About Search Criteria
To access the Case Browse tool, select the Case Browse button in the Top Tool Bar.
The Criteria Tabs
General Tab Structure and Function
Almost every tab in Case Browse has two buttons labeled "Select Visible" and "Unselect Visible," and a checkbox labeled "Exclude." The tabs that are exceptions are as follows: Text Search, Misc, and UDF have neither the buttons nor the checkbox; Referral Status does not have the checkbox; and Case Group's buttons are instead labeled "Select All Visible" and "Unselect All Visible" (though these do the exact same thing as the respective buttons in the other tabs). Clicking "Select Visible" in any tab will select every item on the current page of that tab; the items on other pages are not affected. If you wish to additionally select all the items on a different page, you will have to navigate to that page and then click "Select Visible" again. Similarly, clicking "Unselect Visible" in any tab will deselect every item on the current page of that tab. If you select the "Exclude" checkbox and at least one item in the same tab, then when the search is performed, the results will include only those that do not match any of the items selected in that tab.
Several tabs also have two radio buttons labeled "Start With" and "Contains," an input field, and a partitioned bar containing each letter of the alphabet separately. This collection of elements allows you to narrow down the list of items in their respective tab to make it easier to find the ones you wish to select. There are two ways to use this tool: either fill in the input field with text that either starts, or is contained in, the text of the item you wish to find, then select the appropriate radio button; or simply click one of the letters of the alphabet, which will automatically fill the input field with that letter and select the "Start With" button, thus displaying only those items beginning with the chosen letter. Note: this tool does not affect the search itself. It is only provided to make it easier to navigate among the items in a given tab. You may freely use it to find an item, select that item, then use it again to find another item to select; even though the first item may no longer be visible, it is still considered to be selected. The list of tabs that do not provide this tool is as follows: Referral Status, Text Source, Misc., and UDF.
Tabs with no items selected are treated as including all possible items in that tab; i.e., no filtering based on that category occurs.
Case Group
The Case Group tab allows you to choose which case groups you wish to appear in the search results. It also includes two additional checkboxes, above the list of case groups: one labeled "Mass Tort" and one labeled "Non Mass Tort." Selecting "Mass Tort" will include all case types defined as being mass torts (see Case Types). Selecting "Non Mass Tort" will include all case types defined as not being mass torts. These checkboxes are not affected by the "Exclude" checkbox; however, you may use the "Exclude" checkbox in conjunction with the "Mass Tort" or "Non Mass Tort" checkboxes, if you also select one or more case groups. For example, selecting the "Mass Tort," "Exclude," and "Defective Pharmaceuticals" checkboxes will result in a search that includes all mass tort case types except those in the Defective Pharmaceuticals group. If you select any of the items in the Case Group tab, it will automatically narrow the list of available items in the Case Type and Case SubType tabs to only offer those that are members of at least one of the selected case groups. Note: this is true even if "Exclude" is also selected; i.e. the Case Type tab will only display those case types that are members of the groups you are already excluding. Therefore, if you wish to do any further filtering on case types or subtypes, it is not generally recommended to use the "Exclude" button in Case Group.
Case Type
The Case Type tab allows you to choose which case types you wish to appear in the search results. It has no unique additional checkboxes or buttons. If you select any of the items in the Case Type tab, it will automatically narrow the list of available items in the Case SubType tab to only offer those that are members of at least one of the selected case types. Note: this is true even if "Exclude" is also selected; i.e. the Case SubType tab will only display those case types that are members of the groups you are already excluding. Therefore, if you wish to do any further filtering on subtypes, it is not generally recommended to use the "Exclude" button in Case Type. The entries in the UDF tab, if any, are dependent on what is selected in this tab. Unless exactly one case type is selected, the UDF tab will be blank; if exactly one case type is selected, the UDF tab will be automatically populated by the UDFs associated with that case type.
Case SubType
The Case SubType tab allows you to choose which case subtypes you wish to permit to appear in the search results. It has no unique additional checkboxes or buttons.
State
The State tab allows you to limit which cases you wish to appear by which state (or territory, or Canadian province) they take place in. It has no unique additional checkboxes or buttons.
Status
The Status tab allows you to limit which cases you wish to appear by their current status. The list of statuses in this tab also includes all the possible stages. The stages are in bold, with the statuses contained in each stage listed below their respective stage. Selecting any stage will automatically select every status contained in that stage. Deselecting any stage will automatically deselect every status contained in that stage. The stages themselves are not actually included in the search filter; they are only provided as a means to efficiently select or deselect all of the statuses they contain. You can, if you wish, select a stage (thereby selecting every status it contains) then individually deselect some of the statuses that were automatically selected. Although the stage will technically remain selected, the statuses you have deselected will be excluded from the search results. If there are many possible statuses defined in your system, there may be a scroll bar within this tab (separate from the scroll bar for Case Browse itself, if there is one) that you can use to view the statuses that are not initially visible.
In the upper right corner, you can choose how many days a case must have been in a status in order to be returned by your search. Enter the number of days, and then choose one of the following restrictors from the dropdown: "exactly", "more than", "fewer than", "at least", or "at most".
Sub-Status
The Sub-Status tab allows you to limit which cases you wish to appear by their non-primary status. On the far right of the screen, just above the list of items, is a dropdown selector containing all the status types other than the main one, Status. By default, this will be set to Sub Status. Whichever status type is selected, the list of items will change to only include all possible instances of that status type. You may select from this list as in any other tab. You may also select items that are instances of a certain status type, then select another status type and select items that are that type. Note, however, that whereas selecting multiple items from the same status type will yield results that have at least one of those statuses, selecting items from different status types will treat the different status types as if they were different tabs; i.e. it will only yield results that, for every chosen status type, contain at least one of the items selected in that type.
