Cleveland Law Library Weblog

PACER Gets an Upgrade

Yesterday, the U.S. Courts Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) program got an upgrade. The good news is that the new site provides information on how to obtain some free opinions from govinfo.gov, but the bad news is that there are still no full-text or keyword search functions like all of the top legal research providers offer.

Bankruptcy Filings are Down Nationwide Over the Last Year

According to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, bankrutpcy filings were down 11% over the calendar year ending March 31, 2014. Filings for the year ending March 31, 2013 totaled 1,170,324 compared to 1,038,280 bankruptcy cases filed this last year. Tables of the stats and additional findings can be found at the Court's web site.

PACER-The Federal Court Docket System-is 25 Years Old

Did you know that PACER-the federal court's docket system, has been around since 1988? It just celebrated its 25th birthday.The press release provides a little of PACER's history: 

"Initially, PACER only provided access to case dockets and summary information about each case. That changed in the late 1990s, when the Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system, which allows attorneys to file case documents over the Internet, was implemented."

U.S. Federal Court Bankruptcy Filings Were Down 12% in 2013

According to the federal court's web site, federal bankruptcy court filings were down 12% in 2013. However,1,071,932 cases were filed, which is an awful lot. More detailed statistics show that over one million of the filings were non-business related, and the most popular form of bankrutpcy was, not surprisingly, Chapter 7. Comprehensive statistics are available from uscourts.gov.

 

Federal Government Shutdown is Slowing Down Civil Litigation in Federal Courts

According to a news release from the U.S. Courts, "The federal courts may be open during the government shutdown, but it’s far from “business as usual.” According to a Department of Justice memo(pdf), U.S. Attorneys across the country have been directed to “curtail or postpone” civil litigation “to the extent that this can be done without compromising . . . the safety of human life or the protection of property.” Criminal litigation will continue without interruption....The difficulties aren’t exclusively DOJ’s. Employees throughout the federal government have been furloughed and are prohibited from working during a shutdown. If they are involved in Federal court civil litigation, they are seeking stays until they’re able to work again."

87 Federal Chief Judges, Including N.D. Ohio Chief Judge Solomon Oliver, Send Letter to Congress Requesting Financial Help

N.D. Ohio Chief Judge Solomon Oliver and 86 other federal district court chief judges have signed and sent a joint letter to Congress requesting financial assistance. Analogizing themselves to "the boots on the ground in our nation's federal trial courts," the judges claim that reduced funding and sequestration have forced them to "slash ... operations to the bone." The judges fear that their "constitutional duties, public safety, and the quality of the justice system will be profoundly compromised by any further cuts."

Two Ohio Federal Courthouses in Cleveland and Youngstown Have Been Recognized for Energy Savings

Court News Ohio reports that 2 federal courthouses in Ohio were recently recognized in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s 2012 Energy Star National Building Competition. "The Howard M. Metzenbaum U.S. Courthouse in Cleveland and the Nathanial R. Jones Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Youngstown were among seven federal courthouses that reduced their energy consumption by more than 20 percent and saved taxpayers more than $615,500." Although the Cleveland Courthouse was constructed in 1910, it recently saved a lot energy by "replacing light bulbs with low wattage fluorescent bulbs, reducing air handler run times, and adding occupancy sensors in courtrooms."

Federal Courts Warn: Don't Buy Nationwide Jury Scam

According to the Clerk for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, a jury scam is making its way around the US. Threatening homeowners with prosecution for failing to appear for state or federal jury service, callers are trying to coerce people into revealing sensitive information like social security numbers and credit card numbers. The ND of Ohio has confirmed that "Federal courts do not require anyone to provide any sensitive information in a telephone call. Most contact between a federal court and a prospective juror will be through the U.S. Mail." Apparently, the scams are surfacing in New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.

Casetext Offers Lawyers the Chance to Comment on and Annotate Case Law on the Internet

A relatively new web-based service called Casetext offers lawyers the chance to comment on and annotate case law. Currently, lawyers can editorialize about U.S. Supreme Court cases, federal Circuit cases in F.2d and F.3d., federal district court cases in F.Supp. and F.Supp.2d from 1980 forward, and selected Delaware cases. Ways to contribute include:

• Adding analysis of a document or of a paragraph within a document
• Adding a link to an article you wrote or another related resource
• Helping organize documents (by adding tags) or related cases (by categorizing them)

Any content lawyers add is freely usable by anyone else.

Seven (7) Federal Cases from the N.D. Ohio Can Now Be Viewed Online

As part of a pilot program of the federal Judiciary, seven (7) civil cases from the Northern District of Ohio were videotaped. The proceedings are now available for public viewing online in slices that include case summaries, the entire trials, and individual parts of the proceedings. According to a press release, the courts taped the trials themselves, and the judges and parties had to all agree.

A full list of all the cases that were recorded, including those from Ohio, can be found at the following link, which also provides online access to the videos.