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Requesting Copies, Files and Records

Copy Requests

In order for the Clerk's Office to expeditiously process your request for copies, please e-mail your request to copyrequest@kywd.uscourts.gov. Please include the case number, the caption of the case, and be specific as to the document(s) needed. It is extremely helpful if you know the docket entry of each document requested. Also, please include your name, address, and telephone number or your firm name, address, and telephone number of your law firm. Requests for copies are processed in the order received. The goal is to process all requests as soon as possible. Although every effort will be made to process your request promptly, there may be occasions when delays may occur because the file is not available, or the file is in the Federal Records Center, or the request is for an entire voluminous file. The charge for copies is $0.10 per page if the document is in electronic format and $0.50 per page if the document is in paper. If certification of the document is required, an additional charge of $12.00 will apply. You will be notified and given the total cost of the copies. Prepayment is required for copy requests. If you prefer those copies, be mailed, please provide a self-addressed, postage-paid envelope or the appropriate mailing container and account number for express delivery. Copies will be made available for pickup at the intake window of the Clerk's Office. If a case is electronically filed, copies may also be obtained from PACER.

 

Clerk’s Office Files

To view a case file (in paper format) that is maintained in our offices, please go the division were the file is kept between the hours of 8:30 am to 4:00 pm.

To view a case file that is in electronic format (CM/ECF) please visit the Pacer website.

We recently scanned the old case index cards and placed those files in CM/ECF. To view these documents please visit the Pacer website. The documents can be found in these two cases.

3:23-mc-22201 – Civil/Criminal Index Cards 1970-1981

3:23-mc-22205 – Criminal Cases prior to 1981

 3:23-mc-22206 - Closed Civil Docket Sheets 1951 through 1992.

 

Federal Records Center – Files in Archives

National Archives and Records Administration (FRC)

https://www.archives.gov/research/court-records/archives.html

The National Archives and Records Administration operates a system of Federal Records Centers (FRCs) for the economical storage of and services on noncurrent records for federal agencies, pending their deposit in the National Archives of the United States or other disposition authorized by law. Noncurrent records are defined as records that are no longer required in the conduct of current agency business. This government-wide program is authorized by 44 USC §§2907 and 3103. NARA has three divisions: Presidential Libraries, the Archives, and Record Centers.

The FRC handles modern, temporary records from government agencies. Their primary job is storing and providing reference to records for government agencies. The FRC holds records but does not own them. The records are still the property of the agency that sent them. The FRC – Atlanta provides services to federal agencies and U.S. Courts in this region. The Atlanta region consists of the following states: Serving Federal agencies in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The Clerk's Office generally send case files to the Federal Records Center (FRC) in Atlanta, GA, after they have been closed for at five years. To determine if a file is at the FRC or still in one of the Clerk's Offices in the Western District of Kentucky, please call our offices at (502) 625-3500.

To request documents from a file that has been shipped to the FRC, directly from the FRC, click on this link and follow the instructions on the FRC website. The docket sheet and entire case file of civil and criminal cases can be requested. Preselected criminal documents (judgment, commitment or probation/commitment order or sentence, and indictment) can also be requested. The FRC can be contacted at 770-968-2100 or at 404-736-2902, or fax the FRC at 404-736-2931 or email them at atlanta.archives@nara.gov Note you will first need to the case file location, contact the Clerk’s Office to obtain FRC case data information.

If it has been determined that the file has been transferred to the Archives, the file can no longer be recalled, and the requestor must deal directly with the Archives.  Archives can be contacted at 1-86-NARA-NARA or  (1-866-272-6272).

 

Requesting documents from the Clerk’s Office

To view a case file that has been shipped to the FRC, the file will need to be recalled and sent to a Clerk's Office in Louisville. There is a $64.00 retrieval fee for the first box and a $39.00 fee for each additional box. Send a request to the Clerk's Office requesting that the file be retrieved from the FRC along with the fee payable to Clerk, U. S. District Court. Upon receipt of the fee, the file will be ordered, and the Clerk's Office will contact you when the file arrives at our office.

As an alternative having boxes of records shipped from the FRC to the Court, a service offered by NARA, known as "SmartScan", allows members of the public to request same-day electronic delivery of a limited number of scanned judiciary pages (100 page maximum). These requests must be made through the Clerk's Office. To have a document scanned to a Clerk's Office, mail or fax a request to the Clerk's Office requesting that the document be SmartScanned from the FRC. There is a SmartScan fee of $10.00, a fee to pull and re-file records of $9.90 and an additional FRC per page fee of $0.65. The Clerk’s Office will contact you with the final total for your request. Upon receipt of the fee, the document will be sent to you. SmartScan eliminates shipping costs, reduces clerk's office staff time required to receive, duplicate, and distribute relevant documents, and is ideal for small or urgent requests.

 

Requesting an Apostille for a document located at National Archives

In order to apostille your documents, you will need to request a certified copy from National Archives. Once certified, you will mail the certified document to the Washington DC apostille office to obtain the apostille. Please contact National Archives at (866) 406-2379 or atlanta.archives@nara.gov.

For additional information see https://www.apostilleservices.com/national-archives/.