Santa Clara County, California Court Records

Santa Clara County Court Records

Court Records are official documents maintained by the Santa Clara Superior Court when a case is filed by an individual. The court records would include all the information the individual gives about the case. If all court cases are not kept in records, cases would not be tried in courts with the confidence of having information on what had previously occurred.

In Santa Clara County, there are two types of Court Case Records. The Civil record and the Criminal record. One can view both the Civil and the Criminal Records by using the Case Information Portal.

Superior Courts have six court divisions based on case types. These include:

Criminal
Civil
Small Claims
Family
Juvenile
Probate
Traffic

Courts in Santa Clara County maintain records of everything that happens during the legal process.

Are Court Records Public in Santa Clara County?

Yes. Santa Clara County court records are available to everyone who requests the court records in most cases.

Santa Clara County Public Records include records of criminal cases, civil cases (like personal and business lawsuits), bankruptcies, marriages and divorces, liens, tax issues, small claims, traffic court cases, evictions, and family law cases. e.t.c

Santa Clara County court records are available to the public by following the California Public Records Act (CPRA).

From the CPRA, the legislature asserts that court records be disclosed to the public upon request unless there are privacy or public safety exemptions which would go against doing so.

For example, some criminal court records excluded from the public view are:

Arrest reports or documents that list the victim’s name, address, or telephone number.
Probation reports
Financial or medical information
Domestic violence protective orders

What Do Santa Clara County Court Records Contain?

Information contained in Santa Clara County Court Records is as follows:

Case Type
Case Number
Filing Date
Case Status
Court Location
Name of Defendant
Name of Attorneys
Type of Hearing
Hearing Dates
Result of each Hearing conducted
Hearing Department
Date and Time of Hearing

Where to Conduct a Santa Clara County Case Lookup.

Places to Conduct a Santa Clara County Case Lookup are:

How to Conduct a Santa Clara County Court Case Search

Individuals that wish to access Santa Clara County case records can access the records online or in person.

Copies of the pleadings must also be obtained at the courthouse in which the case was filed.

To access court records in person, the requester has to visit any of the Santa Clara Courts. The Staff of the Santa Clara County respected Court would search when the requester provides the following information:

Case number
Case Name
Title of the document(s) requested
File date of the document(s)

If the requester is unable to provide any of the above information, the search can still be done, but in this case, it would attract a search fee. If the requester gets copies of documents from the court clerk, the requester will be charged $.50 per page of the documents.

For an online search, Santa Clara Public Portal can be used to access Case records.

After launching the Public Portal, the requester would click on “Index Search ''. By launching the Index search, the requester can search for Case records with any of the following information:

Case number
First and last name of the party
Name of the business involved in the case
Date the case was filed.

Santa Clara County Civil Court Case Records.

Santa Clara Civil Court cases involve a lawsuit in which one party sues another party to recover either money or property. Civil Court cases are done to enforce a contract or an obligation, collect damages for injury, or protect some kind of civil right.

Civil cases in Santa Clara County are heard in the following Santa Clara County Courts:

Santa Clara Civil Court cases are usually divided into sections, depending on how much the cases are worth.

If the Civil case is worth $5,000 or less than $5000 (when filing as a business), the lawsuit can be filed in a Small Claims Court.
If the Civil case is worth $10,000 or less than $10000 (when filing as an individual) the lawsuit can be filed in a Small Claims Court.
If the Civil case is worth $25,000 or less than $25,000, the lawsuit can be filed in a Limited Jurisdiction Superior Court.
If the Civil case is worth more than $25,000, the lawsuit can be filed in an Unlimited Jurisdiction Superior Court.

Santa Clara County Criminal Court Case Records

Santa Clara County Criminal cases range from relatively minor offenses like; traffic infractions to serious offenses like robbery and murder.

Only the office of the District Attorney in Santa Clara County can charge Individuals with Criminal violations as a crime is considered an act agaimst society.

