A FOIA request was made with PACER verifying its billing practices

I wrote several days ago about a class action pending against PACER (the federal court document archive) for overbilling and fraudulent billing practices, and that the class action does not completely cover the fraudulent billing practices that I am aware of.

Since then, I have been in correspondence with PACER asking them to provide me with documents indicating what exactly they charged me for.

Since PACER's responses to me were inadequate, in my view, I have filed a FOIA request asking for access to records.

Here is the entire request:

Since the text appears to be small, I will publish it separately, here:

QUOTE
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Dear Sirs:

Please, provide within a reasonable time, as required by law, to this e-mail address, copies of the following public records:

1) copies of all log-ins from my account, tn1165, since November of 2011 to the date of response to the FOIA request, showing:

    a) what documents the requestor agreed to retrieve and pay for;

    b) whether documents were attempted to be retrieved through:

          I) HTML, or

          II) PDF, and

if documents were retrieved through PDF, were they retrieved by

         downloading, or

         viewing,

whether each and every document was available to be retrieved in all three formats - by HTML, by PDF through viewing, of by PDF through downloading,

whether the requestor actually succeeded in retrieving the documents - with proof as to the size of the allegedly retrieved document in Kilobytes, and with a matching proof showing that that particular size of document was retrieved;

 

      2) All invoices for payment, with a breakdown as to all retrievals;

      3) All public notices to me as a customer, or to all customers of PACER, and proof of service of those notices, before retrievals by HTML, that retrieval of HTML may amount to a charge 5-time higher than a retrieval by PDF, if the length of the case heading exceeds a certain number of letters (see the currently pending class lawsuit against Pacer in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, Fisher v Pacer/United States);

     4) all public notices, to me as a customer, or to all customers of PACER, and proof of service of those notices, that PDF documents from PACER are not viewable in certain browsers, and that charges may nevertheless occur while the customer will not be able to retrieve the documents in that browser, and what browsers are necessary for retrieval of all and any PDF documents available on PACER;

     5) copies of any and all written policies of PACER regarding price-formation and billing of PACER customers;  including but not limited to whether to allow for certain documents or types of documents on PACER (like, for example, docket report of cases) to be available only in HTML format, with pricing 5 times higher than in PDF format, or in HTML and viewing in PDF format only, without a notice that viewing in certain browsers will result in a "Can't open PDF" message and encourage the customer to agree to retrieval in the higher-priced HTML format, or in all three formats: HTML, view-in-PDF or download-in-PDF.

     6) Expenses for maintenance of PACER since January 1, 2009, with a breakdown by years;

     7) revenues from the PACER document retrieval system since January 1, 2009, with a breakdown by years.

I am unable to point out to PACER, as PACER asked me, in what way I think I overpaid PACER for years 2011 to 2017, without PACER first answering this inquiry through my FOIA request, as the relevant information is within possession and control of PACER.

Please, be further advised that I will continue to pay PACER bills in full, not because I agree with the amounts, but simply to ensure my unfettered access to PACER while my FOIA request is being processed, that I am fully intending to litigate the claim of overpayment, including in the event if PACER denies me access to the requested records.

UNQUOTE

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I will publish PACER's responses to my FOIA request when I receive it.

Stay tuned.