Investigative Services Support

Investigative Services Support Phone Number: (714) 280-4514

If you have a question about any portion of your ongoing investigation please feel free to contact us at (714) 280-4514 between the hours of 8am and 7pm PST.

Case File / Records Definitions

Case Files: A case file contains evidence, testimony, correspondence, depositions, and other documents relevant to the case. Finding a case file normally requires obtaining a case file number from the index, docket, or minutes of the case.

Dockets: After a judiciary agrees to hear a case, it is placed on the court docket until the time of the trial. Typically, an entry on the docket includes the plaintiff and defendant for each case, the date of the case's hearing, the case's file number, and the titles of all documents relevant to the case. Dockets are normally held in chronological order and are typically divided by category, such as criminal, civil, or equity.

Minutes: The minutes, compiled by the clerk of the court, briefly record all actions of the court on a single day. Particularly useful when indexes and dockets cannot be located, they usually list the plaintiff and defendant in the case and state the action taken. They are normally organized chronologically but are rarely indexed.

Orders: The recorded orders of the court can be found in almost every jurisdiction. They generally present a concise summary of the case and state the judgment to be carried out. It is worth noting that appointments of guardians, memorials, naturalizations, and re-recordings of deeds, especially before this century, are often recorded in the order books. In addition, a variety of other administrative data from the locality was also recorded frequently.