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The PACER Service Center is the federal judiciary's centralized registration, billing, and technical support center for electronic access to U.S. district, bankruptcy, and appellate court records: www.pacer.uscourts.gov.

Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) is an electronic public access service, run by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, which allows users to obtain case and docket information from federal appellate, district and bankruptcy courts, and from the U.S. Party/Case Index. Currently, electronic access to most courts is available on the Internet.

The site provides links to these courts; however, a few systems are not available on the Internet and must be dialed directly using communication software (eg, ProComm Plus, pcAnywhere, or Hyperterminal) and a modem. Electronic access is available for most courts by registering with the PACER Service Center.

Each court maintains its own databases with case information. Because PACER database systems are maintained within each court, each jurisdiction will have a different URL or modem number. Accessing and querying information from each service is comparable; however, the format and content of information provided may differ slightly. Links and toll-free modem numbers are provided to most jurisdictions.

The PACER System offers an inexpensive, fast, and comprehensive case information service to any individual with a personal computer (PC) and Internet access. You can request information about a particular individual or case. The data is displayed directly on your PC screen within a few seconds. The system is simple enough that little user training or documentation is required.

PACER offers electronic access to case dockets to retrieve information such as:

• A listing of all parties and participants including judges, attorneys, and trustees
• A compilation of case-related information such as cause of action, nature of suit, and dollar demand
• A chronology of dates of case events entered in the case record
• A claims registry
• A listing of new cases each day
• Appellate court opinions
• Judgments or case status

The U.S. Party/Case Index is a national index for U.S. district, bankruptcy, and appellate courts. A small subset of information from each case will be transferred to the U.S. Party/Case Index each night. The system serves as a locator index for PACER. You may conduct nationwide searches to determine whether a party is involved in federal litigation. For detailed information on cases found while searching the U.S. Party/Case Index, you will need to dial into the PACER system for the particular jurisdiction where the case is located.

PACER is available days, nights, and weekends. You can verify all updates to active and recently closed cases without having to make repeated trips to the court to review paper records. You can also confirm if there have been no updates.

Congress has given the Judicial Conference of the United States, the judicial governing body of the U.S. federal courts, authority to impose user fees for electronic access to case information. All registered agencies or individuals will be charged a user fee. Access to web-based PACER systems will generate a 7 cents per page charge. Access to dial-up PACER systems will generate a 60 cents per minute charge. Users will NOT incur both per minute and per page charges for a PACER session. Billing is done on a quarterly basis. Users enter a client code each time they log in to PACER to help facilitate managing the costs. A recent decision by the Judicial Conference of the United States limits the charge for a single document to 30 pages in all PACER, RACER, or CM/ECF sites. Effective April 1, 2002, the maximum charge for an imaged copy of a document obtained from the PACER system is $2.10.

Registration forms are available on the site, or you may contact the PACER Service Center for a registration form at (800) 676-6856 or (210) 301-6440 for those in the San Antonio area. Or write to: PACER Service Center, P.O. Box 780549, San Antonio, TX 78278-0549.

The PACER Service Center is the federal judiciary's centralized registration, billing, and technical support center for electronic access to U.S. district, bankruptcy, and appellate court records: www.pacer.uscourts.gov.

Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) is an electronic public access service, run by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, which allows users to obtain case and docket information from federal appellate, district and bankruptcy courts, and from the U.S. Party/Case Index. Currently, electronic access to most courts is available on the Internet.

The site provides links to these courts; however, a few systems are not available on the Internet and must be dialed directly using communication software (eg, ProComm Plus, pcAnywhere, or Hyperterminal) and a modem. Electronic access is available for most courts by registering with the PACER Service Center.

Each court maintains its own databases with case information. Because PACER database systems are maintained within each court, each jurisdiction will have a different URL or modem number. Accessing and querying information from each service is comparable; however, the format and content of information provided may differ slightly. Links and toll-free modem numbers are provided to most jurisdictions.

The PACER System offers an inexpensive, fast, and comprehensive case information service to any individual with a personal computer (PC) and Internet access. You can request information about a particular individual or case. The data is displayed directly on your PC screen within a few seconds. The system is simple enough that little user training or documentation is required.

PACER offers electronic access to case dockets to retrieve information such as:

• A listing of all parties and participants including judges, attorneys, and trustees
• A compilation of case-related information such as cause of action, nature of suit, and dollar demand
• A chronology of dates of case events entered in the case record
• A claims registry
• A listing of new cases each day
• Appellate court opinions
• Judgments or case status

The U.S. Party/Case Index is a national index for U.S. district, bankruptcy, and appellate courts. A small subset of information from each case will be transferred to the U.S. Party/Case Index each night. The system serves as a locator index for PACER. You may conduct nationwide searches to determine whether a party is involved in federal litigation. For detailed information on cases found while searching the U.S. Party/Case Index, you will need to dial into the PACER system for the particular jurisdiction where the case is located.

PACER is available days, nights, and weekends. You can verify all updates to active and recently closed cases without having to make repeated trips to the court to review paper records. You can also confirm if there have been no updates.

Congress has given the Judicial Conference of the United States, the judicial governing body of the U.S. federal courts, authority to impose user fees for electronic access to case information. All registered agencies or individuals will be charged a user fee. Access to web-based PACER systems will generate a 7 cents per page charge. Access to dial-up PACER systems will generate a 60 cents per minute charge. Users will NOT incur both per minute and per page charges for a PACER session. Billing is done on a quarterly basis. Users enter a client code each time they log in to PACER to help facilitate managing the costs. A recent decision by the Judicial Conference of the United States limits the charge for a single document to 30 pages in all PACER, RACER, or CM/ECF sites. Effective April 1, 2002, the maximum charge for an imaged copy of a document obtained from the PACER system is $2.10.

Registration forms are available on the site, or you may contact the PACER Service Center for a registration form at (800) 676-6856 or (210) 301-6440 for those in the San Antonio area. Or write to: PACER Service Center, P.O. Box 780549, San Antonio, TX 78278-0549.