California Court Case Lookup

California court cases are legal proceedings in which one party (a person or organization) brings a dispute or allegation against another in a court of law. The reason for bringing the matter to court is for a judge or jury to decide guilt or liability. A California court case lookup refers to the process of inspecting court record information pertaining to an ongoing or finalized court case.

California court cases are civil, criminal, or administrative matters heard in the state courts, divided into the trial and appellate courts. The trial courts in California (also called the superior courts) are located in each county of the state; they handle all civil and criminal cases at the trial level, including appeals in some instances. Meanwhile, the appellate courts consist of the Courts of Appeal and the California Supreme Court. The Courts of Appeal hear appeals of trial court decisions, while the Supreme Court of California ( the state's highest court) reviews the Courts of Appeal decisions and handles cases beyond a Court of Appeal's jurisdiction.

Are Court Cases Public Record in California?

Yes, court cases in California are public records per Government Code § 7920.000 et seq. (the state's public records act or CPRA). As a result, anyone can request records produced from court cases, such as filings and judgments, from the California courts. Alternative to requesting these records, inquirers may conduct a court case lookup using the custodian's online resources. However, certain cases are restricted from public inspection by law or court order. For example, cases involving minors, records containing sensitive information (like proprietary and financial data), and records sealed by a judge to protect a person's privacy.

How to Conduct a California Court Case Lookup

Members of the public can look up information about criminal or civil cases heard in the California courts online, in person, or by mail. To conduct a California court case lookup online, an individual must determine if the court that handled a case provides "remote access". A court that offers remote access will have a case management system (sometimes called a "case information" or "case access" system) on its website, which can be accessed with keywords such as a name or case number.

On the other hand, persons who wish to conduct a California court case lookup in person must visit the courthouse where the case was filed. At the court, the individual can search for the case themselves at no charge or ask the clerk to look up the court case for a fee.

Although the two above methods are common with court case searches in California, an option remains to write to the court. Here, the interested person can send postal mail to the relevant court, including information that will help staff find the court case and return case information to the requester.

Can I Get California Court Case Documents Online?

Yes, an individual can obtain case documents generated by California courts online. However, following California Rules of Court 2.503, what the state courts provide to the public on their websites is not an official court record but rather a non-confidential, non-sealed version. Even so, not all case documents are released to the public online. According to Rule 2.503 (c), the courts may not provide remote access to documents from adoption, juvenile, mental health, and criminal cases, among others. However, the public may access such case documents electronically by conducting a court case lookup with the public access computers at the county courthouses.

Notwithstanding, not all courts in California provide access to case files on the internet. For instance, while the Superior Court of California, County of San Mateo, provides an Odyssey Public Portal for retrieving unofficial case documents, the Superior Court of California, County of Kern, advises requesters to visit or send a mail request to get case documents.

How to Conduct a California Court Case Search by Name

Anyone who wants to conduct a California court search by name should access the case information system maintained online by the presiding court. Typically, on the system, the requester must provide a case party's last name to obtain results. However, one can input the party's full or partial first name to filter search results.

It is worth mentioning that some courts (like the Orange County Superior Court and Los Angeles County Superior Court) demand a fee to use their online Case Name Search tool. For such courts, an inquirer residing in California can appear in person during working hours to search at no charge. Individuals may also mail a case party's name and the appropriate search fee to the court.

What is a Court Case Number?

A court case number is a unique identifier assigned by a court clerk's office to a case filed in a court of law. It appears on every official document linked to a case and is used to distinguish the case as it goes through the court system (from filing to disposition). A case number may consist of letters, numbers, or characters (like a hyphen), and its format differs depending on the court where the case was filed.

Besides enabling courts to track cases easily, a case number can be used by parties, their attorneys, and members of the public to access case documents and information.

There are Key Details That Any Case Number Will Often Reveal:

The particular court branch that received the case filing
The year of filing
The type of case (small claims, criminal, traffic, limited civil, unlawful detainer, etc.)
The filing sequence of the case in the court's records

How to Conduct a Case Number Lookup in California

Similar to conducting a California court case lookup, inquirers may conduct a case number search by visiting the courthouse to search computers provided at no cost to the public. As it is a case number search, a requester must possess the relevant case number (or a case party's name if the case number is unknown), which will be used to retrieve case information and documents from the system.

In addition, many courts in California offer remote electronic access to members of the public on their websites. Thus, an interested person can visit a presiding court's website to access its case management system, where a case number search feature will be provided.

Note that courts have different names for their case management systems. For example, it is called a Court Index by the San Diego County Superior Court, Public Access by the Riverside County Superior Court, Online Case Access by the San Mateo County Superior Court, and Docket Search by the California Supreme Court. Furthermore, some courts offer a guest or public login to requesters, while others require users to create an account to conduct the case number search.

Individuals who cannot visit the court or use the online service can also conduct a case number search via mail. Whereas a California case number search online or at the court is free, mail requesters must usually include the research fee together with any applicable copy fee for the case number search. A fee schedule can be found on the court's website or by calling the court during business hours.

How to Remove Court Cases From Public Record in California

Before an individual can remove a case from public inspection in California, their case must first be eligible. This means that an existing law must mandate confidentiality or justification must exist that the public interest served by the disclosure of the record is inadequate when compared to the public interest in withholding the record (Government Code § 7922.000). For example, Penal Code §§ 851.7 and 851.87 authorize the sealing and destruction of criminal cases where the prosecutor filed no charges, where charges were filed but dismissed, and where the defendant completed a pre-filing diversion program. Subsequently, the interested individual (who must be a case party or their legal representative) must petition the court to seal or dismiss/expunge the record unless they qualify for automatic relief.

