Federal Court Cases
Search every federal court opinion and docket the Free Law Project has indexed. Litigation history is a deal-killer surfaced after the IOI lands — find it before.
Why this exists
PACER charges per page. CourtListener pulls the same federal court records from RECAP and PACER coverage and serves them free. For pre-deal litigation history — judgments, ongoing matters, the named parties on a counterparty's caption — this is the lookup. Pair with EDGAR Full-Text Search for the public-company side, OFAC Sanctions for the criminal-exposure side.
Frequently asked questions
What does Federal Court Cases search?
Federal court opinions, dockets, and oral arguments indexed by the Free Law Project's CourtListener. Coverage spans U.S. Supreme Court, Circuit Courts of Appeals, federal district courts, bankruptcy courts, and select state appellate courts. Search by party name, judge, citation, or keyword.
Is this the same data as PACER?
Substantially overlapping, but free. CourtListener's RECAP project crawls PACER content as users access it, building a public mirror. Coverage is excellent for opinions and docket headers, less complete for full filing PDFs (where PACER charges per page). For ongoing litigation in real-time, you may still need PACER for the latest filings.
When would I use this in diligence?
Pre-LOI litigation history scan on a deal target, pre-investment background check on a founder or CEO, pre-engagement counterparty risk assessment for vendors and partners. Litigation history is a deal-killer surfaced after the LOI lands. Find it before.