Resources for Online Court Dockets
A court case docket is the ongoing official record of information and filings in a case: the docket sheet provides data such as case number, parties, court, assigned judge, nature of suit, relief demanded, attorneys, and case status, as well as a record of filings, hearings, orders and other events in the case. Some electronic dockets provide links to full text of filings such as briefs and memoranda, orders and decisions.
Why should you care about dockets? Litigation history or current awareness needs, finding examples of pleadings, background research on judges or attorneys, business development and due diligence searches are all possible uses of docket information. See Carol Levitt's article Access to Online Dockets and Court Records Benefits All Legal Professionals for an overview of the value of online dockets in legal practice and summary of major sources. Robyn Rebollo's Dockets Update, published in May, 2005, analyzes the differences in features of today's docket services.
Web based litigation and bankruptcy dockets and document images continue to grow, especially as electronic filing increases. The links below introduce you to the major free and fee-based resources for accessing dockets online.
Federal Courts - PACER
The Federal Judiciary's Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) is an electronic public access service that allows users to obtain case and docket information from Federal Appellate, District and Bankruptcy courts, and from the U.S. Party/Case Index. Currently most courts are available on the Internet. Links to these courts are provided from the PACER web site. However, a few systems are not available on the Internet and must be dialed directly using communication software (such as ProComm Plus, pcAnywhere, or Hyperterminal) and a modem. Electronic access is available for most courts by registering with the PACER Service Center, the judiciary's centralized registration, billing, and technical support center.
The U.S. Party/Case Index is a national index for U.S. district, bankruptcy, and appellate courts 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.
Click here for an excellent screencast on how to use the Pacer Party/Case Index prepared by The Virtual Chase.
CM/ECF,Case Management/Electronic Case Files, is provided by the Federal Judiciary, and is replacing each court's internal electronic case management system.
Because PACER charges on a transactional basis for use of the system, PACER searches at the College of Law Library will be conducted by the Law Library Research Services staff upon request from students or faculty.
Federal and State court docket sites:
Ohio Supreme Court: The database includes cases filed in the Supreme Court of Ohio on or after January 1, 1985, and attorney discipline cases filed in the Supreme Court of Ohio on or after January 1, 1989.
LLRX Court Rules Forms and Dockets provides links to all known online federal and state court dockets. The site identifies the docket system used, and whether or not a user name and password is required.
United States Supreme Court Docket : Users can search for cases by using a Supreme Court docket number, a lower court docket number, or a case name. The format for Supreme Court docket numbers is "Term year-number" (e.g., 02-123; 03-12; 02-5001.)
Legal Dockets Online: Subscription-based service provides links to court docket systems for civil and criminal federal, state and local courts in the United States. For free access to this service for Cleveland-Marshall faculty and students (from inside the law school or law library only), click here. See also Paul Bush, Free Court Case Monitoring, for strategies for following case developments making use of electronic docket monitoring features.
Westlaw's Dockets Databases: (requires valid user id) DOCK-ALL contains docket information on active and inactive civil and criminal cases filed in State Courts, U.S. District Courts, U.S. Courts of Appeal, U.S. Bankruptcy Courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. Over 190 Federal and State databases and multi-bases are included. Update Link Functionality- WestDocket Alert - Case Tracking Links to Trial Document PDF Images DOCK-OH-STCTS contains dockets from all available State Courts in Ohio. (Document delivery is not part of the academic contract, and retrieval fees apply)
Local Docket web sites include:
U.S. Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit - Pacer Login (requires PACER registration)
Ohio - U.S. Bankruptcy Court Northern District of Ohio - Document Filing System (requires PACER registration)
Ohio - U.S. District Court Northern District of Ohio - Electronic Case Filing (requires PACER registration)
Ohio Court of Claims (See Case Inquiry)
Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Civil and Criminal Docket (includes Civil Appeals)
Cuyahoga County Probate Court Docket
Lake County Common Pleas and Probate Courts
Lakewood Municipal Court Docket
While the following subscription-based services are not available on our academic contracts, law clerks and summer associates may encounter them in their firms. They offer enhanced search capability and retrieval services:
Lexis Nexis Courtlink : Current coverage includes 90 of the 94 U.S. District courts for civil, criminal, and bankruptcy dockets; the Court of Federal Claims; access to the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals; and access to state court information.
Westlaw Court Express Provides comprehensive online case research and document retrieval from the U.S Supreme Court, U.S Court of Appeals, U.S District Courts and U.S Bankruptcy courts, and selected state courts.
JRN April 2005 rev. 3/2006; rev. 4/07 LER; mr 8/14/07