Using the CourtView Database

Cautions: Important!

Currency of Information | Verify Identity | Felony Convictions | Types of Cases Included | Dates Included | Temporary Transfers | Cases from Courts not using CourtView

Currency of Information

Information appears on-line as soon as it is entered into the case management system. The clerks try to keep the system up-to-date, but some information may not be entered until several days after the event occurred.

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Verify Identity

Do not assume that a person listed in this database is the person you are looking for without at least confirming that the date of birth is the same. The court system cautions employers, credit agencies, and others to verify identity before taking any adverse action against a person whose name appears in this database. Additional identifying information may be available in the case file. To request a copy of documents from the case file, contact the court in which the matter was filed.

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Felony Convictions

Do not assume that a defendant was convicted of a felony based on the case type that appears on the Case Summary screen. The case type only reflects the charges that appeared in the original charging document. If the original charging document included any felony charges, the case will be listed as a felony (either “District Court Felony” or “Superior Court Felony”), even if all the charges were eventually reduced to misdemeanors or dismissed.

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Types of Cases Included

Information about confidential cases is not available on-line. For information about a confidential case, contact the court where the case was filed. Confidential case types include: Delinquency, CINA (Child in Need of Aid), Adoption, Mental Commitment, Alcohol Commitment, Emancipation, Medical Emergency, and Minor Settlement.

Information about cases that have been appealed to the Alaska Supreme Court or the Alaska Court of Appeals is available on the Appellate Courts Case Management System website.

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Dates Included / Historical Cases

There is no comprehensive case information available for any trial court location before 1990. Some courts enter older case information into the database on an ongoing basis, so your search results may include matters from the 1980s and 1970s, but you should not assume that all the cases from those years are included in the Index. Contact each court for complete information about cases before 1990.

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Temporary Transfers

The CourtView database includes information on cases temporarily transferred to one of the CourtView courts from a court that is not yet on the CourtView system. The information on these cases is limited to the activity that occurs at the CourtView court. You must contact the home court for full case information.

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Cases from Courts not using CourtView

See the Name Index for case information about cases filed in courts that are not yet using CourtView. Also see section on Temporary Transfers.

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General Index Searching

Searching for Companies | Searching for Party Names | Searching by Case Number

Searching for Companies

To find all public cases about a company, you need to do three separate searches:

1. Enter the first word of the company name in the Company Name field. Then click the SEARCH button. (If the result set is too large, try again with the first two words of the company name.)
2. To perform the second search, delete the key word from the Company Name field. Enter the same word in the Last Name field. Then click the SEARCH button.
3. To perform the third search, delete the key word from the Last Name field. Enter the same word in the First Name field. Then click the SEARCH button.
4. To narrow a search to Fairbanks cases, enter 4FA in the case number field.

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Searching for Party Names

To find all public cases about an individual:

1. Search for multiple spellings.
2. Suggest you use first initial. Search by common nicknames (for example, Bob for Robert).
3. If you are not sure about the entire spelling of a last name, search on the first part of the name. For example: You can search on “Christ” for Christensen, Christiansen, Christianson etc.
4. To narrow a search to Fairbanks cases, enter 4FA in the case number field.

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Searching by Case Number

To find all public cases about an individual:

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General Navigation Information

Understanding Case Information | Docket Screen | Case Disposition vs. Charge Disposition | Case Status | Cost, Due Dates and "Adjusted" Amounts

Understanding Case Information

• Once you have entered the record of a case, there are two ways to navigate through case screens:
  • Click the tabs at the top of a screen. When you click on a tab, other tabs may become available that will guide you to more information.
  • Some information is in color and underlined. Double-click on the word to access other screens and other tabs.
• When entering a case, the first screen displayed is the “Summary” screen. This screen provides the following information:
  • Case type
  • Party Names
  • Attorney Names
  • Charges in criminal cases
  • Type of civil case
  • Assigned judge (current)
  • Case status (open, closed, reopened)
• Events: Only hearings that took place after CourtView was installed in the court are listed in the “Event” screen. Earlier hearings are listed in the docket.
• Party addresses and social security numbers are not displayed on web.

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Dockets Screen

The docket is a permanent, cumulative record of all proceedings in a case. Not all dockets represent documents in the case. Some dockets are descriptions of events entered in CourtView. For example: If a hearing is scheduled in CourtView, a docket is automatically created to reflect the scheduled event even though there is no document for that event.

