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govinfo:USCOURTS-pawd-2_09-mc-00239-39

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania · 2025-06-18

· 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 
 SALEM ALSANOUSI, ) 
 (PACER Account xxxx749), ) 
 Movant. ) 
 ) 
 
 ORDER 
 
 This matter is before the C ourt upon the application of Salem Alsanousi 
(“Alsanousi”) 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. 177). 
 This Court finds that Alsanousi 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, Alsanousi has 
demonstrated that an exemption is necessary in order to avoid unreasonable burdens 
and to promote public access to information. 
Accordingly, Alsanousi 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 Dis trict Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (the 
“Application”) (ECF No. 177). 
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. 
Alsanousi shall not be exempt f rom 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 Alsanousi 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, Alsanousi agrees not to sell for profit 
any data obtained as a result of receiving this exemption; 
4) Alsanousi is prohibited from transferring any data obtained as a 
result of receiving t his exe mption, incl uding redistri bution via 
Internet based databases. This prohibition does not prevent Alsanousi 
from relying upon the data obtained as a result of receiving this 
exemption in or in connection with the scholarly research project 
described in the Application; 
5) This exemption is valid until June 15, 2026. 

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 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 Alsanousi’s 
exempt PACER System account during the term of this exemption. 
 
Dated: June 18, 2025 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) 
 Salem Alsanousi (via email) 
 
 

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