According to California Rules of Court 2.550, sealing removes a court case record from the public file and limits access only to authorized persons. Individuals can find the procedures for placing cases under seal in the California Rules of Court 2.551.

On the other hand, expungement (often called a "dismissal" in California) is a form of relief reserved for adult criminal cases. Although the term expungement means erasure, the California courts do not erase or destroy a record upon a petition for dismissal. Instead, the court reopens the case, withdraws the finding of guilt (the guilty plea, guilty verdict, or no contest plea), enters a not guilty plea, and then dismisses the case.

The effect of expungement in California is that a defendant's record will show that their conviction was dismissed. Furthermore, certain people who run background checks, like credit agencies, landlords, and employers, will not discover the conviction. However, since the courts do not seal the record, a motivated individual may still find the case record so long as it has not been destroyed under Government Code § 68152. Comprehensive information about California's expungement procedures and eligible cases can be found on the state judiciary's Clean Your Record page.

Then again, several criminal cases are automatically sealed from public inspection per the enactment of Senate Bill (SB) 731. In such cases, the affected parties do not require a court petition to remove their cases from public record. For instance, commencing July 1, 2023, California will automatically seal the cases of felony defendants who have satisfied all requirements for their offenses and have had no further run-ins with the justice system for the subsequent four years. The legislation does not cover serious crimes or registered sex offenders.

How to Check a Court Case Status in California

Case parties and other interested persons can check the status of a California court case online with the public case access tool provided on the presiding court's website. This tool can typically be accessed with a case number or party's name. Alternatively, an individual can visit or write to the court for this information.

Note that one cannot simply call the court clerk's office to inquire into a case's active or closed status, as California court clerks do not process such requests over the phone.

How to Find Supreme Court Decisions in California

Decisions rendered by the California Supreme Court are classified as public records under the CPRA and made available to interested members of the public. The usual place to find supreme court decisions (formally called "opinions") in California is the Opinions section of the California courts website. The public also has access to a searchable database to find previous opinions rendered by the court. The database can be searched with a case number, case name, attorney's name, or case caption.

What Percentage of Court Cases Go to Trial in California?

According to the annual court statistics reports released by the California judiciary, less than 1% of felony cases filed in the California court system go to a court trial (a trial heard by a judge only) and, from comparing a five-year trend (2018-2022), only about 2% make it to a jury trial. In other words, roughly 98% of felony cases are resolved before the trial date in California. This gap also shows up in civil, traffic/non-traffic misdemeanors, and traffic/non-traffic infractions filed in the state courts, with most cases being resolved pre-trial. Case in point: Per the 2022 Court Statistics Report, of the 163,504 unlimited civil cases disposed by the superior courts, only 18,063 (11%) were disposed after trial. Similarly, non-traffic misdemeanor cases had 172,366 dispositions, with only >1% (832) occurring by trial.

For interested parties, the annual court statistics reports contain a breakdown (by case type) of the cases that went to trial in a particular calendar year.

How Long Does a Court Case Last in California?

The California legislature does not impose a standard timeframe for resolving a court case. Each case brought before a state court is distinct from the next. As a result, while a less complex case (like a traffic infraction) may last some days to a few weeks, cases bearing more complexity may span several months or years. For example, a simple or uncontested divorce in California lasts at least six months, while a contested divorce case may take one or more years to finalize.

How to File a Case in Court in California

"Filing" is a terminology used within the court system to refer to the formal commencement of an action to resolve a dispute in court using established legal procedures.

To file a civil case in California, an individual or organization (known as the plaintiff) must submit a civil complaint and other required legal paperwork/forms to a court clerk's office and pay the associated filing fees. (Most often, the clerk's office is located in the county where the defendant - the liable party - resides or the cause of action arose.) The legal documents inform the court of the dispute and what the petitioner requires from the court. Without them, the court cannot preside over the case. In California, civil complaints and legal papers can be filed at the courthouse, by mail, or electronically. The best way to verify how a case can be filed is to call the relevant court clerk's office or consult a local attorney. More details about filing a civil case can be found on the California judicial branch's website or (in many cases) the applicable court's website.

Similar to civil cases, criminal cases in California begin with the filing of legal documentation ("charges") in court. However, as explained, the person who files a criminal case - and chooses what charges to file - is the prosecutor.

What Does It Mean if a Court Case Was Resolved Before the Trial Date?

During a California court case lookup, inquirers may find that a case has been resolved before its trial date. If a court case was resolved before the trial date, it means that the court or case parties disposed of the case in another way without requiring a bench or jury trial. This alternative method could be by:

Plea bargain: When a criminal defendant opts to plead guilty in exchange for leniency in sentencing or the dismissal of some charges
Mutual compromise: When the two opposing sides reach an agreement through alternative dispute resolution techniques such as mediation or arbitration
Dismissal: When a case party asks the court to dismiss the case before a trial or is ordered to dismiss it by the court. The court could also issue an order dismissing a case. A scenario where this may occur is if a defendant's rights were violated.
Diversion program: A pre-trial sentencing procedure that allows a defendant in a less serious criminal case to skip a formal trial and criminal conviction in lieu of completing a rehabilitation program and probation.

If a case is settled before trial, the matter is deemed closed, and no subsequent proceedings will occur.