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govinfo:USCOURTS-pawd-2_09-mc-00239-36

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania · 2024-12-02

· GavelSight synced 2026-09-06 03:47:32

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 ) 
IN RE: PACER FEE EXEPMTIONS ) 
 ) Misc. No. 09-239 
 CHARLOTTE ALEXANDER, ) 
 (PACER Account xxxx979), ) 
 Movant. ) 
 ) 
 
 ORDER 
 
 This matter is before the Court upon the application of Charlotte Alexander 
(“Alexander”) for exemption from the fees imposed by the Electronic Public Access 
fee schedule adopted by the Ju dicial Conference of the United States Courts (ECF 
No. 163). 
 T his Court finds that Alexander is an individual researcher associated with 
an educational institution and, therefore, falls within the class of users listed in the 
fee schedule as being eligible for a fee exemption. Additionally, Alexander has 
demonstrated that an exemption is necessary in order to avoid unreasonable burdens 
and to promote public access to information. 
Accordingly, Alexander shall be exempt from the payment of fees for acces s 
via the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system (the “PACER System”) to 
the electronic case files maintained by this Court, to the extent such use is incurred 
in the course of the defined scholarly research project described in the Application 
for Exemption from the Judicial Conference’s Electronic Public Access Fees in the 

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United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania , including the 
Attachment, which lists cases filed in this Court between 2010 and 2021 wi th 
Nature of Suit Code 442 (approximately 3,300 cases) (collectively, the 
“Application”) (ECF No. 163). 
The Court finds that the research project described in the Application is 
intended solely for scholarly research and is li mited in scope in that the amount of 
exempt access requested is narrowly tailored to meet the project’s needs. 
Alexander shall not be exempt from the payment of fees incurred in 
connection with other uses of the PACER System in this Court. 
Additionally, the following limitations apply: 
1) This fee exemption applies only to Alexander and is valid only for 
the scholarly research project described in the Application; 
2) This fee exemption applies only to the electronic case files of this 
Court that are available through the PACER System; 
3) By accepting this exemption, Alexander agrees not to sell for profit 
any data obtained as a result of receiving this exemption; 
4) Alexander is prohibited from transferring any data obtained as a 
result of receiving t his exe mption, incl uding redistri bution via 
Internet ba sed databases. This prohibition does not prevent 
Alexander from relyin g upon the data obtained as a result of 

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receiving this exemption in or in connection with the scholarly 
research project described in the Application; 
5) This exemption is valid until December 3, 2025. 
 T his exemption may be revoked at the discretion of the Court at any time. The 
Clerk of Court of the United States District Court for the Western District of 
Pennsylvania, or h er designee, ma y periodically review the usage o f Alexander’s 
exempt PACER System account during the term of this exemption. 
 
Dated: December 2, 2024 BY THE COURT: 
 
 
 /s/ Mark R. Hornak 
 Mark R. Hornak 
 Chief United States District Judge 
 
 
cc: PACER Service Center (via email) 
 Administrative Office of the United States Courts, 
 Multi-Court Exemptions Office (via email) 
 Charlotte Alexander (via email) 
 
 

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