First, a little background -- why dockets matter

The docket for a civil or family case is the summary of all pleadings, motions, requests, orders, memoranda and other filings for that case.  It's the record that shows whether or not a document was filed, who filed it, and whether or not the court acted upon it, what the court decided to do about that document, and the date of that decision. 

Prejudgment remedies, such as injunctions and property attachments, are recorded on the docket.  It shows whether or not offers of judgment (basically, offers to settle the case) were ever filed.  It shows whether or not the parties disclosed expert witnesses.  If a case went to trial, the docket can be used to show the date the trial began and when it concluded, as well as when a final judgment was entered.  If a judgment was entered, the docket details many of the efforts made to collect on that judgment, such as an examination of the judgment debtor or wage executions.  In short, it shows how extensively a case was litigated -- whether there were only a few papers filed and the case quietly disappeared, or if hundreds of motions and papers have been packed in boxes sitting somewhere in the State Archives.     

That being said, it remains a mystery to me why the Judicial Branch removes computerized dockets from their online database.  But they persist in doing so, just as they've done since I started collecting this data in the early 1990s.  Court PC has been archiving docket records for all CV/FA cases for over 15 years.   My best estimate is that we have full docket records for about 85% of the CV and FA cases in our database, or approximately two million cases.   And we offer them at no charge. 

Using the Docket Search tab

This is the simplest of our search types to use.  First, you need to know the location, year and docket number of the case you want to view.  Select the location from the location pull-down list.  Enter the year as a two digit number (e.g. 98 for 1998, or 07 for 2007).  Then enter the seven digit docket number.

The case record will come up, looking something like this.  The header provides the basic case summary, followed by the party and appearance information, followed by the docket.

What could be simpler? 

The two-letter code under the "Outcome" column describes the court's action.  The most common codes are DN (Denied), GR (Granted), OR (Order), OV (Overruled), and SU (Sustained).

And don't worry about the six-digit codes under the "Judge" column.  These are Juris numbers that you can look up free of charge on our "Search by Juris Number" tab.  The Juris number 089998 is an entry you'll often see if you use this feature -- it means "By the Clerk," meaning the motion was processed administratively, without going before a judge.  The Juris number 409858 belongs to an actual judge, in this case, the Hon. Jack L. Grogins, who was assigned to the Ansonia-Milford Judicial District.