Federal Court Dockets - Bankruptcy & Civil Case Search (RECAP Archive)

Search over 100 million federal court docket entries from the CourtListener RECAP Archive. Find bankruptcy filings, civil suits, and district court cases by keyword, court, date range, and nature of suit. Ideal for credit risk analysis, collections due diligence, litigation monitoring, and compliance workflows.

No API key required. Data is free and public.

Who Uses This

Credit & Collections Teams Run a debtor's name before extending credit or acquiring a debt portfolio. Uncover active Chapter 7, Chapter 11, or Chapter 13 filings, identify prior discharge orders, and check whether assets are subject to automatic stay. Faster than pulling a Pacer report manually for each name.

Due Diligence & M&A Screen acquisition targets and counterparties for undisclosed litigation exposure. Identify pending civil suits, judgment creditors, and bankruptcy history across all federal districts. Flag material litigation risk before closing.

Legal & Compliance Monitoring Track new filings in specific courts or against named parties. Set up recurring runs to monitor bankruptcy filings in key markets or track litigation activity for portfolio companies.

Collections & Debt Recovery Identify debtors in active bankruptcy proceedings before pursuing collections actions. Avoid automatic stay violations by checking court records before contact.

Input

Field	Description	Example
query	Keyword search (company name, keyword, attorney)	"Acme Corp"
court	Federal court ID	"nysb" (S.D.N.Y. Bankruptcy), "txsb" (S.D. Tex. Bankruptcy)
caseName	Filter by case name	"Smith v. Jones"
dateFiledFrom	Cases filed on or after (YYYY-MM-DD)	"2024-01-01"
dateFiledTo	Cases filed on or before (YYYY-MM-DD)	"2024-12-31"
natureOfSuit	Nature of suit classification	"Bankruptcy", "Contract", "Patent"
maxResults	Max dockets to return (1–5000)	100

Common Court IDs

Court ID	Court
nysb	Bankruptcy Court, S.D. New York
txsb	Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Texas
deb	Bankruptcy Court, Delaware
cacd	District Court, C.D. California
nysd	District Court, S.D. New York
txsd	District Court, S.D. Texas
ilnb	Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois
njb	Bankruptcy Court, New Jersey

Full list at CourtListener court IDs.

Output

Each docket record includes:

Field	Description
caseName	Full case name (e.g. "In re Acme Corp")
caseNumber	Docket number (e.g. "23-10001")
court	Full court name
courtId	Court identifier
dateFiled	Date case was filed
dateTerminated	Date case closed (empty if active)
natureOfSuit	Nature of suit classification
cause	Cause of action
juryDemand	Jury demand status
jurisdictionType	Jurisdiction type
parties	List of party names
attorneys	List of attorney names
docketEntriesCount	Number of docket entries in RECAP
docketUrl	Link to the full docket on CourtListener

Example Output

{
  "caseName": "In re Acme Holdings LLC",
  "caseNumber": "23-11234",
  "court": "Bankr.S.D.N.Y.",
  "courtId": "nysb",
  "dateFiled": "2023-04-15",
  "dateTerminated": "",
  "natureOfSuit": "Bankruptcy",
  "cause": "11 U.S.C. § 1107 Chapter 11 Reorganization",
  "juryDemand": "None",
  "jurisdictionType": "Bankruptcy",
  "parties": ["Acme Holdings LLC", "U.S. Trustee"],
  "attorneys": ["Jane Smith", "Robert Brown"],
  "docketEntriesCount": 142,
  "docketUrl": "https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/12345678/in-re-acme-holdings-llc/"
}

Data Source

Data is provided by the Free Law Project via the CourtListener RECAP Archive — a crowd-sourced repository of federal court documents made available under a CC0 public domain dedication. Coverage varies by district; major bankruptcy courts (Delaware, S.D.N.Y., S.D. Texas) have the most complete coverage.

RECAP data covers federal district and bankruptcy courts only (not state courts or federal appellate courts). For federal appellate opinions, see the companion CourtListener Court Opinions actor.