District Court Records

The federal judiciary system includes district courts for each of the 94 districts within the United States, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands also each have a district court. There may be more than one district within a state, but each state has at least one. These courts hear federal cases from within the district, and are largely jury courts. Many Americans serve jury duty in these federal trial courts.

Types of Cases Heard by District Courts

District courts hear both civil and criminal cases that are deemed under federal jurisdiction. The determination of whether a case is federal or not depends on whether the charges are addressed under any federal law, or involve diversity of citizenship.

For example, if someone claims that his or her federal civil rights have been violated, this would be a federal case. Patent rights, antitrust laws and any other issues which are provided federal jurisdiction in the Constitution will be heard in a federal district court. Diversity of citizenship cases are those which involve two citizens from different states or localities. This also applies when one business sues another in a different state, but either way the plaintiff must be asking for $75,000 or more in damages. 

District Court Records

Finding district court records is quite easy when you have registered with PACER, or Public Access to Court Electronic Records. This is a public service which you must have an account and pay a very small per page fee to access records from all federal appellate, district and bankruptcy courts. These are often made available as soon as the documents are filed with the courts. 

It’s also possible to go directly to your district’s Court Clerk’s office to obtain records locally. During an in-person search, you’ll likely need to look up the appropriate records through an in-house computer or index. To do this, you’ll need to know at least one of the parties’ names that were involved in the case, the date or range of dates to search, and possibly even the case file number. The more information you have, the better.

Information in District Court Records

These records will always contain information about the parties involved in the case. The cases are identified as ‘plaintiff vs. defendant,’ and may include addresses, birthdates and other identifying information about the parties. Very personal information such as Social Security numbers are redacted from the files, as well as information pertaining to minors involved in the case.

You’ll also notice a collection of all documents presented in court, an inventory of evidence presented, charges against the defendant, pleas and defenses entered by the defendant, and any judgments or rulings. If the case was civil in nature and monetary awards were given, the dollar amount will also be included in the record.

These district records may help you conduct your own background check or even just to learn more details about a specific case. If you were party to the case, you may need to obtain copies for employment purposes, post-graduate school applications or legal reference in a related case.

State-Specific District Court Records Information:

Oklahoma District Court Records