DocketBird Terms of Use

Effective Date: April 5, 2023

This Terms of Use Agreement ("Agreement") governs the relationship between Mink LLC and users and others who interact with the website located at www.docketbird.com, including the services offered on or through the website. The term "DocketBird" shall encompass both the website and the services, and shall also encompass any applications relating to the website and services. By using or accessing DocketBird, you accept and agree to the terms of this Agreement. Please read these Terms of Use carefully, as they contain important information about limitations of liability and resolution of disputes through arbitration rather than in court. You should also read our Privacy Policy, which also governs your use of DocketBird. If you do not agree to these Terms of Use, please do not use DocketBird.

Privacy

Your privacy is very important to us. We designed our Privacy Policy to make important disclosures about how you can use DocketBird and how we collect and can use your content and information. We encourage you to read the Privacy Policy, and to use it to help make informed decisions.

Unauthorized Uses

You will not use DocketBird for commercial purposes other than the practice of law.

You will not send or otherwise post unauthorized commercial communications (such as spam) on DocketBird

You will not access DocketBird using automated means (such as harvesting bots, robots, spiders, or scrapers) without our written permission.

You will not use DocketBird to collect information (including, but not limited to, docket sheets and case documents) for any purpose other than the practice of law.

You will not copy DocketBird materials (including, without limitation, by taking screenshots of DocketBird) without our written authorization.

You will not upload viruses or other malicious code.

You will not solicit login information or access an account belonging to someone else.

You will not bully, intimidate, or harass any user.

You will not use DocketBird to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory.

You will not do anything that could disable, overburden, or impair the proper working of DocketBird, such as a denial of service attack.

You will not facilitate or encourage any violations of this Agreement

Your Account

You may need your own DocketBird account to use certain of our services, and you may be required to be logged in to the account and have a valid payment method associated with it. If there is a problem charging your selected payment method, we may charge any other valid payment method associated with your account. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account and password and for restricting access to your account, and you agree to accept responsibility for all activities that occur under your account or password. We reserve our right to refuse service, terminate accounts, terminate your rights to use our service, remove or edit content, or cancel orders in our sole discretion.

Court Account Usage and Fees

When you provide us with credentials for one or more court accounts (such as your PACER and/or ECF login information), you authorize us to access your court accounts to search for court materials, download docket sheets, case documents, attorney contact information, receipts, and other case-related information ("Case Information"). For example, if you use DocketBird to request us to retrieve Case Information in a federal court, we may do so using your PACER account or your ECF Account. In addition, in order to keep our users' Case Information up to date, DocketBird may periodically and automatically download the latest versions of Case Information using your court account.

You may choose to provide us with your court login information for the purposes of configuring your court account to send filing email notifications to DocketBird (or you may manually configure your court account to send us such email notifications). In that case, DocketBird will endeavor to automatically retrieve Case Information on your behalf using your court account when such emails are received by DocketBird.

You also authorize us to use your court login information to ensure that our services maintain compatibility with the court systems, to access data relating to your court charges and transaction history to ensure that DocketBird is incurring charges as intended and to perform analytics on such data, and to otherwise automatically or manually debug and improve DocketBird for you and other DocketBird users.

When email notifications for federal cases are received by DocketBird, DocketBird will attempt to automatically download all documents referenced in each email notification. Although DocketBird may sometimes be able to use the "free look" feature to do so, that is often not possible, and in those cases you will incur PACER's typical per-page fee when we download such documents.

If you choose, you may provide us with your credit card information instead of your court credentials. When you do so, you authorize us to charge your credit card for accessing case information, in an amount equivalent to what the court would have charged you for accessing the same case information. You may also choose to have us automatically "reload" your account by re-charging your credit card when your balance is below a predetermined threshold. Such amounts charged to your credit card are non-refundable. If your DocketBird trial membership or paid membership expires, you will relinquish any remaining balance in your DocketBird account.

You are responsible for all fees changed to your court accounts as a result of DocketBird's use of your court login information. Mink LLC shall not be liable for any such fees, and if anyone brings a claim against Mink LLC related to such fees relating to your court accounts, you will indemnify and hold Mink LLC harmless from and against all damages, losses, and expenses of any kind (including reasonable legal fees and costs) related to such claim. You are responsible for checking your court transactions and charges on at least a weekly basis to ensure that they are in accordance with your expectations.

