If you are new to searching cases in CasePortal, please read Introduction to Searching for Cases first. 

You can use search commands to achieve highly targeted result sets. For example, by searching plaint:Google, you can search for Google only in the plaintiff field. Similarly, by searching def: Google, you can search for Google only in the defendant field.

The table below lists all targetable fields in CasePortal's Judicial Opinions Search, and provides instruction for how to create a query to target that field. 

Remember to:

  • Always put quotations around phrases or multiple words that you want returned together. For example: “employment law”
  • Group keywords and/or phrases in parentheses, separated by logical operators, when you want those keywords or phrases to be specific to a given field. For example: def:(“Apple Inc” OR Google)

Field

Description

Shortcut

Example Query

Case Number

The case number of the case. Case numbers can have special characters, so it’s always best to search values using quotations.

casenum:

casenum:"1:20CV472"

Category

Categories prepared by CNS Reporters to make cases more findable. For example “criminal procedure” or RICO

cat:

cat:"civil rights"

City

The city in which the court is located.

city:

city:”Los Angeles”

Court Name

The name of the court the case is from.

courtname:

courtname:"USDC Southern District of New York"

Defendants

Defendants of the case.

def:

def:"Federal Insurance"

Filed At

The date the case was filed in court (according to court data). When specifying a date, use the format of YYYY-MM-DD. Include the leading 0 for months or days that are single digits.

filedAt:

filedAt:2021-04-09

Judge

Judge presiding the case.

judge:

judge:Stivers

Nature of Suit

A nature of suit code is a tool for categorizing the types of cases filed in the federal courts

nos:

nos:tort

Plaintiffs

Plaintiffs of the case.

plaint:

plaint:"City of Los Angeles"

State

The state in which the court is located.

state:

state:California

Summary

Summary prepared by CNS Reporters.

summ:

summ:”Telephone Consumer Protection”

Text

Specific keywords or phrases found within the issued opinion itself, rather than the case metadata

text:

text:"District of Texas to vacate its scheduling order"

Type

Use this field to specify only civil litigation cases or only adversary proceedings

type:

type:”Adversary Proceeding”