How to Remove a Court Case from Google and Legal Databases Like Casetext, Justia, or Leagle

When your name appears in a published court opinion or case listing online, it can feel like there’s no way to escape it. Even if the case was dismissed, sealed, or resolved years ago, your name might still appear on Google search results—and on legal databases like Casetext, Justia, or Leagle.

At National Security Law Firm, we help clients permanently remove or deindex sensitive legal content from the internet. Whether your goal is to protect your career, your family, or your reputation, our online content removal lawyers know how to fight back against online court data that refuses to disappear.

Why Court Cases Appear on Google

When a court issues an opinion—civil, criminal, or administrative—it’s typically published through a state or federal court website. These opinions are then scraped or syndicated by secondary legal databases like:

• Casetext

• Justia

• Leagle

• Law360

• FindLaw

• CourtListener

Once those sites index the opinion, Google’s web crawlers pick up the text and display it in search results for your name. That means even a minor case, an old expunged matter, or a dismissal can continue to show up publicly—often permanently—unless action is taken.

The Difference Between Legal Databases and Docket Watchers

It’s important to understand where your case appears before attempting removal.

• Legal databases like Casetext, Justia, or Leagle are primarily research libraries that archive published opinions—often scraped from federal and appellate courts.

• Docket watcher sites like Trellis, UniCourt, and CourtListener track trial-level dockets and filings, including motions, complaints, and hearing updates.

Our team routinely works with both types of platforms. Each requires a different removal strategy, grounded in the site’s own publication policies and applicable privacy laws.

Legal Grounds for Removal or Deindexing

At National Security Law Firm, our content removal lawyers use a combination of legal, technical, and persuasive tools to achieve removals. Depending on your case, our strategies may include:

• Expungement or sealing verification: Once a record is sealed or expunged, secondary publishers may have a legal obligation to remove or deindex it.

• Right-to-privacy and reputational harm arguments: We present evidence showing that continued publication serves no legitimate public interest and causes ongoing harm.

• DMCA or copyright-based takedowns: In limited cases, portions of documents or images may be protected under copyright law.

• Deindexing requests: Even if removal is denied, we can petition Google and Bing to delist the URLs from search results for your name.

• Publisher negotiation: Many legal databases respond to formal removal or redaction requests if properly documented and supported by authority.

These are nuanced processes that must be handled with care—especially since government and legal databases can be resistant to change.

Why These Protections Exist

Many states now recognize that permanent public access to outdated legal information can destroy reputations and hinder rehabilitation.
That’s why several have enacted mugshot and record-removal laws or policies restricting public access to expunged or sealed cases.

These same privacy principles guide our removal strategy. We use the growing body of privacy jurisprudence to argue that retaining outdated or inaccurate legal information online violates the spirit—if not the letter—of these reforms.

How National Security Law Firm Can Help

Removing a court case from Google or legal databases isn’t as simple as filing a form. Each platform has its own policies, and they vary widely:

Our firm is uniquely positioned to handle these requests because we combine:

• Deep understanding of media and privacy law

• Insider knowledge of government and court publication systems

• Proven experience in search engine suppression and deindexing

How Much Does It Cost to Remove a Court Case from Google?

At National Security Law Firm, we offer flat, transparent pricing for content removal—so you always know exactly what to expect. We charge a flat fee of $3,000 per source – contingent upon removal. 

In most cases, removal of a court case or opinion falls within our standard content removal fee structure. You can also take advantage of flexible legal financing options through Pay Later by Affirm, allowing you to pay over 3, 6, 12, or 24 months with no credit impact for eligibility checks.

We don’t believe your reputation should depend on your bank account—and that’s why we’ve made this process accessible to everyone.

Visit Our Internet Content Removal Resource Hub

For a deeper look at all the types of online records and articles we remove—including mugshots, arrest blotters, government press releases, and news stories—visit our Internet Content Removal Resource Hub.

You’ll find detailed guides on:

• How to remove your name from Trellis, UniCourt, and CourtListener

• How to remove arrest press releases from justice.gov

• State-by-state mugshot removal laws

• How to request deindexing from Google

Why Choose National Security Law Firm

When it comes to online content removal, not all firms are created equal. National Security Law Firm stands apart because:

• We’re a law firm, not a reputation management company.

• We handle cases on a true contingency basis—you don’t pay unless we succeed.

• We have a proven national track record, representing clients in all 50 states.

• Our 4.9-star Google reviews (see them here) speak for themselves.

• We offer flexible legal financing through Affirm.

Ready to Take the Next Step? Let’s Talk

Your name shouldn’t be a permanent search result.
Let the online content removal lawyers at National Security Law Firm help you take control of your reputation.

Book your free, confidential consultation today.

National Security Law Firm: It’s Our Turn to Fight for You.