Connecting Court Accounts

You agree to not connect any other person's court account to your DocketBird account. Each DocketBird user may connect only his or her own court accounts to his or her DocketBird account. If DocketBird determines that you have connected multiple court accounts to any one DocketBird account, thereby circumventing our per-seat pricing, you will be liable for the per-seat charge that would have been due, and such liability shall be retroactive, beginning on the day that you connected the account(s) of any other person(s).

Public Records

You understand that all court records, other than sealed records, are public. When DocketBird users download a public document or docket sheet, it becomes part of DocketBird's repository, and DocketBird makes it available for viewing and searching to other DocketBird users and members of the public. If you are a current DocketBird user, you may request that records associated with your account be hidden from public view. DocketBird has no obligation to grant such a request. If DocketBird removes such records from public view, such removal will expire if you cancel your account or if this Agreement is terminated for any reason.

By making public records available to all DocketBird users, our users benefit collectively. To that end, you authorize DocketBird to use your court credentials to pull free Case Information for your cases, as well as for cases that are not yours. In exchange, DocketBird will, when possible, similarly use others' court credentials to pull free Case Information for your cases.

Sealed Documents and Court Credentials

We take the security of sealed documents very seriously. Sometimes lawyers inadvertently file sealed documents, and then electronic services like DocketBird download those documents and make them public before the error is caught. If that happens, please email us at support@docketbird.com, and we will ensure that any affected documents are properly protected.

You are solely responsible for following all court orders and policies regarding sealed documents, and regarding the sharing of your court login credentials. You are free to use DocketBird without sharing your login credentials. By sharing login credentials to us, you represent that such sharing does not violate any court order or policy.

If you belong to a company/law firm DocketBird account, you understand that other members of that same company/law firm account can access each others' documents, including restricted/sealed documents. You are responsible for following all applicable court orders, including protective orders, regarding such documents. If you would like DocketBird to implement an intra-firm wall to ensure that certain members of your company cannot access certain cases or documents, please contact us at support@docketbird.com.

Availability and Accuracy of Case Information

We will endeavor to ensure that all Case Information on DocketBird is up to date and accurate. We will also endeavor to ensure that DocketBird operates continually and in perpetuity. However, we make no guarantees regarding the accuracy or availability of Case Information on DocketBird. Nor do we guarantee that the Case Information on DocketBird will accurately reflect the information available from the court. We disclaim all responsibility for claims arising out of inaccuracies or unavailability of Case Information on DocketBird. DocketBird is not designed to replace filing notifications from the Court. Accordingly, you must still review all emails that you receive from the Court. You alone are responsible for ensuring that you stay abreast of filings in your cases, that you review those filings, and that you meet all court deadlines.

Accuracy of Completeness of Deadline and Event Extraction

At your election, DocketBird will attempt to extract calendar events and deadlines from some of your Case Information. DocketBird makes no guarantees regarding the accuracy, availability, or completeness of these events and deadlines. We disclaim all responsibility for claims arising out of inaccuracies, unavailability, or incompleteness of DocketBird's event and deadline information. DocketBird is not designed to replace human review of filing notifications from the Court and corresponding deadlines. Accordingly, you must still review all emails that you receive from the Court. You alone are responsible for ensuring that you stay abreast of events and deadlines in your cases, that you review those filings, and that you meet all court deadlines.

Accuracy of Full Text Search and Optical Character Recognition

DocketBird performs optical character recognition ("OCR") on certain types of Case Information. We make no guarantee regarding the accuracy of this OCR. Nor do we guarantee that OCR will be performed on all documents.

Cancellation and Free Trial

To cancel a subscription to DocketBird, simply visit our cancellation page, at https://www.docketbird.com/cancel, and enter your email address and the last four digits of the card you used to subscribe. If you sign up for a free trial and do not cancel before your trial expires, DocketBird will automatically subscribe you to the standard monthly plan and will charge you the standard monthly fee. No refunds will be issued for cancellations that occur after a monthly payment is due.

Plans, Pricing, Seats, and Case Overage

DocketBird's plan and pricing information is available on our pricing page.

When you subscribe to a DocketBird business plan, it includes a specified number of seats. A "seat" includes any individual at your company who has a DocketBird account, or who receives DocketBird email notifications. If you add more seats after you subscribe, we will upgrade your account to accomodate the new seats, and will charge your card accordingly.

Business plans include 20 active cases per seat per month. An "active case" is any case for which DocketBird has processed a new filing or checked for a new filing on your behalf, within the last 60 days. If, at the end of any month, your account exceeds 20 active cases per seat, you will be billed at the rate of 50 cents per additional case. To reduce the number of cases in your account, you may simply archive them using the Bird's Eye View tool.

