is there a free site where I can find out if a company has any pending
lawsuits, liens, etc.?  I want to research prospective business partners.

Check at the county courthouse (they usually have computer terminals
available for the public to use) to find out if online records are
available.

Also check for your state's secretary of state's website online to
make sure the business is registered.  Order a company credit report
from Dun and Bradstreet to find out whether the company has a good
credit rating and if the other financials are solid.

4KEITH (I'm NOT a GOOGLE Researcher)

Thanks very much Keith.  I will check those out.  Additionally, if
anyone has knowledge of other free websites please let me know of
those too!  I will be researching companies nationally so checking
with each local courthouse might prove unwieldy.

I have found the website www.searchsystems.net very helpful.  Click on
the DIRECTORY link and scroll down to the bottom of the page and you
can find links for every state in the US (and if you click to each
state you can find online databases for each county in that state) and
even some other countries around the world and Canada.