Search/Browse Court Rulings

Browsing

Browsing the decisions is best when you have an idea of the decision you are looking for, such as the Judge who issued the decision, the timeframe, or the debtor's name, etc.

Browsing the decisions is fast and convenient. To browse, simply leave the search field area blank, and select the other fields based on the information you would like to see.

For example, to view a list of Judge Kilburg's decisions of the last 2 years, sorted by date, simply:

• Leave the search field blank
• Select only Search Judge Kilburg's Rulings in the Search by Judge area
• Select 2 Years in the Search Only Recent Decisions area
• Select Sort By Date in the Sort Output area
• Click Search

Searching the decisions is best when you would like to view decisions based on a topic or keyword, or when looking for a particular decision based on its content when the details of the file are not known (i.e. you know the decision contains "automatic stay" and "1970 Mustang", but are not sure of the debtor's name or the date of the decision).

When searching the decisions, you have two options. You may choose to search only the summary information provided for each judicial decision. The summary information is a short list of important information including the case number, adversary number (when applicable), chapter, debtor name, date of decision, and nature of the decision as stated. If you are searching for a bankruptcy case number, defendant name, etc., this will result in a much faster search than searching the entire file.

If needed, you may instead search the full text of the decision for a word or words. You should only choose this option if you need to specifically search the body of the decision, as it takes much longer to perform the full search.

For example, to search for the words "trustee", "exemption", and "caretaker", in Judge Kilburg's decisions of the last 3 years, sorted by debtor, simply:

• Enter "trustee exemption caretaker" into the Enter the word or words to search for area (do not include quotation marks unless you want to match an exact phrase).
• Select only Search Judge Kilburg's Rulings in the Search by Judge area
• Select Search Entire File in the Search Only Summary Information area
• Select 3 Years in the Search Only Recent Decisions area
• Select Sort By Debtor in the Sort Output area
• Click Search

For best results, use a general word or words to search for, such as stay or automatic stay. If you don't find what you're looking for, try using fewer words or a single word, searching older files, and/or searching the entire file.

When searching for a specific code reference you must use a \ before each parenthesis. Thus, to search for 523(a)(1), you should type 523\(a\)\(1\).