Referral Status
The Referral Status tab allows you to limit which cases you wish to appear by the types of referrals or substitutions that have occurred in the case. These referrals and substitutions are entered in the Retainer/Referral case page. Note: the "Only Partial Sub-Out" and "Only Partial Out" options match cases that have Referral Out or Sub Out records with only an individual plaintiff, instead of "All," in the Plaintiff Name column.
Staff
The Staff tab allows you to limit which cases you wish to appear by the firm staff member involved in them. There are two dropdown selectors above the list of staff members. The first is labeled "Show Only (Firm Role):" and the second is labeled "Search Only for Case Role:". Both dropdowns offer a list of checkboxes; in both, you may select any number of the checkboxes before closing the dropdown. If you select any of the options in the "Firm Role" dropdown, the list of staff members will be narrowed down to only those who have one of the roles you selected. This dropdown does not affect the actual search results; it is provided to help you find the staff members you wish to select for the search itself. If you wish for the search itself to only include staff members who have one of the roles you selected, you can simply select all of the staff members who remain in the list after you have made your selections in the dropdown. If you select any of the options in the "Case Role" dropdown and any of the staff members in the list, then the search will only yield results that include at least one of the selected staff members in at least one of the selected roles. Remember that the "Firm Role" dropdown narrows down the available staff members but does not actually affect the search, whereas the "Case Role" dropdown does not affect the list of available staff members but does affect the search.
Case Value
The Case Value tab allows you to limit which cases you wish to appear by the estimated value assigned to the case. It has no unique additional checkboxes or buttons.
Law Firm
The Law Firm tab allows you to limit which cases you wish to appear by the law firm involved in them. It has no unique additional checkboxes or buttons. If a law firm is selected in this tab, any case involving that firm in any law-firm-type capacity (Defendant Law Firm, Referred Out Law Firm, Referral Law Firm, or Plaintiff Law Firm) will be included in the results.
Court
The Court tab allows you to limit which cases appear by the court associated with them. It has no unique additional checkboxes or buttons.
Referral Source
The Referral Source tab allows you to limit which cases you wish to appear by the source of their referral. There are five radio buttons above the "Select Visible" and "Unselect Visible" buttons; from left to right, they are labeled "Advertising Source," "Referral Law Firm," "Referral Attorney," "Other Referral," and "Any Referral." By default, "Advertising Source" is selected. Selecting any of the buttons will change the list of referrers to only include those who fit the selected role in at least one referral. The list shown when "Any Referral" is selected contains all the referrers in the other four lists. If you select at least one referrer in one of the lists, then select one of the other radio buttons (so that the referrers you selected are no longer in the currently visible list), the referrer(s) you selected will still be used to filter the search. If, however, you then select one of the newly visible referrers, the ones you had previously selected will be automatically deselected. In other words, if a selected referrer is not visible in the current list, then selecting any visible referrer will deselect all non-visible referrers.
Text Search
The Text Search tab allows you to limit which cases you wish to appear by whether particular text has been entered into various Text input fields (particularly comment fields). To use this tab, enter the text you wish to search for in the field at the top of the tab, and select the checkboxes associated with the locations in the case files to include in the search. You may search for multiple words or phrases if you wish. To search for a complete phrase, enclose it in quotes. (Typing "Broken leg" will find cases with text containing the complete phrase "broken leg" as written, though ignoring capitalization.) To search for multiple words or phrases that must all be present, type the word AND (the capitalization is necessary) between the words or phrases. (Typing "this AND that" will find cases with text containing both the words "this" and "that" somewhere.) To search for multiple words or phrases, returning any record where at least one of those words or phrases is present, type the word OR (the capitalization is necessary) between the words or phrases. (Typing "this OR that" will find cases with text containing at least one of the words "this" or "that" somewhere.) You may use parentheses to enclose parts of the search text, to perform complicated Boolean searches. (Typing "(this AND that) OR "the other thing" will find cases with text containing either the complete phrase "the other thing" or both the words "this" and "that" somewhere. Generally, this level of complexity is not necessary, but it is available just in case.)
Misc
The Misc tab includes various options for limiting which cases you wish to appear. Among the options: searching for cases where a product's ID or use has or has not been confirmed (which is determined in the Incident page for certain case groups), whether a case is marked as the master case for a MDL, whether a plaintiff in the case is deceased, whether a case is marked as including a "serious injury," whether a defendant in the case is a corporate or municipal entity, the location of a plaintiff or medical provider, the date of birth or death of a plaintiff, or a simple list of case numbers to include in the search.
UDF
The UDF (User Defined Fields) tab allows you to limit which cases appear in the results by the answers to user-defined questions. There are always seven radio buttons at the top of this tab; from left to right, they are labeled "Incident," "Case," "Plaintiff," "Defendant," "Court," "Expert" and "PFS" (Plaintiff Fact Sheet). Unless exactly one case type has already been selected (see the Case Type tab, above), there will be nothing listed below these buttons, regardless of which button is selected. If exactly one case type has been selected under the Case Type tab, then selecting any of these buttons will display the user-defined questions that are listed in the corresponding UDF screen for the given case type. Each of these questions will be followed by its respective inputs (e.g. a text field, a set of checkbox options, etc.), and there will also be an additional checkbox marked "Unanswered" after the set of inputs. If you select or fill in the input for a question, the search results will only include cases where the answer to that question matches your input. If you check the "Unanswered" box for a question, the search results will only include cases where that question was left unanswered. Note: if the input for a question is a text field, the search results will include cases where the answer to that question contains your input.