Plant-closure lead services and WARN databases, compared

Where closurelead falls short

• 2 states. WARN notices from California and Pennsylvania only, where WARNTracker lists 45 states and DC. Outside them, a yard whose radius (up to 250 miles) reaches California or Pennsylvania also gets business petitions from the polled courts inside that radius. Farther away, you get nothing yet, even where we read the court.
• Pennsylvania is filtered. We show only closures that OSHA or EPA records confirm as an industrial site: 13 listed Nov 2025 to Oct 2026, with 38 more left out. L&I lists a month, not a notice date, and does not say whether a closure is permanent.
• No contacts. EDD’s spreadsheet and the PA L&I page carry no contact names, and closurelead does not sell contact lists. The notice an employer sends must name a company official (20 CFR 639.7(e)), but neither state publishes that field. A bankruptcy row names the trustee when the docket lists one. In Chapter 7 the trustee collects and sells the assets (11 U.S.C. 704(a)(1)) and may hire an auctioneer with the court's approval (327(a)). In Chapter 11 the company usually stays in charge as debtor in possession (1107(a), 1108) unless the court appoints a trustee (1104), and a Subchapter V trustee oversees the case while the company keeps running it (1183, 1184). So for a Chapter 11 row, contact the debtor's bankruptcy lawyer; the docket names them (how to approach a bankruptcy).
• Short lists. We drop layoffs and non-industrial sites. All of California had 19 industrial closure sites with 50 or more employees affected from Jul 1 to Nov 4, 2026; OSHA or EPA records confirm 13. Within 150 miles of ZIP 91761, 3 sites counted from Oct 8 to Nov 7, 2026 (EDD's current file runs to Nov 4, 2026).
• Little history. California starts with EDD's current fiscal-year file, from Jul 1, 2026. Court petitions start with our first poll on Nov 6, 2026: 2 days so far and 35 business petitions seen ("No Asset" Chapter 7 cases included).
• Petitions by name only. The court feeds give no debtor address, so a petition is placed only when its name matches exactly one plant in OSHA or EPA records. Within 150 miles of ZIP 91761, 0 have matched so far.

Who should buy what

• WARNTracker. You want every new WARN notice in many states, every week, and you will filter it yourself. (warntracker.com/pricing, read Nov 7, 2026)
• Plant Closing Report. You want a person to call at each closure and will pay more for that. (plantclosing.report, read Nov 7, 2026)
• PacerMonitor. You already work bankruptcy cases and need the full docket and the filed documents. (pacermonitor.com/pricing, read Nov 7, 2026)
• PACER (the federal courts’ own system). You need a few dockets or filings and will pay per page. (pacer.uscourts.gov/pacer-pricing-how-fees-work, read Nov 7, 2026)
• Apify WARN scraper (tagadanar). You or your staff can run a scraper and build the filtering yourselves. (apify.com/tagadanar/us-warn-layoffs, read Nov 7, 2026)
• OSHAlert. You sell safety training or services to employers OSHA has cited. (oshalert.com/pricing, read Nov 7, 2026)
• The free state pages. You have someone who will open the EDD report and the PA L&I page twice a week, sort out the closures, and look each site up.
• closurelead. Your yard is in California or Pennsylvania, or within 250 miles of them. You want only the closures at industrial sites near it, and the bankruptcy petitions that match a plant there, each row linked to its government record. You can live without named contacts.
• Not closurelead if your yard is more than 250 miles from California and Pennsylvania, or if a named contact at each closure is what you are paying for.

WARN notices by state: where the records come from

Under the federal WARN Act, a covered employer gives written notice of a plant closing to the state, or to the entity the state designates for rapid response (29 U.S.C. 2102(a)(2)). States that publish the notices each do it their own way: California EDD as a spreadsheet, Pennsylvania L&I as a web page with no industry and no notice date.

A "WARN Act database" is someone collecting those state lists into one place. WARNTracker says it covers 45 states and DC. The Apify scraper lists California, New Jersey, Maryland, Alaska, South Dakota and DC, with more states being added (its page, read Nov 7, 2026). We read California and Pennsylvania straight from the state, and every row links to the state's record, never to a reseller. The free state pages and the court feeds are in the table above.

Questions

What is the best WARN notice database?

It depends on the job. For every new WARN notice in many states, WARNTracker covers 45 states and DC for $250/mo. For named contacts at each closure, Plant Closing Report charges $500/mo. For full bankruptcy dockets, PacerMonitor plans start at $49/mo, and it also offers a free account at $5 per document; PACER, the courts' own system, charges $0.10 per page, at most $3 for one document. For industrial closures near one yard in or within 250 miles of California or Pennsylvania, each linked to its government record, closurelead is $299/mo per territory. Card checkout is not open yet, so nobody is billed today. Competitor prices as read on each company's page on Nov 7, 2026.

Who sells the equipment when a company goes bankrupt?

In Chapter 7 the trustee collects and sells the assets (11 U.S.C. 704(a)(1)) and may hire an auctioneer with the court’s approval (11 U.S.C. 327(a)). In Chapter 11 the company usually stays in charge as debtor in possession (11 U.S.C. 1107(a), 1108) and runs any sale itself, with notice and a chance to object for a sale outside the ordinary course of business (11 U.S.C. 363(b)(1)), unless the court appoints a trustee (11 U.S.C. 1104). A Subchapter V trustee oversees the case while the company keeps running it (11 U.S.C. 1183, 1184), so there the contact is the debtor’s bankruptcy lawyer, whom the docket names. A closurelead bankruptcy row names the trustee when the docket lists one.

Is there a free list of WARN notices?

In the states that publish them, yes. California EDD posts a spreadsheet for the current fiscal year, and Pennsylvania L&I posts a web page by month. They are free, but you sort them yourself.

Which service gives contact names?

Plant Closing Report says it confirms direct emails and phone numbers for named contacts at each closure. EDD’s spreadsheet and the PA L&I page carry no contact names, and closurelead does not sell contact lists. The notice an employer sends must name a company official (20 CFR 639.7(e)), but neither state publishes that field.

Is closurelead cheaper than Plant Closing Report?

At list price, yes: closurelead is $299/mo per territory, and Plant Closing Report lists $500/mo, or $400/mo on a 6-month minimum term (its page, read Nov 7, 2026). Each yard is its own territory. Card checkout is not open yet, so nobody is billed today. closurelead also does less: no named contacts, and WARN notices from 2 states, where Plant Closing Report says it covers plant closures across the United States and some of Canada. What you get instead is a radius around your yard, an OSHA or EPA check of each site, and a government record link on every row.

Try ours on your area

Type your yard's ZIP in the box at the top. You see the current list with no account.

$299/mo per territory. Founding price $199/mo, locked for 12 months, for the first 10 accounts. 30-day free trial, no card. Card checkout is not open yet, so nobody is billed today. A territory is one yard plus a radius up to 250 miles.

When the 30 days end, nothing is charged, because we never had a card: CSV and PDF exports lock and your list stays readable.

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