Docket Search

Search federal court dockets or retrieve a specific docket with optional filing entries. Covers all federal district and appellate courts. Use legal.listCourts() to resolve court slugs for filtering.

Search dockets

Endpoint

POST /legal/v1/docket

curl -X POST https://api.case.dev/legal/v1/docket \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CASEDEV_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "type": "search",
    "query": "Apple v. Samsung",
    "court": "cand",
    "dateFiledAfter": "2020-01-01",
    "limit": 10
  }'

casedev legal:v1 docket

const results = await client.legal.docket({
  type: 'search',
  query: 'Apple v. Samsung',
  court: 'cand',                // Northern District of California
  dateFiledAfter: '2020-01-01',
  limit: 10,
});

console.log(`Found ${results.found} dockets`);

for (const docket of results.dockets) {
  console.log(`${docket.caseName} (${docket.docketNumber})`);
  console.log(`  Court: ${docket.court}`);
  console.log(`  Filed: ${docket.dateFiled}`);
}

results = client.legal.v1.docket(
    type='search',
    query='Apple v. Samsung',
    court='cand',
    date_filed_after='2020-01-01',
    limit=10,
)

print(f'Found {results.found} dockets')

for docket in results.dockets:
    print(f'{docket.case_name} ({docket.docket_number})')
    print(f'  Court: {docket.court}')
    print(f'  Filed: {docket.date_filed}')

response, _ := client.Legal.V1.Docket(ctx)
fmt.Println(response)

Look up a docket

Retrieve a specific docket by ID.

curl -X POST https://api.case.dev/legal/v1/docket \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CASEDEV_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "type": "lookup",
    "docketId": "4214664"
  }'

casedev legal:v1 docket

const docket = await client.legal.docket({
  type: 'lookup',
  docketId: '4214664',
});

console.log(`${docket.docket.caseName}`);
console.log(`Court: ${docket.docket.court}`);
console.log(`Assigned to: ${docket.docket.assignedTo}`);
console.log(`Filed: ${docket.docket.dateFiled}`);

docket = client.legal.v1.docket(
    type='lookup',
    docket_id='4214664',
)

print(docket.docket.case_name)
print(f'Court: {docket.docket.court}')
print(f'Assigned to: {docket.docket.assigned_to}')
print(f'Filed: {docket.docket.date_filed}')

response, _ := client.Legal.V1.Docket(ctx)
fmt.Println(response)

Look up docket entries

Pass includeEntries: true in lookup mode to return the docket plus filing entries and attached RECAP document metadata.

curl -X POST https://api.case.dev/legal/v1/docket \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CASEDEV_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "type": "lookup",
    "docketId": "4214664",
    "includeEntries": true,
    "limit": 10,
    "offset": 0
  }'

casedev legal:v1 docket \
  --type lookup \
  --docket-id 4214664 \
  --include-entries \
  --limit 10 \
  --offset 0

const docket = await client.legal.docket({
  type: 'lookup',
  docketId: '4214664',
  includeEntries: true,
  limit: 10,
  offset: 0,
});

for (const entry of docket.entries ?? []) {
  console.log(`#${entry.entryNumber ?? 'n/a'} ${entry.date}: ${entry.description}`);

  for (const document of entry.documents) {
    console.log(`  Document ${document.documentNumber}: ${document.pdfUrl ?? 'not available'}`);
  }
}

docket = client.legal.v1.docket(
    type='lookup',
    docket_id='4214664',
    include_entries=True,
    limit=10,
    offset=0,
)

for entry in docket.entries or []:
    print(f'#{entry.entry_number or "n/a"} {entry.date}: {entry.description}')

    for document in entry.documents:
        print(f'  Document {document.document_number}: {document.pdf_url or "not available"}')

docket, _ := client.Legal.V1.Docket(ctx, casedev.LegalV1DocketParams{
    Type:           casedev.F(casedev.LegalV1DocketParamsTypeLookup),
    DocketID:       casedev.F("4214664"),
    IncludeEntries: casedev.F(true),
    Limit:          casedev.F(int64(10)),
    Offset:         casedev.F(int64(0)),
})

for _, entry := range docket.Entries {
    fmt.Printf("#%v %s: %s\n", entry.EntryNumber, entry.Date, entry.Description)
}

Live PACER fetch

For dockets not yet in the RECAP archive, you can trigger a live fetch from PACER. This purchases fresh docket data using CaseMark’s PACER account and ingests it into the RECAP archive.

