Remove TileVII 5th Circuit Court appeal decision off the internet

You're not going to much like what I have to say.

I can't tell from the information you've provided whether the Fifth Circuit decision in your case was or was not designated "for publication."

If it was marked "For Publication," then a copy of the decision appears in the Federal Reporter, Third Series. That's a series of numbered books, copies of which are found in every decent law library in law schools, law firms, and other law libraries across the country. The written opinions published in them are cross-referenced several different ways, including by the names of the litigants and the main subjects discussed in the each opinion. As a practical matter, there is no earthly way to remove a case from these bound volumes once they're printed and distributed, which is in a matter of only a few weeks after the opinions in them have been released.

Even decisions that are not designated "For Publication" nevertheless are generally part of the public record. As such, they're entered into various online legal data bases. FindLaw.com is one such. Others include Thomson West Publishing Company's Westlaw service and Reed Elsevier's Lexis/Nexis service, both of which are widely subscribed to by lawyers. And the federal courts may themselves make their decisions available online. At least Lexis/Nexis and Westlaw aren't searched by search engines like Google, because they're subscription-only. But as you've already learned, Findlaw, and perhaps other data bases, are indeed searched and indexed by search engines.

You might not be as distressed for only those people who were researching the same legal principles that were discussed in the opinion to come across your case; they probably don't know you or care who you are. But as you've already learned, someone searching specifically on your name is indeed likely to find the appellate court decision from your appeal.

I think the chances of getting this "scrubbed" from the internet are, as a practical matter, slim and none. It's like trying to un-ring a bell. And because your file was not sealed or your case filed under a pseudonymous name to begin with, the companies that have acquired the text of the decision are dealing with public records -- not something in which you have privacy rights that you can enforce.

That doesn't mean you should just resign yourself to prospective employers or others necessarily thinking the worst. It's fairly common for court opinions to be written in ways that portray a very slanted view of the underlying facts. For example, in an appeal from a judgment which dismissed a lawsuit for failing to state a valid claim, the standard by which appellate courts review those appeals requires the appellate courts to assume that everything alleged in the lawsuit is indeed true -- even if the other side sharply disputes the truth of those allegations, or even if they're fairly outrageous on their face. By contrast, an appellate court reviewing a record to see whether a jury verdict should be overturned is required to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury's decision, resolving all fact disputes and credibility issues in a way that supports the jury's verdict. That, too, will result in a telling of the tale that is pretty heavily slanted.

What someone may be able to do -- perhaps your original lawyer, or if not him, perhaps someone else you retain now -- would be to study the appellate decision carefully, and then help you craft a short and clear written explanation which explains why the tale told in the opinion isn't fair and balanced. That might include an explanation of the "standard of review" and how that influenced the way the court explained the factual background. It might also include summaries of the things which the appellate opinion FAILED to mention which add context more favorable to you.

That's spin control. It's far, far from a cure for your problem. But I'm afraid it may be the best that anyone can do for you now.