Category: Courts

Thanks to Legal Dockets Online for alerting me to the PACER recycling center, run by the folks at Public.Resource.org. Basically, this gathers “recycled” court filings donated by people who have paid to access them via PACER, then offers them free on the Internet. According to the FAQ, here’s how it works: Just upload all your …

I ran across this announcement today on the Wisconsin Sentencing Commission Web site: The Wisconsin Sentencing Commission and its statutory provisions under

Legal Dockets Online Blog reports that the PACER U.S. Party Case Index now includes all Federal District and Bankruptcy Courts. It does not, however, include the following courts: U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, SECOND CIRCUIT U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, FIFTH CIRCUIT U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, SEVENTH CIRCUIT U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, ELEVENTH CIRCUIT U.S. COURT OF …

In what is believed to be a first, a defense attorney in Tennessee is arguing for a change of venue citing blog posts along with newspaper and television reporting. According to Law.com: Attorney Philip Lomonaco of Knoxville, Tenn., called the Internet “the largest unregulated source for information” in the community, and said it had been …

The Wisconsin State Court system has recently introduced new, more-user-friendly forms designed for people who are representing themselves in small claims actions. The forms are accompanied by plain-English instructions and are available both on the web and in hard copy. See the Supreme Court press release for more information. Source: Proof and Hearsay

Minnesota has recently introduced a statewide electronic case records service called MPA Remote, which is short for Minnesota Trial Court Public Access Remote view. Similar to Wisconsin’s CCAP system, MPA Remote displays trial court case information for public viewing, including register of actions, calendars, judgments, and orders and notices prepared by the court. Note that …

From the press release: Public.Resource.Org and Fastcase, Inc. announced today that they will release a large and free archive of federal case law, including all Courts of Appeals decisions from 1950 to the present and all Supreme Court decisions since 1754. The archive will be public domain and usable by anyone for any purpose. This …

The La Crosse Tribune is running a series of articles on plea agreements – “how plea agreements are forged, why they have become a fixture in the courts and what they bring to our legal system.” According to The Tribune, only about one percent of felony cases in La Crosse County make it to trial …

In a two year pilot project, free public access to federal court records via PACER has been made available at 16 libraries in 14 states under a joint pilot project of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts and the Government Printing Office. According to a press release from the US Courts, the project …

From the Christian Science Monitor: This week the US Sentencing Commission, with little fanfare, officially reduced its recommended sentences for crack-related offenses. The commission announced last spring that it intended to make the change, and Congress had until Nov. 1 to stop the move. It didn’t, and the revised guidelines became effective Thursday. Thanks to …