Closed johnhawkinson closed 5 years ago
This is a great summary, thank you.
In Del Gallo v. Walsh (3:17-cv-30167), a case in Mass., @johnhawkinson has discovered that it has two documents numbered 41. Another reason to get this done.
We're now collecting the de_seqno
values and putting them in the DB. CLOSING (but reopen if needed).
CMECF docket entries have several attributes. They include a Case ID, Docket Entry Number, DLS/doc1 number, and a sequence number (variously known as
de_seqno
orde_seq_num
).The
de_seqno
is a monotonically increasing number that appears to reflect the true ordering of both publicly visible and non-publicly visible events. It is available from parsing thegoDLS()
function in the Javascript of the docket report, as well as in URLs from RSS feeds and NEFs.Tracking
de_seqno
is important to being able to handle docket entry number-less events (such as so-called "minute orders" that lack at attached document; note that some minute orders in some districts have docket entry numbers, but others in other districts do not). There's a strong desire to support such numberless entries expressed in #54 (duped in #219). I also talked about it in https://github.com/freelawproject/courtlistener/issues/772 where I noted that documents can be backdated and there's a desire to be able to display the true ordering, just as CMECF does.Fundamentally, no database tracking CMECF is complete without also tracking
de_seqno
, since it's part of the data model.Mike and I discussed this extensively between Nov. 2017 and Jan. 2018, but I failed to memorialize those discussions in an Issue. This is such an attempt.
Note that right now we have partial support for minute orders that do carry docket numbers (but not documents). We parse them in the docket report, so we see them, e.g., in https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/6296809/26/calderon-jimenez-v-cronen/ where docket 26 is
ELECTRONIC NOTICE of Hearing.Hearing set for 5/8/2018 10:00 AM, and continuing day to day, if necessary, in Courtroom 10 before Judge Mark L. Wolf. See Order 25 Associated Cases: 1:18-cv-10225-MLW, 1:18-cv-10307-MLW, 1:18-cv-10310-MLW(Bono, Christine) (Entered: 04/05/2018)
(note that "ELECTRONIC NOTICE" is code for "no attached document.).But we don't parse them in the RSS scraper, so, e.g,
Appears in today's XML, and it happens to be docket entry 61, but that's not available from the XML (because there's nothing to link to):
This is what the NEF looks like:
The bankruptcy (bulk) data dictionary, https://www.pacer.gov/documents/bulk_data.pdf, does define the
de_seqno
field:Unfortunately, we don't have
de_seqno
for all history, we would only have it after we start saving it. So in order to use it usefully for ordering, reporting, linking documents, we would need to fake-it-up from past history. That implies modifying the schema to add both ade_seqno
as well asrecap_sequence_number
, where the RSN is thede_seqno
where we have it, and something made-up that fits the numberspace (possibly using fixed point decimals to avoid later collisions) where we lack it.Sorry if this sounds somewhat incoherent. That's what happens when you try to summarize a months-old IM conversation quickly.