US government to settle PACER class action for $125M

PACER overcharge overview:

• Who: The U.S. government has agreed to pay $125 million to end a class action lawsuit filed against it by a group of nonprofits.
• Why: The settlement ends claims that the judiciary charges users excessive fees to run the Public Access to Electronic Court Records (PACER) system.
• Where: The PACER overcharge settlement was filed in a D.C. federal court. 

The U.S. government has agreed to pay $125 million to end class action claims that the judiciary charged users excessive fees to use its electronic court records system.

The deal between the government and nonprofits the National Veterans Legal Services Program, National Consumer Law Center and the Alliance For Justice was filed Oct. 11 in a D.C. federal court.

In the bid for preliminary approval, plaintiffs say the settlement would provide users compensation of up to at least $350 for fees paid to use the Public Access to Electronic Court Records (PACER) system from April 2010 through May 2018. 

Anyone who paid more than $350 would also get a pro rata share of the remaining funds, the PACER settlement states.

“In addition to this remarkable monetary relief, the case has spurred the judiciary to eliminate fees for 75% of users going forward and prompted action in Congress to abolish the fees altogether,” the plaintiffs say. 

“By any measure, this litigation has been an extraordinary achievement—and even more so given the odds stacked against it.”

PACER settlement comes after class certification

According to the original lawsuit filed 2016, the fees collected for the public’s use of the PACER database exceed the amount that could be lawfully charged under the E-Government Act of 2002.

The plaintiffs alleged that the government was violating the law by charging fees that are used to cover costs beyond maintaining the web portal and providing access to records. PACER users are legally entitled to a refund of any excessive PACER fees they paid, their complaint claims.

The government argued it was authorized to set fees to the extent necessary for any project associated with providing access to information through electronic means.

However, the lawsuit was granted class certification by a district court, with an approved class of all individuals and entities that paid PACER fees between 2010 and 2016—a group of potentially hundreds of thousands.

Have you paid for PACER fees? Let us know in the comments! 

The nonprofits are represented by Jonathan E. Taylor and Deepak Gupta of Gupta Wessler PLLC and William H. Narwold, Charlotte E. Loper, and Meghan S.B. Oliver of Motley Rice LLC.

The PACER class action settlement 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.

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