Omni Search
The Omni Search will search My Cases, Firm Cases, and all of CourtDrive, and present the top 10 matches that may exist for each category.
Enter a case name or number in the box, and the search will automatically run. Click the desired results, or scroll down to search further:
Clicking on the ‘search for [term]’ section after entering in a search term will take you to the Case Lookup section. This is present at the top of your search results.
Case Lookup
The Case Lookup search tool is free, super fast, and very user friendly. Just start typing something and results will appear below the search fields:
PACER Search
Click PACER Search in the left navigation to access our PACER interface. Searches conducted here will search the PACER national case locator (NCL). In contrast to our Case Lookup, searches here will search 100% of the PACER NCL and incur PACER charges of 10 cents per search, even if no results are found.
Single Court Search
Each federal court jurisdiction has its own database and search page. CourtDrive, through our Single Court Search, lets you access a single jurisdiction directly and search 100% of that jurisdiction. For example, you can search just Northern California Bankruptcy Court, or you can search just the Central California District Court. You cannot search more than one jurisdiction at a time using this page.
Case Number Searches with Single Court Search
For Bankruptcy, Civil, Criminal and National jurisdictions, case number searching is free.
However, for Appellate cases, case number searching is Not Free.
Advanced Searches with Single Court Search
If you want to search a single jurisdiction but do not have a case number, you can search using other criteria, but these searches are NOT free and may incur substantial PACER charges if too broad.
Pros and Cons of Single Court Search and when to use it
Pros:
- find cases filed as recently as 5 minutes ago (whereas the PACER case locator has a 24 hour lag) Note: check Case Lookup first since we check local courts hourly
- case number search is free (as is Case Lookup under all circumstances)
Cons
- no nationwide searching
- party or other types of "advanced" searches can be very expensive and must be done with caution
In general, we do NOT recommend using Single Court Search unless:
- You have a case number and cannot find the case using our Case Lookup or PACER search
- You need to check via SSN if someone has filed a bankruptcy the day of a foreclosure sale