Information About Public Civil Action Records

The public records contain details that are rendered by the government agencies at the local, county, city and state levels. These records may also be compiled by nongovernmental and commercial agencies. The availability of the public records depends on the state specific regulations. The accessibility of these records is controlled by the Freedom of information Act (1966) of USA. The public civil actions records are stored maintained by the government agencies.

Public Civil Actions Records: An Introduction

The civil court actions may be referred to as lawsuits that are filed by a particular plaintiff against a certain defendant. Each of these civil actions are docketed by the respective court and then tracked accordingly. The docket number is a unique code and is never repeated. These numbers are used for identifying the lawsuit and all the legal documents that are involved with the particular case. Every pleading has a connection with the civil action. Therefore as soon as they are filed they become a part of public records and hence available for inspection.

The civil actions records may consist of civil dockets, civil action case files and record books on civil cases. These types of records mainly inform about various kind non-criminal litigation's. In fact a can be case of family disputes, contract disputes, divorce disputes, property disputes and even personal injury claims. The documents that are available to be viewed by the public comprise every credential that is filed with the court.

These documents are dated since the beginning of the case through the trial of the case. The complaint that is filed by the plaintiff informs about the dispute and the response from the defendant. You can also access the statements filed both the parties. These are basically requests before the court for attaining relief. Records that are generally not available for public access include some sensitive case proceedings or warranted civil cases. Other exceptions include certain divorce records, cases pertaining to child custody and cases related to guardianship matters.

Search a Public Civil Actions Record

To search a public civil action record you have to know the docket number of the case. A search can also be conducted by the name of one of the persons in the lawsuit. But if you are aware of the territory or the state where a particular case was filed, you can trace it up from the National Archives. Visit the following page and find out about the vast range of federal records available from the USA archives-
http://www.archives.gov/judicial/#locations.

The civil action cases are resolved by the civil courts. Therefore you can directly contact the civil courts and follow up for a copy of a certain civil case. These records are also maintained in the local, state and federal courts. You can conduct a search in the “Civil upper court”, “Civil lower court” or “Federal district court civil”. You may also approach the municipal courts if the case you are searching has taken place within the last seven years. The common results of running a search for a civil action case are-

• Names of Plaintiff
• Names of defendants
• The date when the case was filed
• Type of action
• Current status
• Disposition
• Court orders
• Other official copies

The public civil actions records can be obtained in a microfilm format or a copy can be retrieved directly from the particular court.
Search for a civil action record involving claims from: http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/205.html.

Or mail your queries at:
The National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001.