PACER removes online access to some 7th Circuit records

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Information about cases filed before the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that were closed before Jan. 1, 2008, can no longer be accessed on the website Public Access to Court Electronic Records, or PACER.

Case information from five federal courts systems was removed, according to a post on the site, including the Chicago-based appellate court, and each one has a different date for when records are no longer available.

The changes went into effect Aug. 11.

In the 7th Circuit, documents for cases prior to 2008 have never been available on PACER. Instead, if someone looked it up, they would only have seen the docket sheet, which shows events in a court case.

Now, those docket sheets cannot be retrieved online, 7th Circuit Clerk of Courts Supervisor Jennifer Doer said. The sheets are available at the clerk’s office in Chicago.

Charlie Hall, a spokesman for the U.S. Court’s administrative office, said the information no longer is available because PACER’s new case management software is not compatible with the older software those specific courts use. Other federal courts already have migrated to newer software that is compatible with PACER. The 7th Circuit started using newer software more than six years ago, which is why case materials and dockets from after 2008 are available, but materials before that year are incompatible.

Doer said she has not yet received any complaints about the change. Hall said media outlets – which traditionally rely on PACER to quickly get copies of federal case paperwork – have expressed the most concern.

Other courts affected include the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City, the 11th U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta, the federal circuit appeals court and the Central District of California’s bankruptcy court.

Attorneys who need copies of 7th Circuit case documents that are no longer available online can reach out to its clerk of court’s office to get copies mailed to them. Follow @eheisigWLJ