govinfo:USCOURTS-pawd-2_09-mc-00239-37

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 ) 
IN RE: PACER FEE EXEMPTIONS for ) 
 DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY ) Misc. No. 09-239 
 PRACTITIONER IN RESIDENCE AND ) 
 DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ) 
 Journalism 471/571, Spring Semester 2025 ) 
 ) 
 
 ORDER 
 
 T his matter is before the C ourt upon the applications of the following individuals, 
solely in their capaciti es as Duquesne University st udents enrolled in the undergraduate 
class Investigative Reporting (JOUR 471/571) at Duquesne University d uring the Spring 
2025 semester (the “DU Class”), for exemption from the fees imposed by the Electronic 
Public Access fee schedule adopte d by t he Ju dicial Conference of the United States 
Courts: (a) Ember Duke (ECF No. 165 ); (b) Antonio Epps (ECF No. 166 ); (c) Isabella 
Fahey (ECF No. 167); ( d) Emily Fritz (ECF No. 168); (e) Aubrey Halbach (ECF No. 
169); (f) Kaitlyn Hughes (ECF No. 170); (g) Penelope Lee (ECF No. 171 ); (h) Charlotte 
Shields-Rossi ( ECF No. 172 ); and ( i) Katherine Williams (ECF No. 173) (the “DU 
Students”). 
 This C ourt f inds t hat each of the DU Students 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, each of the 
DU Students has demonstrated that an exemption i s n ecessary in order to avoid 
unreasonable burdens and to promote public access to information. 

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Accordingly, each of the DU Students shall be exempt from the payment of fees for 
access via the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system (the “PACER System”) 
to the electronic case files maintained by this Court, but only to the extent such use is 
incurred in the course of the scholarly research project for the DU Class that is described 
in the each of the Applications for Exemption from the Judicial Conference’s Electronic 
Public Acc ess Fees in the Unit ed States Dis trict Court for the Western District of 
Pennsylvania (the “Applications”) (ECF Nos. 165-173). The Court finds that the research 
project for t he DU Class that is described in the Application s is intended solel y for 
scholarly research and is limited in scope in that the amount of exempt access requested 
is narrowly tailored to meet the project’s needs. 
Each of the DU S tudents shall not be exempt from the payment of fees incurred in 
connection with other uses of t he PAC ER System in this Court and is responsible for 
taking any and all necessary steps to ensure that payment is made for any u se of the 
PACER System that is unrelated to the scholarly research project for the DU Class that is 
described in the Application s. This exem ption only applies to the payment of fees for 
access via the PACER System to th e e lectronic case files maintain ed by The Unite d 
States District Court for the Western Di strict of Pennsylvania and does not apply to the 
payment of fees for acces s to the electronic case files for any other court selected by any 
DU Student in the Applications. Additionally, the following limitations apply: 
1) This fee exemption applies only t o each DU Student and is valid only fo r 
the scholarly research project described in the Applications; 

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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, each DU Student agrees not to sell for profit 
any data obtained as a result of receiving this exemption; 
4) Each DU Student is prohibited from transferring any data obtained as a 
result of receiving this exemp tion, including re distribution via Inte rnet 
based databases. This prohibition does not prevent any DU Student from 
relying upon the data obtained as a result of receiving this exemption in or 
in connection with any report, paper, presentatio n, or other deliverable 
associated with the scholarly research project for the DU Class that is 
described in the Applications; 
5) This exemption is valid until June 1, 2025. 
 T his exemption may be revoked from any or all DU Students at the discretion of the 
Court at any t ime. The Clerk of Court of the United States District Court for the Western 
District of P ennsylvania, or her designee, may periodically review activity in the exempt 
PACER System account(s) of any DU Student during the term of this exemption. 
 
Dated: February 3, 2025 BY THE COURT: 
 
 
 /s/ Mark R. Hornak 
 Mark R. Hornak 
 Chief United States District Judge 
 
 
cc: DU Students (via email) 

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