|
Business or entity names can begin with
numbers |
In the past, the system required
party names to begin with a non-numerical
character, so that the name 15 Bank Street LLC had
to appear as "Fifteen Bank Street LLC" and 3459
Main Street Associates Inc. could be entered
as "Thirty-four hundred fifty nine Main Street
Associates Inc.," or "Three Four Five Nine Main
Street Associates Inc." or even "Thirty-four 59
Main Street Associates Inc."
Take a look at the sample
data shown in the snapshot below,
particularly lines 190-191.
Since this rule no longer
holds, names will now appear in either
format. When you run a search on an
entity name beginning with a numeral, you should
run at least two searches, one alphabetically and
one numerically. If the name is distinctive
enough, such as "342 Union Avenue Development
Corp.," you can avoid this problem
entirely by entering a search for *UNION AV*DEVEL*
to find entries in either form.
As in the past, Court PC won't
bill for multiple searches of what reasonably
appears to be the same name, so you don't need to
worry about incurring multiple charges for trying
to be thorough.
Longer party last name
fields |
Another minor
internal change lengthened the party last
name field, allowing for longer entries
in each record. Now
there's more space to
enter information such as AKAs,
or as "Executor of the Estate of...,"
etc. In the past, this type of
qualifying information was more
often than not abbreviated and put into
a different field, along with middle
initials, titles, etc.
Now, given the extra space in the
party's last name field, you can be sure the
additional info will start showing up there
more often.
The last name field is
our primary search field. While it's always
been important to use the asterisk wildcard on
this field to catch as many likely matches as
possible, now you MUST add the
asterisk. To put
it simply, if you don't want to
miss matching records (and who
does?), always use the asterisk
wildcard (e.g., WILSON* rather than WILSON) when
entering the last name you plan to search.
Court PC's search
engine does not automatically add this
extension for you. If the record's last
name field reads "WILSON JR." you won't
find it by doing a search for "WILSON" (only
WILSON* will work). I can't emphasize this
enough, as I see searches run
without asterisks every
day.
If you're still with me
-- and it's the middle of summer, where
else would you be? -- let me illustrate the
problem with the new sample
data below.
The last name field
in line 1 lists the administrator
("ADMR") capacity after the surname. In line
12, the same function is described at more length
("...ADMX OF THE EST"). Line 13 identifies
the defendant as an MD. Line 17 lists an NKA
(now known as), and lines 20-24 all describe the
party as an apportionment defendant. Line 29
displays what is probably a hyphenated
last name. Put another
way, "Allen Apportionment" ain't no last
name I ever heard of.
So here's a 30
line sample with ten "extended
surnames." And there are about 1.6
million lines with surnames in the party name
file! Search the
names as BARCLAY, COURTNEY or CORDEIRO,
and you'd never find the records above. Only
searches as BARCL* or COURTN*or CORD*RO* will
return those records to your search
results. And those just might be
the records you're looking
for. | 
