Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial ProcedureRelease 119-102
§481 Automated Case Information
Title 28 › PART I — ORGANIZATION OF COURTS › CHAPTER 23 — CIVIL JUSTICE EXPENSE AND DELAY REDUCTION PLANS › § 481
Summary
The Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts must make sure every federal district court can quickly get case status information from an automated system. The Director must also decide what case data to keep and create uniform labels for court actions — including a clear meaning of "dismissal" and rules for how long a motion is counted as pending — and each district court must record information following those rules.
Full Legal Text
Title 28, §481
Judiciary and Judicial Procedure, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)The Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts shall ensure that each United States district court has the automated capability readily to retrieve information about the status of each case in such court.
(b)(1)In carrying out subsection (a), the Director shall prescribe—
(A)the information to be recorded in district court automated systems; and
(B)standards for uniform categorization or characterization of judicial actions for the purpose of recording information on judicial actions in the district court automated systems.
(2)The uniform standards prescribed under paragraph (1)(B) of this subsection shall include a definition of what constitutes a dismissal of a case and standards for measuring the period for which a motion has been pending.
(c)Each United States district court shall record information as prescribed pursuant to subsection (b) of this section.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
28 U.S.C. § 481
Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102