353-2150)
Washington, Western (608-264-5156)
Wyoming (307-772-2145)
Guam (territorial court) (671-472-7411)
Virgin Islands (territorial court) (809-774-8310)
Online Resources for Legal Research
(see also the Investigative
Directories section of this website)
EDGAR Database
A searchable database of publicly held companies which are required by law to
file information with the SEC.
EDGAR Online People
Allows users to search the SEC filings for information about executives by name.
Indexes are free.
European Patent Office
European patent and trademark information.
FDIC Institutions
US government's database of banks and other institution ownership
Federal Court Locator, The
Federal court locator.
Federal Judiciary Homepage
A very large collection of legal cases
Findlaw
Major resource for federal legal and regulatory research
Findlaw: Law Crawler
Search engine for legal resources
Fedworld
Collection of 15,000 government sites; useful for locating government employees
with expertise on specific subjects
Foreign Government
Resources on the Web
Excellent list of foreign government resources
Government Information Sharing Projet
Oregon State's resource for regional government information
Heiros Gamos
Exhaustive collection of legal and government listings with links to directories
of associations, legal vendors and web sites on hundreds of subjects
IGnet: Internet for Federal IG Community
Collection of reports and info from the Inspector General of more than 60 federal
agencies and departments
International Documents
Task Force (IDTF)
Documents from international organizations and governments, with links
Law Guru
Meta-site for legal information on the Web
Law.com
An excellent legal resource site, but membership is required
Legal Information Institute
One of the best legal libraries online
Library of Congress
The main site for the Library of Congress
Litigator's Internet Resource
Guide
A huge collection of federal, state and local court rules online
Meta-Index for US Legal Research
Central clearinghouse for circuit court opinions
Oyez Oyez Oyez
Information about Supreme Court Cases, including some actual proceedings in
Real Audio format
PACER - Directory of Electronic Public
Access Services
Federal court's electronic bulletin board of docket numbers, case summaries
and opinions
State Web Locator
State web locator
StateLaw: State & Local Government
- Executive, Legislative & Judicial Information
State Internet resources, legislation, courts, statutes, etc.
US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC)
One of the top government sites, lets you track information about publicly held
companies
US State and Local Government Gateway
Excellent collection of information on state and local resources found on federal
government websites
WWW Virtual Library: Law:
State Government
A collection of state government resources
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