Viewing Information

Topic Updated: April 2017

Once you have clicked on a case number's blue link (see Case Search for more information), several sections appear on the Case View screen.

Click a link to jump to a topic below.

Case Information

Case Information

Search Results Field	Description
Case Number	Displays the appellate case number and provides a link to the Case View. If this is a consolidated case, P-MACS shows "(con)" at the end of the case number. View other cases in the consolidation by looking under the Consolidated field.
Jurisdiction	Shows the case jurisdiction (supreme court or court of appeals). Note: For cases that are, or were, in both courts, on some screens it will be necessary to select the proper jurisdiction to display the parties as they appeared in each court. The court of appeals is the default selection. To switch to the supreme court, select from the drop-down list, then click "Switch."
Status	Shows whether the case is Open, Closed, PFR (Petition for Further Review), etc.
Filing Date	Shows the case's filing date.
Hearing Type	Indicates the scheduling track the case is currently assigned to: Oral, Nonoral, or Special Term track.
ORCA	Indicates the Originating Court or Agency whose decision was appealed. If the appeal involved one or multiple trial courts, this information will appear in the ORCA field.
Classification	Shows the case's group, type, and sub type.
Short Title	Shows the short title used on some P-MACS pages. This does not reflect the complete title, especially in consolidated cases.
Full Title	Shows the full title assigned after the case reached the appellate court. To view the full title in a consolidated case, refer to Consolidated Cases.
Summary	May include additional information about the case. For example, if it is related to but not consolidated with another case, that information may appear here.
Citation	If there has been a published court of appeals opinion, the citation for the North Western Reporter will be provided.
Parent	If the case is consolidated, then the parent case of the consolidation (the case designated as the lead case), will appear here. The parent case is usually the case with the lowest case number.
Consolidated	If the case has been consolidated, additional consolidation file numbers are listed here, indicated by the on the right side of the Case Information header.
Expedited	If the case has been expedited by order or court rule, the hour glass icon will appear. The hour glass expedited icon does not necessarily mean the case has been expedited from day one of filing, it may have occurred at some other point in the process.

Search Results Tips

If you don't see a case you were expecting, look up this issue under Frequently Asked Questions.
If results exceed one page, click the Next or Previous link at the top or bottom of the list to continue viewing results.
To sort based on any column's entries, click an arrow in the column header. Click the other arrow to toggle between ascending and descending information.

Party Information

Click Display Party Information to toggle between Display Party Information / Hide Party Information.

Notes:

For cases that are, or were, in both courts (i.e., original appeal to the court of appeals followed by a petition for review in the supreme court), on some screens it may be necessary to select the proper jurisdiction to display the parties as they appeared in each court.

The court of appeals is the default selection. To switch to supreme court, select from the drop-down list, then click "Switch."

Search Results Field	Description
MACS ID	Displays the unique lookup ID in Minnesota Appellate Courts' Case Management System (MACS). If this is a merged record, the MACS ID of the active primary record is always updated and displayed in this field.
Appellate Role	Indicates the party's role in the case.
Party Name	Displays the name visible on the public view. If the party has a sealed name, the pseudonym is displayed here.
Attorney(s)	Indicates the name of the current primary attorney(s) or Pro Se.

PFR Information

A PFR (Petition for Further Review) is a request for the supreme court to review a decision that has been issued by the court of appeals.

Search Results Field	Description
Short Title	Shows the short title from the court of appeals, identifying the PFR petitioner(s). (If the PFR is subsequently granted, the short title will change to reflect the Appellant in the supreme court case.)
Sealed	If the case is sealed because it contains non-public information, it will be indicated by the padlock icon ().
Hearing Type	Indicates the type of hearing that was requested. For a PFR that has not yet been decided, the hearing type is Special Term.
Status	Indicates the status of the PFR.
Filing Date	Indicates the date the document was filed with the court.
Parent	If the case is consolidated, then the parent case of the consolidation (the case designated as the lead case), will appear here. The parent case is usually the case with the lowest case number.
Consolidated	If the case has been consolidated, additional consolidation file numbers are listed here, indicated by the on the right side of PFR Information.

ORCA Information

ORCA (the Originating Court or Agency) view identifies the trial court or agency from which the appeal is taken.

Click the ORCA Info link on the left toolbar to view the information. Click the Case View link to return to the Case View page.

