Government's PACER Fees Are Too High, Federal Circuit Says (bloomberglaw.com)
- Reference: 0134471485
- News link: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/20/08/07/1954215/governments-pacer-fees-are-too-high-federal-circuit-says
- Source link: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/white-collar-and-criminal-law/federal-circuit-affirms-limits-on-how-government-uses-pacer-fees
> The U.S. government [1]charges too much for access to an electronic database of federal court records , the Federal Circuit ruled in a decision curbing a revenue stream the court system uses to help fund other programs. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a lower court's decision that the government was not authorized under federal law to spend $192 million in Public Access to Court Records system fees on court technology projects. The lower court "got it just right" when it limited the government's use of PACER revenues to the costs of operating the system, the court said in a precedential [2]opinion Thursday.
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> "We agree with plaintiffs and amici that the First Amendment stakes here are high," the court said. But it said it doesn't foresee the lower court's interpretation "as resulting in a level of user fees that will significantly impede public access to courts." The ruling is a win for public access to court information, as PACER fees will go down if the ruling withstands a possible government appeal. But access still won't be free, despite calls for the government to stop charging for it. The Federal Circuit said it was up to Congress to decide whether to require free access. Challengers said PACER fees were too high, while the government said the middle ground reached by the lower court made the fees too low. Fees for downloading a copy of a filing run 10 cents per page, up to $3 per document. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts collected more than $145 million in fees in 2014 alone, according to the complaint in the case. Under a 2020 change to the fee waiver rules, about 75% of users pay nothing each quarter.
[1] https://news.bloomberglaw.com/white-collar-and-criminal-law/federal-circuit-affirms-limits-on-how-government-uses-pacer-fees
[2] https://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/document/NVLSPvUSDocketNo1901081FedCirOct162018CourtDocket/1?doc_id=X24QQ92596R872OKH5GAGI4TJ2I
Good news one step better (Score:3)
First good news I've heard today? Maybe.
Do I Get a Refund? (Score:2)
The system is filled with traps that rack up charges for documents and pages that you don't realize are useless until too late, after having paid to download them. Just like bitcoin mining, only more effective.
Should be Free* as In Beer (Cost Against Harvest) (Score:2)
I've dealt with the county, state, and state supreme court court system here in Texas and they are trying to follow the federal PACER system's fee schedule of $0.10 USD per page to monetize the court system and public records.
I've had to pay hundreds of dollars myself to retrieve my own court records that I submitted myself electronically as PDF files only to get the certified copies of the documents that could be used as further evidence in my case, at $1.00 per page for the certification.
After dealing wit
All Public Records (Score:5, Insightful)
should be public domain and 100% free to access/view.
Re: (Score:2)
Dang I had mod points this morning. INSIGHTFUL.
Re: (Score:1)
The Post Office just lost 2.2B in the last 3 months.
UPS is really UP in fact it went up $10.00 a share in the last 2 days.
Stamps.com just reported Block Buster earnings
So Why? did the USPS completely missed the boat?
Oh Wait, it is a plodding mis managed, bloated bureaucracy hobbled by past bad contracts with the their unions.
Re: All Public Records (Score:2)
Nope, itâ(TM)s the law passed by congress requiring them to fund pensions fully for liabilities that are decades away. No other business, whether public or private, has this same restriction. It was self sabotage by Republicans.
Re: (Score:2)
My point exactly!! the USPS is a failure "because" it is a puedo government entity. With a bunch of morons mucking about and "lousy" over paid leadership.
The USPS should fully fund their pension obligations. Using the same rules applied to business.
In fact the most problematic pensions in the country are underfunded government employee pensions. If you make the promise you should fully fund that promise. And the government often does not.
Re: (Score:1)
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