Parties

In a lawsuit, a party is a person or entity that takes part in the lawsuit.

Plaintiffs

A plaintiff is someone on the side that brings the lawsuit. For Clearinghouse cases that don't fit the typical adversarial lawsuit model (e.g. settlements), the plaintiff is the person or entity that initiated the action (e.g. the person who initiated settlement negotiations).

plaintiff_description

(string)

A description of the people or entities that brought the lawsuit. We generally avoid including names of individuals (e.g. "an incarcerated person"), but we do sometimes include organization names (e.g. "U.S. Department of Justice").

If the plaintiffs sought a class action (see class_action_sought), then plaintiff_description is typically the class definition (abridged if necessary).

pro_se_status

(string)

Whether the case had a plaintiff that was pro se. A plaintiff without a lawyer is known as a pro se plaintiff.

Value	Description
null	This field has not been set yet. This is likely because the case's metadata is not complete – see case_status.
Yes	The plaintiff was pro se, i.e. without a lawyer.
No	The plaintiff was not pro se, i.e. represented by a lawyer.
Unknown	We don't know if the plaintiff was represented by a lawyer.

public_interest_lawyer

(string)

Whether any lawyer representing one of the parties is a public interest lawyer. "Public interest" encompasses many things, and is generally thought to concern the protection of individual rights, advancement of justice, and improvements for the good of the general public. Government lawyers count if the government is the plaintiff, but not if the government is the defendant.

Value	Description
null	This field has not been set yet. This is likely because the case's metadata is not complete – see case_status.
Yes	At least one lawyer representing one of the parties is a public interest lawyer.
No	No lawyer representing a party is a public interest lawyer.
Unknown	We don't know if the lawyers are public interest lawyers.

If there are any organizations in the attorney_orgs array, then public_interest_lawyer will be "Yes".

attorney_orgs

(array[string])

Organizations that represent the plaintiff. The possible organizations for attorney_orgs come from a predefined list of public interest organizations.

For a full list, including a description and link for each organization, see the Clearinghouse page on attorney organizations.

class_action_sought

(string)

Whether a party sought a class action lawsuit. A class action is a type of lawsuit where one or more plaintiffs can sue on behalf of a larger group, known as a "class." As part of a class action, the plaintiffs must ask the court to "certify" a class. In rare cases, this may apply to defendants; that is, the court may certify a class for the defendants.

Value	Description
null	This field has not been set yet. This is likely because the case's metadata is not complete – see case_status.
Yes	The plaintiffs sought a class action.
No	The plaintiffs did not seek a class action.
Unknown	We don't know if the plaintiffs sought a class action.

class_action_granted

(string)

Whether the court granted the class action. For more information on class actions, see class_action_sought.

Value	Description
null	This field has not been set yet. This is likely because the case's metadata is not complete – see case_status.
Granted	The court granted the class action. This includes certifying the class for litigation and for just settlement.
Denied	The court denied the class action, and so no class was certified.
Pending	The plaintiffs sought a class action, but the court has not ruled on it (yet).
Withdrawn	The plaintiffs sought a class action, but they withdrew the motion before the court ruled on it.
Mooted before ruling	The plaintiffs sought a class action, but before the court could rule on it, something happened so as to render that decision irrelevant.
Not sought	The plaintiffs did not seek a class action.
Unknown	We don't know if the court granted a class action.

Defendants

A defendant is someone who is sued in a lawsuit. For Clearinghouse cases that don't fit the typical adversarial lawsuit model (e.g. settlements), the defendant is the person or entity who the action is brought against. The defendant is typically someone whose behavior the plaintiffs seek to change.

case_defendants

(array[object])

An array of Defendant objects. See Defendant.