The federal government could be on the hook for millions of dollars in refunds to users of online court records after an appeals court ruled Thursday that court administrators illegally included a wide range of expenses that were never authorized to be recovered from the public.
Critics of the system the federal government uses to collect about $145 million in electronic access fees each year filed suit in 2016, claiming the federal courts were essentially padding the bills paid by attorneys, media organizations, for-profit legal databases, nonprofit legal advocacy groups and members of the public.
U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle ruled in 2018 that the courts had included impermissible expenses when calculating how much to charge in PACER fees. But she suggested a large swath of the costs of the docketing system the courts have used for more than two decades could be passed on to the public through the fees.A wide range of First Amendment advocates, press associations and news outlets—including POLITICO—urged the appeals court to rein in the fees.
The suit covers PACER fees paid from 2010 to 2016. It’s unclear how much could be refunded. While the Federal Circuit opinion blessed Huvelle’s approach, the judges also left the door open for her to take a closer look at some of the courts’ expenses if she agrees to do so. “The judiciary's antiquated paywall inhibits ordinary people's access to the courts, prevents journalists from covering what the courts are up to, and makes important academic research difficult or impossible. The next step should be to make access completely free,” Gupta said.
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