The Attorney in charge of the indictment presents the charge against the accused individual (which is the defendant) on behalf of the State (the plaintiff in this case). The Attorney must establish evidence to the judge or jury that the defendant is guilty at all cost.

Criminal cases are heard in the following Santa Clara County Courts:

Hall of Justice in downtown San Jose
The Family Justice Center (Drug Court)
Palo Alto,
South County Courthouses.

Information about the individuals in custody due to criminal offenses can be gotten from the Santa Clara County Department of Corrections (DOC). The Department of Corrections also provides an online service where you can look up inmate booking information.

It is important to also note that not all Criminal documents are made public. Requesters are not allowed to see or copy the following documents:

An arrest report or any document that contains a victim’s name, victim’s address, or telephone number.
Probation reports
Domestic violence protective orders
Own Recognizance (O.R.) reports
Criminal history information
Financial or medical information

To get copies of Criminal records available to the public between the year 2004 or later, the requester must have the case number of the case.

In cases whereby the requester does not have the case number, the criminal case index search can be used to search case records by using either the defendant's name together with defendant’s date of birth, or the defendant's name with the month and year the case was filed. Another way to get the Case number is to visit any of the Santa Clara County Courts where criminal cases are heard, or to mail the Clerk’s offices in any of Santa Clara Criminal case courts and ask the Clerk to conduct the search.

Once the case number is gotten with any of these avenues, a letter should be written to the Clerk’s office, stating what documents are being requested. The Clerk charges the requester based on the number of pages the requester wishes to copy. The fee schedule can help the requester know the amount that would be charged for the documents.

How to Get Santa Clara Court Records Online for Free

Santa Clara Civil records and Criminal records can be accessed by visiting the Case Information Online website.

Requesters can get some court records for free via the Santa Clara County Superior Court’s Public portal. The simple way is to access the link to the Superior Court website and click on the “Index Search” tool.

Cases can be found for free if the requester has either one of these information: Case number, Business name, Filing Date, Names of the Party.

Search results will reveal basic Santa Clara County hearing information like Case Type, Case Number, Filing Date, Case Status, Court Location, Name of Defendant, Name of Attorneys, Type of Hearing, Hearing Dates, Hearing Department, and the Date and Time of Hearing.

Considered open to citizens of the United States, court records are available through both traditional, government sources, and through third-party websites and organizations. In many cases, third-party websites make the search easier as they are not limited geographically or by technological limitations. They are considered a good place to start when looking for a specific record or multiple records. In order to gain access to these records, interested parties must typically provide:

The name of the person listed in the record. Juveniles are typically exempt from this search method.
The last known or assumed location of the person listed in the record. This includes cities, counties, and states.

While third-party sites offer such services, they are not government sponsored entities, and record availability may vary on these sites when compared to government sources.

Courts in Santa Clara County

Santa Clara County has about eight (8) courts in the county which handles different cases. The addresses and contact information of the Santa Clara County Courts are as follows:

The Downtown Superior Court
No 191 North 1st Street,
San Jose, CA 95113
Phone: (408) 882-2100

The Family Justice Center
201 North 1st Street,
San Jose, CA 95113
Phone: (408) 792-4200

The Hall of Justice Court
P 190-200 West Hedding Street,
San Jose, CA 95110
Phone: (408) 808-6600

The Juvenile Justice Courthouse
No 840 Guadalupe Parkway,
San Jose, CA 95110
Phone: (408) 808-6200

Santa Clara Old Courthouse
161 North 1st Street,
San Jose, CA 95113
Phone: (408) 882-2100

The Palo Alto Courthouse
270 Grant Avenue,
Palo Alto, CA 95113
Phone: (650) 462-3800

The Santa Clara Courthouse
1095 Homestead Road,
Santa Clara, CA 95050
Phone: (408) 556-3000

The South County Courthouse
301 Diana Avenue,
Morgan Hill, CA 95113
Phone: (408) 695-5000