Court records - examining the legal past

Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, court records are openly available to the public in every state of the United States. However, simply because they are available does not mean that they are easy to access - the huge number of documents, the fact that many of these documents exist only in paper format, and the fact that they are stored at the individual courts where the cases were heard. Nevertheless, online court records exist and are often the best place to begin delving into the details of the legal past.

Online court records can often be searched in several different ways. Cases can be found by entering the name of an individual involved in the case, a business name, or the unique case number assigned to each court case, if known.

The information available in directly-searchable online records is often very limited. Typically, courts do not have the manpower, time, or resources to transcribe the full documentation of every case to their online databases, so the court records returned usually only include a case summary, a timeline, and sometimes a docket which lists the different activities that occurred during the case, without giving specific details of those activities.

Although the online details of the case are likely to be sketchy at best, they are an important foundation for further investigation. Names of litigants, defendants, attorneys, judges, and any other interested parties, the dates of the case, and the case number (if provided) should all be noted to help identify the case when investigating court records in more detail.

A more involved method - but one which offers larger amounts of information - is to contact the Attorney General's office for the state where the case occurred. All states of the U.S. now have official websites, and a quick search of the appropriate site will reveal the contact information for the state attorney general. E-mail and telephone data are usually on offer.

Although it is tempting to use e-mail to contact the state attorney general's office, it is usually better to call directly during regular business hours. The attorney general's office will not have the records on hand themselves, but will be able to provide the contact information for the specific court where the case was heard. It is obviously of great help if some details about the case are already known, so that the personnel at the office can easily identify the legal proceeding in question and direct the inquirer to the correct court speedily.

There will likely be some paperwork involved in gaining the release of court records once the specific court is found. Each state has its own release documents, and it is unlikely that these can be handed in online. A hard copy is likely to be needed, with signatures as appropriate, sent either by mail or fax. Fax is recommended for speed, assuming that the facsimile of a signature is enough to meet the state standards. The state will probably also charge a small fee for printing and mailing court records.

If yet more detailed records are needed than can be provided the court, and if cost is no object, then a private detective can be hired to collect the papers and digest them into a useful conspectus.

It should be noted that court records can only be used as the basis for a hiring decision if the court case is closely related to the job that is being applied for. Using court records to deny a job application that has nothing to do with the court case leaves a company open to the charges of discrimination - for example, a job applicant could justly claim that a divorce suit has nothing to do with their suitability for stocking shelves or maintaining a computer database.

However, with the tools available to the modern searcher, a court records search has become more viable, quick, and easy than ever before, and can be used for numerous different purposes - screening a potential employee, discovering the legal background of a property or company in which one has an interest, investigating a will, or generally building a better picture of an important legal matter of the past.