Evidence before interpretation

• PACER and federal bankruptcy courts: case identity, court, chapter, parties and docket activity. PACER access and availability vary.
• CourtListener RECAP: a public archive of federal court dockets and documents contributed by users. Archive coverage is substantial but incomplete.
• SEC EDGAR: company filings including bankruptcy or receivership disclosures, exchange notices, Form 25 and Form 15.
• State WARN notices: government notices about qualifying layoffs and closures. Publication format and historical availability differ by state.

Administrators such as Epiq and Verita publish case websites, debtor lists, claim deadlines and selected docket materials. They are useful public-access layers, but they may be partial and can include administrator-authored classification. Shuttingdown labels these sources separately from the court record itself.

Tier 1 — primary authority

Court records, regulatory filings and official government notices.

Tier 2 — direct or attributed source

Official company information and court-appointed case administration sites.

Tier 3 — secondary enrichment

News and business-data providers used as context, not as a substitute for proof.

Tier 4 — development fixtures

Test data that must never be presented as a real-world source in production.

A citation supports the event or statement beside it, not every possible conclusion about the company. Readers should open the source and consider its date, scope and procedural posture. A motion is a request, an order is a court decision, and a company announcement is attributed to the company rather than treated as an independent finding.