If you subscribe to a particular plan, but use features that are designated on our pricing page for a higher-cost plan, we will automatically upgrade your plan to the least costly plan that includes all the features your account is using, and we will charge your card at the time of upgrade. If we upgrade your plan and you wish to return to the lower-cost plan, you may remove the additional features, and then contact us to request that we restore your plan to the lower-cost plan, effective at the next billing cycle.

Following Closed Cases

Generally, it is a waste of funds to follow a case that has been closed. However, you may want to follow a closed case if you believe there may be a motion to reopen or other motion filed in the case. If you configure your DocketBird account to follow a closed case -- or if you fail to stop following a case after it has been closed -- we will presume you have a good reason to do so. In no event will DocketBird be liable for any fees that you incur -- either from us or from the Court -- in following any case, including a closed case.

No Refunds

All payments are final and we are not obligated to provide refunds. No refunds will be given when our service is interrupted by courts' systems or decisions, or other circumstances outside our control. Although our practice is to issue refunds when our service does not meet expectations, that practice shall not be considered a waiver of our right to refuse refunds.

Prepaid Cards

Prepaid cards are not credit cards. Prepaid cards pose a special risk to our business and therefore are not eligible for free trials. Rather, we will charge prepaid cards immediately upon signing up, and $25/month thereafter, with no refunds available.

Removal of Cases and Documents

DocketBird provides many court materials to the public at no charge. DocketBird sometimes receives requests to remove those materials from public view. DocketBird provides individuals with means to request removal of court materials, at no charge. To make such a request, please visit our help page.

DocketBird does not accept payment to remove case materials from its website; such removals are always free. In addition, when your remove a case from DocketBird, DocketBird will send an HTTP 404 "Not Found" result to Google when it attempts to re-crawl your case materials on DocketBird. Accordingly, anyone can remove their case from DocketBird and Google for free.

Sometimes, however, individuals may request DocketBird to manually submit expedited removal requests to Google, to ensure that Google removes their cases on an expedited basis. These requests must be submitted manually, and DocketBird typically charges a fee for handling such requests. If you pay for the manual submission of expedited removal requests, DocketBird will endeavor to submit a removal request to Google within five busines days. The removal request will include only the url of the docket sheet for the case; it will not include urls for any case documents or other pages, unless you request that specifically by emailing us at help@docketbird.com, and providing us with a list of the urls that you would like to have removed on an expedited basis. Further, DocketBird will not subsequently check to ensure that Google actually removes the case from its index. It is your responsibility to periodically check Google to ensure that the case has been, and/or continues to be, removed from Google's index. If you see that your case remains on Google, simply email us at help@docketbird.com. We work closely with our customers to ensure that their cases are removed. In fact, if you pay a fee for Google removal, we guarantee that the case will eventually be removed from Google's index; if you are not satisfied after we have made repeated efforts to remove the case, we will provide you with a full refund upon written request.

Regardless of whether or not manual expedited Google removal is requested, DocketBird is under no obligation to grant removal requests. Even when DocketBird does grant such requests, the materials will still be fully accessible to persons with DocketBird accounts, including without limitation patrons of public libraries that have DocketBird accounts.

Disputes

We are committed to customer satisfaction, so if you have a problem or dispute, we will try to resolve your concerns. But if we are unsuccessful, you may pursue claims as explained in this section.

Any dispute or claim relating in any way to DocketBird, or to any products or services sold or distributed by Mink LLC or through docketbird.com will be resolved by binding arbitration, rather than in court, except that you may assert claims in small claims court if your claims qualify. The Federal Arbitration Act and federal arbitration law apply to this agreement.

There is no judge or jury in arbitration, and court review of an arbitration award is limited. However, an arbitrator can award on an individual basis the same damages and relief as a court (including injunctive and declaratory relief or statutory damages), and must follow the terms of these Conditions of Use as a court would.

To begin an arbitration proceeding, you must send a letter requesting arbitration and describing your claim to our registered agent, C T Corporation System, 701 South Carson Street, Suite 200, Carson City, Nevada 89701. The arbitration will be conducted by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its rules, including the AAA's Supplementary Procedures for Consumer-Related Disputes. The AAA's rules are available at www.adr.org or by calling 1-800-778-7879. Payment of all filing, administration and arbitrator fees will be governed by the AAA's rules. We will reimburse those fees for claims totaling less than $10,000 unless the arbitrator determines the claims are frivolous. Likewise, we will not seek attorneys' fees and costs in arbitration unless the arbitrator determines the claims are frivolous. You may choose to have the arbitration conducted by telephone, based on written submissions, or in person in the county where you live or at another mutually agreed location.