Search Results Field	Description
Appeal From	Indicates whether the case arose from an appeal of a decision made by: an agency, a trial court, the tax court, or the Workers' Compensation Court of Appeals (WCCA).
Other	If insufficient information is supplied in the remaining fields, this field may be used for the originating court or agency.
Court/Agency	The trial court or agency from which the appeal is taken.
Orig. Case Number	This is the trial court or original case number. If there are multiple trial court numbers, they will be listed here.
Orig. Case Title	The trial court case title as it appears on the decision being appealed.
Related Case Number(s)	This field may identify file numbers for related district court or agency cases.
Decisionmaker(s)	Most often, this field indicates the judge whose decision is the subject of the appeal.

Consolidated Cases

Case Consolidation indicates that there were previously individual cases that have been consolidated. Once the cases have been consolidated, docket entries will appear on all the consolidated cases.

Note: If the case has been consolidated, additional consolidation file numbers are listed here, indicated by the icon on the right side of the Case Information header.

To search for a consolidated case:

Search for a case through Case Search or Participant Search.
Select the case number's blue link in the Parent field. The Parent Case Information appears.
Click one of the blue case number links in the Consolidated field. The individual Consolidated Case Information appears.

Things to remember about P-MACS consolidated cases and single cases:

Consolidated case titles will be created and those titles may differ from the previous individual case titles.
When consolidated cases are created, one case becomes the "parent" case and all the remaining cases become "child" cases.
The status of the parent case becomes the status of the consolidated case.
Each consolidated case will still reflect the participants and attorneys related to that particular case. For specific information, check the party information of each individual case.

Docket Information

The docket entries for a case are the list of events that have been recorded in P-MACS.

Select one of the two ways to view the Docket Information:

Chronological: Shows the time-based, strict sequence in which events occurred, by date.
Threaded: Shows parties' and the court's responses related to one another's actions.

Click Go!
Click the blue link (e.g., Memorandum above) or PDF icon for attached documents.
A view-only document will appear. You may first receive a pop-up message, asking if you want to open or save the file.
When you have finished viewing the document, click Back on your browser.

Icons and Notes:

Icon descriptions in the PDF column, as shown above:

A PDF icon () displays for certain documents that are remotely (i.e., Internet) accessible via P-MACS and Courthouse View documents. Available documents you can select and open will appear in a pop-up label. If you attempt to open the PDF via the P-MACS website, you will receive a pop-up message indicating that the document is "Not Viewable Remotely." Some appellate filings, including appellate briefs, are publicly available, but not remotely available. Courthouse View documents may be viewed only at a public access terminal at any Minnesota state courthouse or the State Law Library in St. Paul.
A padlock icon () displays for documents that are not publicly accessible because they contain confidential information. A "Document Sealed - No Access" message will display in red. Documents in this category are not available remotely or at a Courthouse View terminal. Only parties to the appeal have access to these documents. A padlock icon does not necessarily indicate that nothing within the PDF column is available to view; rather, the icon indicates that something attached to this document is not publicly accessible (see example image above). Records transmitted by executive branch agencies are also marked with the padlock icon. These records may be publicly available directly from the agency. Please contact the specific agency for more information.

All documents filed in appellate cases initiated on or after January 1, 2014 have been imaged. Some documents in appellate cases filed prior to January 1, 2014 have been imaged. If an imaged document is classified as publicly and remotely available, a PDF image of the document is available to be viewed on the P-MACS website.

Search Results Field	Description
Document Description	Gives a summary of the document, including the party designation (and name if required for clarity), and the attorney who signed and filed the document. Example: "Brief - Respondent 3M"
Jurisdiction	Indicates the court of appeals or supreme court instance of the case.
Filing Date	Indicates the date the document was filed with the court.
Docket Entry Type	Indicates the specific type of docket entry that was made.
Filing Type	Indicates the type of filing for the case.
Status	Indicates the status of the case: Open, Closed, PFR (Petition for Further Review), etc.
Thread to	Indicates that this current docket entry is related to the indicated entry or entries. Example: A docket entry for "Response - Motion" will be threaded to the specific motion or motions docket entry addressed in that response.
Docket Entry Date	Indicates the date that the docket entry was made.

Viewing Information

Search Results Tips

Party Information

Click Display Party Information to toggle between Display Party Information / Hide Party Information.

Notes:

For cases that are, or were, in both courts (i.e., original appeal to the court of appeals followed by a petition for review in the supreme court), on some screens it may be necessary to select the proper jurisdiction to display the parties as they appeared in each court.

The court of appeals is the default selection. To switch to supreme court, select from the drop-down list, then click "Switch."

To search for a consolidated case:

Things to remember about P-MACS consolidated cases and single cases: