# US Federal Civil Cases API – 10.9M District Court Cases Since 1988

Search every civil case filed in US district courts since 1988 by party, nature of suit, district, dates and outcome, from the Federal Judicial Center's Integrated Database.

$0.80 per 1,000 cases

[Get an API key](https://pushbuild.com/apis/app/signup?api=federal-civil-cases)

Example request

```
POST /federal-civil-cases/run
{
  "party": "Tesla",
  "maxItems": 20
}
```

## What it returns

Search 10.9 million civil cases filed in the 94 US district courts since 1988, from the Federal Judicial Center's Integrated Database: who sued whom, over what, where, when it ended and how.

Filter by party name (plaintiff, defendant or either), nature of suit (code or words: patent, securities, antitrust, product liability, ERISA, civil rights and about 100 more), district, docket number, multidistrict litigation docket, class actions, pending cases, disposition, and filing or termination dates.

Each case has the district, circuit, office and docket, filing date, origin (original, removed from state court, transferred, MDL), jurisdiction basis, nature of suit, class action flag, jury demand, amount demanded (in thousands, as reported), first plaintiff and first defendant, county, MDL docket, termination date, disposition (settled, dismissed, jury verdict and so on), nature of judgment, who judgment favored, trial dates and pro se status.

Source: the Federal Judicial Center Integrated Database, civil file for statistical year 1988 onward, rebuilt each quarter when the FJC updates it (current file through June 2026). Only the first-listed plaintiff and defendant appear, as the courts report them. Amounts demanded and received are not reported uniformly by courts. This is a statistical database, not the docket itself: for filings and documents use the court's own PACER record.

Charged per case returned.

## Request

`POST https://api.pushbuild.com/federal-civil-cases/run` with a JSON body. Send your key in the `X-API-Key` header.

| Field | Type | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `party` | string | Part of a plaintiff's or defendant's name, e.g. Tesla. |
| `plaintiff` | string | Part of the first plaintiff's name. |
| `defendant` | string | Part of the first defendant's name. |
| `natureOfSuitCodes` | list of strings | Three-digit codes, e.g. 830 patent, 850 securities, 410 antitrust, 365 product liability. |
| `natureOfSuit` | string | Words in the nature of suit, e.g. patent, ERISA, civil rights. |
| `districts` | list of strings | District names or their start, e.g. New York Southern, Texas, Delaware. |
| `docket` | string | Seven digits: two-digit year and five-digit number, e.g. 2509546. |
| `mdlDocket` | string | Multidistrict litigation docket number. |
| `classActionOnly` | boolean | Only cases filed as class actions. |
| `pendingOnly` | boolean | Only cases not yet terminated at the last extract. |
| `disposition` | string | Words in the disposition, e.g. settled, jury verdict, default. |
| `filedFrom` | string | YYYY-MM-DD. |
| `filedTo` | string | YYYY-MM-DD. |
| `terminatedFrom` | string | YYYY-MM-DD. |
| `terminatedTo` | string | YYYY-MM-DD. |
| `maxItems` | integer | Maximum items to return (1-500). Default: `100`. |

### Example

```
curl -X POST https://api.pushbuild.com/federal-civil-cases/run \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"party": "Tesla", "maxItems": 20}'
```

### Response

```
{"count": 20, "truncated": false, "seconds": 1.4, "items": [ { ... } ]}
```

Each call returns up to 500 items. Records that fail validation or are not found are flagged in the items and not charged.

## Pricing

Pay only for results returned: $0.80 per 1,000 cases. No charge for errors or empty searches.

## Use it from Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor

This API is also an MCP server: `https://api.pushbuild.com/mcp/federal-civil-cases`. Add it to any assistant that supports remote MCP servers, with your key in the `X-API-Key` header. Same prices. [Setup for each app](https://pushbuild.com/apis/mcp.html).

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## Tell us what you need built.

Questions about this API, higher volumes, or a data source you need that we don't cover yet.

[hello@pushbuild.com](mailto:hello@pushbuild.com?subject=API%20question)

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---
As of 2026-11-05. Source: https://pushbuild.com/apis/federal-civil-cases.html