No, people are too lawsuit-crazed these days. Many companies will give no facts about a past employee other than the dates they were employed. Even "would you hire this person again?" can be dangerous.

At one of my past employers, my manager (who sat next to me) told me that he wasn't allowed to say anything whatsoever about past employees - when anyone called to confirm past employment he had to give them HR's phone number, where specially trained operatives would presumably answer the one and only question allowed.