|
Joint Venture Disclosure
At its core, PlainSite is a private effort to fill in a gap left by inefficient public legislation and government operations.
Think Computer Corporation is a for-profit Delaware corporation that began as an Ohio corporation on April 29, 1998. Its founder, Aaron Greenspan, is the founder of PlainSite.
In 2000, Aaron incorporated a separate Ohio non-profit organization, Think Computer Foundation, as a senior project at Shaker Heights High School in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Think Computer Foundation was granted 501(c)(3) non-profit status shortly thereafter by the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS). While the Foundation began by collecting used computer equipment in the Cleveland area and sending it to developing countries such as Jamaica and Brazil, it eventually added other goals as well: helping disabled individuals, and in response to the 2008 financial crisis, providing much-needed transparency in the judicial system.
While PlainSite operated as a joint venture, Think Computer Foundation used its funds to pay for the vast majority of document and research fees (such as PACER fees, court fees, and labor fees for National Archives requests) that daily operation of PlainSite incurred. Historically, through this arrangement, Think Computer Foundation paid for over $25,000 worth of documents from courts across the United States, representing over 200,000 pages of materials that would otherwise not be freely accessible in the public domain. The breakdown is as follows:
| Period | Federal Court Fees | State Court Fees | Transparency Litigation Expenses | Total |
| Q3 2013 | $67.60 | $67.60 | ||
| Q4 2013 | $240.50 | $240.50 | ||
| Q1 2014 | $307.10 | $307.10 | ||
| Q2 2014 | $356.40 | $400.00 | $756.40 | |
| Q3 2014 | $511.20 | $511.20 | ||
| Q4 2014 | $518.10 | $505.00 | $1,023.10 | |
| Q1 2015 | $1,180.90 | $1,180.90 | ||
| Q2 2015 | $663.30 | $3.50 | $666.80 | |
| Q3 2015 | $1,142.70 | $90.00 | $1,232.70 | |
| Q4 2015 | $498.90 | $242.00 | $740.90 | |
| Q1 2016 | $473.60 | $196.40 | $670.00 | |
| Q2 2016 | $480.50 | $167.60 | $648.10 | |
| Q3 2016 | $1,524.60 | $74.80 | $1,599.40 | |
| Q4 2016 | $815.70 | $205.00 | $1,020.70 | |
| Q1 2017 | $1,272.80 | $203.80 | $1,476.60 | |
| Q2 2017 | $984.70 | $65.60 | $1,050.30 | |
| Q3 2017 | $741.90 | $63.80 | $805.70 | |
| Q4 2017 | $1,368.70 | $334.70 | $1,703.40 | |
| Q1 2018 | $676.00 | $159.60 | $835.60 | |
| Q2 2018 | $481.50 | $481.50 | ||
| Q3 2018 | $438.40 | $265.40 | $703.80 | |
| Q4 2018 | $777.40 | $878.10 | $5,000.00 | $6,655.50 |
| Q1 2019 | $605.80 | $478.37 | $65.00 | $1,149.17 |
| Q2 2019 | $658.60 | $662.50 | $1,321.10 | |
| Q3 2019 | $472.80 | $600.34 | ($87.50) | $985.64 |
| Q4 2019 | $647.80 | $270.04 | $6,189.50 | $7,107.34 |
| Q1 2020 | $354.40 | $388.36 | $742.76 | |
| Q2 2020 | $421.50 | $88.60 | $510.10 | |
| Q3 2020 | $323.10 | $269.03 | ($4,139.89) | ($3,547.76) |
| Q4 2020 | $468.50 | $285.96 | $754.46 | |
| Total | $19,475.00 | $5,993.50 | $7,932.11 | $33,400.61 |
The vast majority of these documents were also contributed to the RECAP archive, now maintained by the Free Law Project. In 2013, Think Computer Foundation donated $10,000.00 to sponsor the Aaron Swartz Memorial Grant contest, which sought to improve RECAP. (These funds were matched by Princeton University; ultimately, two contest winners each earned $10,000.00 for their contributions.) In addition, Think Computer Foundation donated $5,000.00 to the Free Law Project in June 2014. Unfortunately, the Free Law Project no longer allows PlainSite to access RECAP metadata.
If there are any questions regarding these disclosures, please contact us.
 | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
