Our robust search engine allows you to search across all cases in our database including full text search of PDF documents using Boolean operators.
Start by clicking on the Filings tab on our main navigation along the top of the page. Then click on Advanced Search (second tab from the left):
You can use any of the Boolean Operator shown in the help box to the right to construct a search query. For example, the picture below shows an example of proximity searching, i.e. how to search for the word "application" within 4 words of the word "employ."
You can of course use a number of filters before or after the search to narrow your results by jurisdiction, various date ranges, type of case, judge, etc.
The results of a search look like this:
As you can see, your keywords are highlighted within the results so you can quickly scan through all the results. The numbered red circles indicate actions you can take as follows:
1) Document number: click on this to expand the individual result.
2) Case number: click on this to see the docket for that case.
3) Action icons: click on any one of these to download, email or print the document.
4) PDF text preview: click on this to scroll through the PDF sections that have your keywords highlighted.
Syntax Tips
Wildcard search:
Just add an asterisk to the root of any word to search for all variations. You may notice our search includes some variation searches by default, but it is not as inclusive as actually using the wildcard, so for more deliberate wildcard searching, use the “*”
“Within n terms” search:
You cannot perform a wildcard search inside of the “within n terms” operator. For example, “app* /3 employ” will not return all the same results as “application /3 employ,” so remember to use complete words when using “within n terms”
Also the order of the words matter for “within n terms” searches. “application /3 employ” and “employ /3 application” will yield mostly separate results, so if you want results from both sets, combine the queries using parenthesis and the “or” operator like this: (application /3 employ) or (employ /3 application)
Punctuation:
You can use parenthesis to block operators and combine them as shown above. Operators are not case sensitive
Use the left hand navigation after running a search
After you run a Boolean search, the left hand navigation provides all sorts of ways to modify and refine your search, so make sure you refer there instead of starting over to change anything.
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