# Federal Litigation Tracker (`hereditary_model/federal-litigation-tracker`) Actor

Finds new federal lawsuits matching a company, person, or keyword from CourtListener's public RECAP archive, scored by recency.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/hereditary\_model/federal-litigation-tracker.md
- **Developed by:** [Aaron Marxsen](https://apify.com/hereditary_model) (community)
- **Categories:** Business
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $20.00 / 1,000 case returneds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Federal Litigation Tracker

New federal lawsuits are public the moment they're filed, but finding one against — or involving — a specific company usually means knowing to look. This searches CourtListener's public RECAP archive (millions of federal docket records, largely sourced from PACER) for your terms and scores results by how fresh the filing is.

### What it does

1. Searches federal case dockets for each of your terms — a company name, a person, or a legal keyword.
2. Restricts to cases filed within your lookback window.
3. Scores every case 0–100: very recent filings score highest, with a bump when the underlying documents are already available to read.
4. Sorts highest-activity first.

### Output

| Field | Notes |
| --- | --- |
| `caseName`, `court`, `docketNumber`, `dateFiled` | The case itself |
| `parties`, `attorneys`, `firms` | Who's involved |
| `cause`, `suitNature` | What kind of case it is |
| `docketUrl`, `hasDocuments` | Link to the full docket, and whether filings are already on CourtListener |
| `activityScore` | 0–100, recency plus document availability |

### Input

Only `terms` is required.

```json
{
  "terms": ["Acme Corp", "patent infringement"],
  "sinceDays": 180
}
```

CourtListener works fine unauthenticated for modest use; if you hit rate limits, add a free API token from courtlistener.com.

### Pricing

Pay per event. You're billed per case returned and once per term digested. Data source: CourtListener's public RECAP archive.

# Actor input Schema

## `terms` (type: `array`):

Company names, person names, or keywords to search for, one per line.

## `sinceDays` (type: `integer`):

Only include cases filed within the last N days.

## `maxResultsPerTerm` (type: `integer`):

Caps how many cases are returned per search term, most recent first.

## `apiToken` (type: `string`):

Optional. Unauthenticated requests work but are rate limited; a free token from courtlistener.com raises the limit. Used only in this run's requests, never stored or shared.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "terms": [
    "patent infringement"
  ],
  "sinceDays": 180,
  "maxResultsPerTerm": 30
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `cases` (type: `string`):

No description

## `summary` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "terms": [
        "patent infringement"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("hereditary_model/federal-litigation-tracker").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "terms": ["patent infringement"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("hereditary_model/federal-litigation-tracker").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "terms": [
    "patent infringement"
  ]
}' |
apify call hereditary_model/federal-litigation-tracker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,hereditary_model/federal-litigation-tracker"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/rnSFZjhcqXW9vNSl8/builds/voe7leT44TQVzIzfV/openapi.json