Searching Tips and Tricks

General Jurisdiction, Vaccines, Attached PDF's (Opinions and Decisions) and all content posted to the US Court of Federal Claims Website are searchable. (Click on the links to search the specific content.)

Tips on searching Opinions/Decisions

1. The searchable fields are:
   1. Case Title - the title of the Opinion/Decision
   2. Keywords - the "catch words" or "keywords" of the Opinion/Decision
   3. Case Number - the unique identifier of the case, i.e., 07-537C
   4. Judge/Special Master - The name of the presiding Judge or Special Master of the Case
   5. Filed Year - the year the case was filed
   6. Filed Month - the month the case was filed
   7. Filed Day - the day the case was filed
2. The seven rows are searched with an "AND", i.e., All the searched rows must match for "hit"
3. Options for searching:
   1. For Case Title, Keywords, Case Number:
      1. Is Equal To - the search term has to match exactly the text associated with the searched field, e.g., Searching for "Betty Sue" in the Case Title would not return the Case Title of "Betty Sue vs. United States", but would return the Case Title of "betty sue"
      2. Contains - the search term has to contain the phrase associated with the searched field, e.g., Searching for the phrase "Blue Earth" would match "The blue earth is actually green", but not match "The blue flowers are on the earth"
      3. Contains any word - the search term has to contain one of the words associated with the searched field, e.g., Searching for the phrase "Blue Earth" would match "The blue flowers are on the earth" or "The earth is round", but would not match "The ocean is green"
      4. Contains all words - the search term has to contain all of the words associated with the searched field, e.g., Searching for the phrase "Blue Earth" would match "The blue flowers are on the earth", but not match "The earth is round"
      5. Starts With - the search term starts with the words in the searched field, e.g., Searching for "The United" would match "The United States", but not match "John Smith vs The United States"
      6. Ends With - the search term ends with the words in the searched field, e.g.,
         Searching for "United States" would match "The United States" or "John Smith vs The United States", but not match "The United States vs John Smith"
      7. Does Not Contain - the search term does not contain any of the words in the
         searched field, e.g., Searching for the phrase "Blue Earth" would match
         "The earth is round, but not match "The blue flowers are on the earth" or "The earth is round"
   2. For Judge:
      1. Is One Of - the Judge (or Judges) picked are the presiding Judge of the case (To select more than one option, hold down the Ctrl key)
      2. Is None Of - the Judge (or Judges) picked are not the presiding Judge of the case (To select more than one option, hold down the Ctrl key)
   3. For Filed Year, Filed Month, Filed Day:
      1. is equal to - the number is equal to the number selected, e.g., Filed Year "2007" would return all cases filed in the year 2007
      2. is not equal to - the number is not equal to the number selected, e.g., Filed Year "2007", would return all cases filed before 2007 and after 2007
      3. greater than - the number is greater than the number selected, e.g., Filed Year "2007", would return all cases filed after 2007
      4. greater than or equal to - the number is greater than or equal to the number selected, e.g., Filed Year "2007", would return all cases filed after and including 2006
      5. less than - the number is less than the number selected, e.g., Filed Year "2007", would return all cases filed before 2007
      6. less than or equal to - the number is less than or equal to the number selected, e.g., Filed Year "2007", would return all cases filed before and including 2007