NATIONAL VETERANS LEGAL SERVICES PROGRAM et al v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Filing 52

MOTION for Summary Judgment as to Liability by ALLIANCE FOR JUSTICE, NATIONAL CONSUMER LAW CENTER, NATIONAL VETERANS LEGAL SERVICES PROGRAM (Attachments: #1 Declaration Declaration of Jonathan Taylor, #2 Exhibit Exhibit A, #3 Exhibit Exhibit B, #4 Exhibit Exhibit C, #5 Exhibit Exhibit D, #6 Exhibit Exhibit E, #7 Exhibit Exhibit F, #8 Exhibit Exhibit G, #9 Exhibit Exhibit H, #10 Exhibit Exhibit I, #11 Exhibit Exhibit J, #12 Exhibit Exhibit K, #13 Exhibit Exhibit L, #14 Exhibit Exhibit M, #15 Declaration Declaration of Thomas Lee and Michael Lissner, #16 Statement of Facts Plaintiffs' Statement of Undisputed Material Facts)(Gupta, Deepak)

Case 1:16-cv-00745-ESH Document 52-1 Filed 08/28/17 Page 1 of 4

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
NATIONAL VETERANS LEGAL
SERVICES PROGRAM, NATIONAL
CONSUMER LAW CENTER, and
ALLIANCE FOR JUSTICE, for themselves
and all others similarly situated,
Plaintiffs,

Case No. 16-745-ESH

v.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Defendant.
DECLARATION OF JONATHAN E. TAYLOR
I, Jonathan E. Taylor, declare as follows:
1.

I am a principal at Gupta Wessler PLLC and am one of the lead attorneys

for the plaintiffs.
2.

Attached as Exhibit A is a true and correct copy of the Electronic Public

Access fee schedule, effective December 1, 2013. I obtained the schedule from PACER’s
website: https://www.pacer.gov/documents/epa_feesched.pdf.
3.

Attached as Exhibit B is an authentic copy of the Administrative Office of

the United States Courts’ discussion draft on Electronic Case Files (ECF), dated March
1997. It describes the goals, issues, and action plan for implementing an ECF system,
including the “cost savings and efficiencies” such a system would generate for “people
who use the courts.” I obtained this document from the National Technical Reports
Library of the Department of Commerce: https://ntrl.ntis.gov/NTRL/dashboard/
searchResults/titleDetail/PB99151243.xhtml

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Case 1:16-cv-00745-ESH Document 52-1 Filed 08/28/17 Page 2 of 4

4.

Attached as Exhibit C is an authentic copy of the chronology of the EPA

program from 1989 to 2004. I obtained this document from PACER’s website:
https://www.pacer.gov/documents/epachron.pdf.
5.

Attached as Exhibit D is a true and correct extract from the Committee of

Governmental Affairs Report on S. 803, now known as the E-Government Act of 2002.
The extract describes the purpose and summary of the Act. I obtained the report from
https://www.congress.gov/107/crpt/srpt174/CRPT-107srpt174.pdf.
6.

Attached as Exhibit E is a true and correct copy of the Administrative

Office’s memorandum to chief justices and clerks, dated October 21, 2004, notifying
them of an EPA fee increase from seven cents per page to eight cents per page, effective
January 1, 2005. I obtained this memorandum from the website of the District Court of
Massachusetts: http://www.mad.uscourts.gov/general/pdf/a2004/EPAfees.pdf.
7.

Attached as Exhibit F is an authentic copy of the FY 2006 annual report

for the Judiciary Information Technology Fund, which receives fee collections from the
EPA program. I obtained this report from Public.Resource.org: https://public.resource.
org/jitf_annual_report_2006.pdf.
8.

Attached as Exhibit G is a true and correct copy of a letter from Senator

Lieberman to Senators Richard Durbin and Susan Collins, dated March 25, 2010,
expressing “concerns about how the Administrative Office of the Courts is interpreting a
key provision of the E-Government Act relating to public access to Court records.” I
obtained the letter from the website of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security
& Governmental Affairs: http://1.usa.gov/1NQ6u0v.
9.

Attached as Exhibit H is a true and correct copy of a letter from Senator

Joseph Lieberman to Judge Lee Rosenthal, dated February 27, 2009, in which Senator
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Case 1:16-cv-00745-ESH Document 52-1 Filed 08/28/17 Page 3 of 4

Lieberman asks whether the PACER system—which generates revenue that is “well
higher than the cost of dissemination”—complies with the E-Government Act of 2002. I
obtained the letter from Public.Resource.org: https://public.resource.org/scribd/
13252410.pdf.
10.

Attached as Exhibit I is a true and correct copy of Judge Rosenthal and

Director James C. Duff’s joint response to Senator Lieberman, dated March 26, 2009, in
which Director Duff “assure[s] [him] that the Judiciary is charging PACER fees only to
the

extent

necessary.”

I

obtained

the

letter

from

Public.Resource.org:

https://public.resource.org/scribd/13838758.pdf.
11.

Attached as Exhibit J is an authentic copy of an EPA program summary

from the Administrative Office, dated December 2012, in which it describes and justifies
PACER fees. I obtained this document from PACER's website: https://www.pacer.gov/
documents/epasum2012.pdf.
12.

Attached as Exhibit K is a true and correct copy of a table from the

Judiciary’s FY 2014 Budget Summary, in which the utilization of EPA receipts is
provided. This table is located on page 538 of Part 2: FY 2014 Budget Justifications, Financial
Services and General Government Appropriations for 2014, Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the House
Committee on Appropriations, 113th Cong. (2013), https://perma.cc/7WAC-6SQU.
13.

Attached as Exhibit L is an authentic copy of the summary of resources of

a FY 2010 quarterly report from the Public Access and Records Management Division.
This document was provided to me by counsel for the defendant.
14.

Attached as Exhibit M is the defendant’s response to the plaintiffs’ first set

of interrogatories in the district court. This document was provided to me by counsel for
the defendant.
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Case 1:16-cv-00745-ESH Document 52-1 Filed 08/28/17 Page 4 of 4

I declare under penalty of perjury, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, that the
foregoing is true and correct.
Executed on August 28, 2017.

/s/ Jonathan E. Taylor
_____________________________
Jonathan E. Taylor

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