Live PACER fetches incur PACER fees of up to $3.00 per docket sheet, plus a $0.05 service fee. You must pass acknowledgePacerFees: true to confirm you accept these charges.

curl -X POST https://api.case.dev/legal/v1/docket \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CASEDEV_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "type": "lookup",
    "docketId": "4214664",
    "live": true,
    "acknowledgePacerFees": true
  }'

const docket = await client.legal.docket({
  type: 'lookup',
  docketId: '4214664',
  live: true,
  acknowledgePacerFees: true,
});

console.log(`Fetched: ${docket.docket.caseName}`);
console.log(`PACER fees: up to $${docket.pacerFees.maxPacerCost} + $${docket.pacerFees.serviceFee} service fee`);
console.log(`Fetch took ${docket.pacerFees.fetchDurationMs}ms`);

How it works

The endpoint first tries to fetch the docket from the free RECAP archive
If live: true, it triggers a live PACER purchase to fetch fresh docket data
CaseMark’s PACER account is used — you don’t need your own PACER credentials
The fetch typically takes 5-30 seconds depending on docket size
Once fetched, the docket is added to the RECAP archive and freely available for future lookups

Cost and guardrails

Item	Cost
Service fee	$0.05 per request
PACER fee	Up to $3.00 per docket sheet (PACER’s cap)
Maximum total	$3.05 per fetch

Additional guardrails:

Daily spend cap: $25/day per organization (resets at midnight UTC)
Fee acknowledgment required: Requests without acknowledgePacerFees: true return 400
Free tier users: The standard $10 free credit limit applies — live fetches count toward it

Live fetch response

When live: true, the response includes a pacerFees object:

{
  "type": "lookup",
  "live": true,
  "docket": { ... },
  "pacerFees": {
    "serviceFee": 0.05,
    "maxPacerCost": 3.00,
    "currency": "USD",
    "fetchDurationMs": 12500
  }
}

Resolve court IDs

Court slugs like cand, nysd, ca9 identify specific courts. Use legal.listCourts() to search for the correct slug to pass as the court parameter in legal.docket().

Endpoint

POST /legal/v1/courts

curl -X POST https://api.case.dev/legal/v1/courts \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CASEDEV_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "northern district california",
    "jurisdiction": "FD"
  }'

casedev legal:v1 courts

const courts = await client.legal.listCourts({
  query: 'northern district california',
  jurisdiction: 'FD',  // Federal District
});

for (const court of courts.courts) {
  console.log(`${court.name} → ${court.id}`);
  // "U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California → cand"
}

courts = client.legal.v1.list_courts(
    query='northern district california',
    jurisdiction='FD',
)

for court in courts.courts:
    print(f'{court.name} → {court.id}')

response, _ := client.Legal.V1.ListCourts(ctx)
fmt.Println(response)

Jurisdiction codes

Code	Jurisdiction
`F`	Federal (all)
`FD`	Federal District
`FB`	Federal Bankruptcy
`FA`	Federal Appellate
`FS`	Federal Special (e.g. Tax Court)
`S`	State (all)
`SA`	State Appellate
`SS`	State Supreme

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`type`	`'search'`	Yes	Search mode
`query`	`string`	Yes	Case name or party name (2-500 chars)
`court`	`string`	No	Court slug (e.g. `cand`, `ca9`). Use `legal.listCourts()` to find slugs.
`dateFiledAfter`	`string`	No	Lower bound filing date (YYYY-MM-DD)
`dateFiledBefore`	`string`	No	Upper bound filing date (YYYY-MM-DD)
`limit`	`integer`	No	Page size (1-100, default 25)
`offset`	`integer`	No	Pagination offset (default 0)

