PACER Users Granted Appeal of Court Doc Fees Class Action Lawsuit

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Users of the federal courts’ electronic records system, PACER, have been granted an appeal allowing them to move forward with their class action lawsuit claiming that the system charges excessive fees, and then the government misuses those fees.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle determined that both the users and the government would be allowed to make arguments protesting the court’s previous decision that the government misused $200 million in funds gained from charging people fees to access court documents via the PACER system.

Judge Huvelle stated that though the court initially found both the users’ and the government’s arguments about the PACER fees unpersuasive, she believes that there is grounds for dispute over the amount of fees that are charged, and how those fees should be properly allocated. The judge granted the appeal because the two parties’ arguments are “not without merit.”

This decision by Judge Huvelle comes in contrast to her decision in March to reject both the users and the government’s arguments about how the PACER fees should be used. At that point, the federal judge determined that some of the expenditures covered by PACER fees were justified, but others were not.

In April 2016, the National Veterans Legal Services Program, the National Consumers Law Center, and the Alliance for Justice brought forward the PACER fees class action lawsuit, claiming that the government charged higher than necessary fees to access court documents via the court’s PACER system. They were granted class certification in January 2017.

The three organizations claim that the court’s practice of charging higher than necessary PACER fees and using the funds to cover costs other than those of operating the PACER system itself violates the 2002 E-Government Act, which allegedly allows the court to charge fees “only to the extent necessary.” Allegedly, current rates and uses for the fees go beyond the “extent necessary.”

The PACER court document fees class action lawsuit claims that under the current system users are charged 10 cents per page to download court documents, capping fees out at $3. Allegedly, this fee is much higher than the actual cost to operate the system.

The PACER system fees class action lawsuit also argues that these fees may prohibit some users from accessing court records.

Speaking to the organizations’ capacity to represent all PACER users in the court document fees class action lawsuit, Judge Huvelle stated earlier that she believed that the three organizations “make particularly good class representatives,” because “they are interested in reducing PACER fees not only for themselves but also for their constituents. As nonprofit organizations, [they] exist to advocate for consumers, veterans, and other public interest causes.”

The National Veterans Legal Services Program, the National Consumers Law Center, and the Alliance for Justice are represented by Deepak Gupta of Gupta Wessler PLLC, and William H. Narwold, Elizabeth S. Smith, and Meghan S.B. Oliver of Motley Rice LLC.

The PACER System Excessive Fees Class Action Lawsuit is National Veterans Legal Services Program, et al. v. U.S., Case No. 1:16-cv-00745, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.