Fair Use & Publication Policy

1. Public Records Are Not Copyrighted

Under 17 U.S.C. § 105 and settled case law, works of the United States Government, including federal court dockets, orders, and judgments, are not subject to copyright protection. The bankruptcy court filings, orders, and docket entries reproduced or excerpted on this Site are public records filed with and entered by a federal court, and the United States Department of Agriculture materials referenced are federal agency records. Reproducing and quoting these records does not implicate copyright.

2. Quotations From Testimony and Filings

Where this Site quotes sworn testimony or language from a party's own court filing, the quotation is reproduced for the purpose of accurate reporting on a matter of public record, is limited to the portion necessary to support the factual statement being made, is clearly set off as a quotation with its source cited, and does not substitute for or supplant the underlying document, which remains available in full through the court's own records (PACER) or, where linked, directly on this Site.

3. Fair Use Analysis for Reproduced Materials

To the extent any reproduced excerpt could be viewed as implicating a third party's rights, its use on this Site is a fair use under 17 U.S.C. § 107, for the following reasons:

• Purpose and character of use: non-commercial, public-interest news commentary and factual reporting on litigation and enforcement records affecting numerous creditors and the public.
• Nature of the work: the underlying materials are factual, procedural, and governmental in character, at the core of matters the public has a strong interest in reviewing.
• Amount and substantiality: excerpts are limited to what is reasonably necessary to substantiate the specific factual statement being made, not the whole of any underlying document, and full documents are linked or embedded so a reader can review complete context.
• Effect on market: public court and agency records have no commercial market for the excerpted material, and reproduction on this Site does not displace or substitute for any commercial use of the source material.

4. Photographs

Photographs used in the Photographs / Identification section are used solely for the limited, non-commercial purpose of public identification in connection with the public-record account described on this Site, consistent with the public interest in identifying the individual whose litigation and enforcement history is documented here.

5. Notice and Takedown Procedure

If you are a rights holder and believe material on this Site infringes your copyright or exceeds fair use, submit a written notice through the Corrections & Responses form that includes:

• Identification of the specific material you claim is infringing, including its location on the Site (page section and, where applicable, the document or image file name);
• Identification of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed, and evidence of your ownership or authority to act on the owner's behalf;
• Your name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address;
• A statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
• A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the owner's behalf.

A notice that does not reasonably identify the material and the basis for the claim may not be actionable. Upon receipt of a complete notice, the Site's publisher will review it in good faith and respond within a reasonable time, which may include removing or restricting the identified material, restoring it if a counter-notice establishes the use was proper, or declining the request where the publisher determines the use is lawful (for example, because the material is a public record not subject to copyright, or its use is a fair use as described above). Submitting a takedown request does not guarantee removal.

6. Right of Reply

The subject of this Site's account, and any person or entity named in it, may submit a statement for publication in response to the record described here. See the Right of Reply section of the Editorial Disclaimer for how to do so.

7. No Warranty of Non-Infringement

This policy states the Site publisher's good-faith basis for publication. It is not a guarantee against any claim, and it is not legal advice to any reader.