Docket lookup

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`type`	`'lookup'`	Yes	Lookup mode
`docketId`	`string`	Yes	Docket ID
`includeEntries`	`boolean`	No	Include docket entries/filings (default false).
`live`	`boolean`	No	Trigger live PACER fetch (default false)
`acknowledgePacerFees`	`boolean`	No	Required when `live: true` — confirms PACER fee acceptance
`limit`	`integer`	No	Entries page size (1-100, default 25)
`offset`	`integer`	No	Entries pagination offset (default 0)

Courts lookup

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`query`	`string`	No	Search court name (min 2 chars)
`jurisdiction`	`string`	No	Filter by jurisdiction code
`inUseOnly`	`boolean`	No	Only courts with docket data (default true)
`limit`	`integer`	No	Page size (1-100, default 50)
`offset`	`integer`	No	Pagination offset (default 0)

Response fields

Docket object

Field	Type	Description
`id`	`string`	Docket ID
`caseName`	`string`	Full case name
`docketNumber`	`string`	Court docket number (e.g. `5:11-cv-01846`)
`court`	`string`	Full court name
`courtId`	`string`	Court slug
`dateFiled`	`string`	Filing date
`dateTerminated`	`string \| null`	Termination date
`cause`	`string \| null`	Cause of action (e.g. `35 U.S.C. 271 Patent Infringement`)
`natureOfSuit`	`string \| null`	Nature of suit classification
`parties`	`string[]`	Party names
`assignedTo`	`string \| null`	Assigned judge
`url`	`string`	Docket detail URL
`pacerCaseId`	`string \| null`	PACER case ID

Docket entry

Field	Type	Description
`entryNumber`	`integer`	Filing number on the docket
`date`	`string`	Filing date
`description`	`string`	Docket text (e.g. “COMPLAINT filed by Apple Inc.”)
`documents`	`array`	Attached RECAP documents

Document

Field	Type	Description
`id`	`string`	Document ID
`documentNumber`	`string`	Document number
`attachmentNumber`	`integer \| null`	Attachment number (null for main document)
`description`	`string`	Document description
`pdfUrl`	`string \| null`	PDF download URL (if available in RECAP)
`pageCount`	`integer \| null`	Number of pages
`isAvailable`	`boolean`	`true` = free via RECAP archive, `false` = requires PACER

Pricing

Method	Price
`legal.docket()`	Free
`legal.listCourts()`	Free

Data source

All docket data comes from CourtListener’s RECAP archive, which aggregates federal court filings contributed by the RECAP browser extension. Coverage includes:

All federal district courts
All federal appellate courts
Federal bankruptcy courts
Specialty courts (Tax Court, Court of Federal Claims, etc.)

RECAP coverage varies by court and case. High-profile cases and active litigation tend to have the most complete filing histories.

Get Started

Platform

Resources

Docket Search

Search dockets

Look up a docket

Look up docket entries

Live PACER fetch

How it works

Cost and guardrails

Live fetch response

Resolve court IDs

Jurisdiction codes

Parameters

Docket search

Docket lookup

Courts lookup

Response fields

Docket object

Docket entry

Document

Pricing

Data source

​Search dockets

​Look up a docket

​Look up docket entries

​Live PACER fetch

​How it works

​Cost and guardrails

​Live fetch response

​Resolve court IDs

​Jurisdiction codes

​Parameters

​Docket search

​Docket lookup

​Courts lookup

​Response fields

​Docket object

​Docket entry

​Document

​Pricing

​Data source

Search dockets

Look up a docket

Look up docket entries

Live PACER fetch

How it works

Cost and guardrails

Live fetch response

Resolve court IDs

Jurisdiction codes

Parameters

Docket search

Docket lookup

Courts lookup

Response fields

Docket object

Docket entry

Document

Pricing

Data source