United States Listed as Defendant in Class Action Over PACER Fees

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A class action filed in Florida against The United States of America claims users of the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system (PACER) have been illegally charged fees for judicial opinions even though the service’s website notes that “no fee is charged for access to judicial opinions.”

Filed on Tuesday in Florida, the lawsuit says PACER’s no-fee policy for judicial opinions is part of an E-Government Act of 2002 (EGA)-mandated directive requiring all federal courts to provide access to all issued written opinions. The plaintiff alleges that despite the EGA order and the plain fee schedule language on PACER’s website, users wishing to access judicial opinions are forced to pay, as with any other PACER documents.

For the purposes of PACER billing, it is up to each individual judge to designate documents as “judicial opinions.” As a result, the lawsuit argues, “numerous documents that constitute a judicial opinion under the Judicial Conference’s definition, or any other objective standard … are not flagged as ‘judicial opinions’ for purposed of PACER billing, thus forcing users to pay to access them.”