We each agree that any dispute resolution proceedings will be conducted only on an individual basis and not in a class, consolidated or representative action. If for any reason a claim proceeds in court rather than in arbitration, we each waive any right to a jury trial.

Applicable Law

By using DocketBird, or to any products or services sold or distributed by Mink LLC or through docketbird.com, you agree that the Federal Arbitration Act, applicable federal law, and the laws of the state of Nevada, without regard to principles of conflict of laws, will govern these Conditions of Use and any dispute of any sort that might arise between you and us.

Registration and Account Security

You will not provide any false personal information using DocketBird, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission.

If we disable your account, you will not create another one without our permission.

You will not use DocketBird if you are under 13.

You will not share your password, let anyone else access your account, or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account.

You will not transfer your account (including any page or application you administer) to anyone without first getting our written permission.

Chargebacks

If you wrongfully dispute a charge that we rightfully made to your credit card or debit card, and such dispute results in a chargeback, you agree that you will be liable for all costs and attorneys' fees associated with collecting the amount charged back, regardless of whether those fees and costs exceed the amount collected.

Amendments

We can change this Agreement at any time, if we provide you notice (by posting the new agreement on the DocketBird website). In order to give users an opportunity to comment regarding changes to the this Agreement, amendments will go into effect 3 days after they are posted to the website. To comment about a pending amendment, send an email to support@docketbird.com.

We can make amendments for legal or administrative reasons, or to correct an inaccurate statement, upon notice without opportunity to comment.

Termination

If you violate the letter or spirit of this Agreement, or otherwise create risk or possible legal exposure for us, we can stop providing all or part of DocketBird to you, without notification.

Indemnification

If anyone brings a claim against us related to your actions, content or information on DocketBird, you will indemnify and hold us harmless from and against all damages, losses, and expenses of any kind (including reasonable legal fees and costs) related to such claim.

Disclaimer of Warranties

WE TRY TO KEEP DOCKETBIRD UP, BUG-FREE, AND SAFE, BUT YOU USE DOCKETBIRD AT YOUR OWN RISK. WE ARE PROVIDING DOCKETBIRD AS IS WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT DOCKETBIRD WILL BE SAFE OR SECURE. MINK LLC IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ACTIONS, CONTENT, INFORMATION, OR DATA OF THIRD PARTIES, AND YOU RELEASE US, OUR DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS FROM ANY CLAIMS AND DAMAGES, KNOWN AND UNKNOWN, ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH ANY CLAIM YOU HAVE AGAINST ANY SUCH THIRD PARTIES. IF YOU ARE A CALIFORNIA RESIDENT, YOU WAIVE CALIFORNIA CIVIL CODE §1542, WHICH SAYS: A GENERAL RELEASE DOES NOT EXTEND TO CLAIMS WHICH THE CREDITOR DOES NOT KNOW OR SUSPECT TO EXIST IN HIS FAVOR AT THE TIME OF EXECUTING THE RELEASE, WHICH IF KNOWN BY HIM MUST HAVE MATERIALLY AFFECTED HIS SETTLEMENT WITH THE DEBTOR. WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY LOST PROFITS OR OTHER CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT OR DOCKETBIRD, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. OUR AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF THIS AGREEMENT OR DOCKETBIRD WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100) OR THE AMOUNT YOU HAVE PAID US IN THE PAST TWELVE MONTHS. APPLICABLE LAW MAY NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY OR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IN SUCH CASES, MINK LLC's LIABILITY WILL BE LIMITED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

Other

This Agreement makes up the entire agreement between the parties regarding DocketBird, and supersedes any prior agreements.

If any portion of this Agreement is found to be unenforceable, the remaining portion will remain in full force and effect.

If we fail to enforce any of this Agreement, it will not be considered a waiver.

Any amendment to or waiver of this Agreement must be made in writing and signed by us, unless the Agreement is amended by us when we post an amended version to the DocketBird website.

You will not transfer any of your rights or obligations under this Agreement to anyone else without our consent.

All of our rights and obligations under this Agreement are freely assignable by us in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, or by operation of law or otherwise.

Nothing in this Agreement shall prevent us from complying with the law.

This Agreement does not confer any third party beneficiary rights.

You will comply with all applicable laws, and court rules and policies, when using or accessing DocketBird.