Note: Dockets include limited information about filings and hearings that occurred before CourtView was installed in the court.

Some examples of what you may find in the docket include:

• Event information (for example: scheduled hearings and/or trial dates)
• Motions filed and the results of those motions
• Monies received for fines, restitution, bail, filing fees, and payments applied to judgments
• Judicial assignments and/or reassignments
• Documents filed in the case
• Civil judgment information
• Sentencing information

Search Options: The docket will automatically display all dockets in the case. However, you can enter criteria and search:

• by docket descriptions and/or
• by dockets within a specified time period
• in ascending or descending chronological order (system defaults to descending order)

Limitations: A maximum of 100 dockets will display at one time. If there are more than 100 dockets, a message will be displayed directly above the docket list indicating “First 100 of result set displayed. Please limit search criteria.”

• In order to view all of the dockets, use the date range search criteria.
  • For example: The case was filed on 11/20/03. The first 100 dockets displayed were within the date range of 4/5/04 to 4/6/06.
  • In order to view the dockets filed prior to those dates, enter 11/20/03 to 4/4/04 in the date range search fields. Then click search.

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Case Disposition vs. Charge Disposition

Case disposition generally reflects how the case was closed. However, it’s important to remember...

In criminal cases:

• If all charges were dismissed, then the case disposition will reflect that the case was dismissed.
• If one or more charges resulted in a conviction, then the case disposition will reflect that the case was disposed by conviction.
  • Do not assume that the defendant was convicted on all charges. For complete information on how each charge was disposed, be sure to check the charge disposition.

In civil and small claims cases:

• If all claims against all parties were dismissed, then case disposition will reflect that the case was dismissed.
• If one or more claims resulted in a judgment, then the case disposition will reflect that the case was disposed by a judgment.
  • Do not assume that a judgment was entered against all defendants and on behalf of all plaintiffs. For complete information on how multiple claims were disposed, check the docket.

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Case Status

In CourtView, there are three case statuses:

Open: Case has been initiated and has never been closed or reopened.

Closed: Generally, a case is closed when a final disposition on the case is entered. However, there are some exceptions as explained in the case status exception section below.

Reopened: Generally, a case is reopened for the following post-judgment activity. However, there are some exceptions as explained in the exception section below.

• All case types:
  • Order Vacating or Setting Aside Judgment
  • Order for New Trial (Either after motion or appeal)
  • Appeal Decision Other than Affirmed
• Criminal:
  • Petitions to revoke probation
  • Conviction is set aside
  • Motion to correct illegal sentence
• Domestic Relations:
  • Motion to modify custody, support or visitation
  • Motion to extend child support for 18-year old
• DV & Stalking:
  • Motion to modify or dissolve long term protective order
• Estates:
  • Petition for subsequent administration

Case Status Exceptions: In CourtView, there are some functions that result in a case being closed and reopened besides the general rules listed above. These exceptions are:

1. Judicial Reassignments. In CourtView, when a case is reassigned to another judge, the case is closed and automatically reopened. The case disposition will reflect a reassignment of a judge.
   Note: Many cases are opened without being assigned to a specific judge. When the case is assigned to a specific judge, the “case disposition” will reflect “Initial Judicial Assignment”. Thereafter, reassignments will reflect a disposition of preempt, recusal or administrative reassignment.
2. Jurisdiction Change: If a case has been transferred from district court to superior court jurisdiction or vice versa, the case will be closed with a disposition showing the change in jurisdiction. The case will then be immediately reopened in the new jurisdiction.

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Cost, Due Dates and "Adjusted" Amounts

Costs include such things as:

• Filing fees
• Miscellaneous monies paid to the court for copies, etc.
• Bail
• Cash Bonds
• Fines
• Surcharges
• Restitution
• Other monetary judgment amounts entered in criminal cases (cost of imprisonment, cost of appointed counsel)

The cost screen shows a summary of the costs in the case, the amounts that have been adjusted and the balance due to the court.

The term “adjusted” means that the cost is no longer due to be paid to the court. In CourtView, in order to remove a cost as an outstanding cost to the court, it is “adjusted”. However, if a cost has been "adjusted" there may still be a balance due payable to the state or city collections office.

• Click on the $ Docket tab for more detailed information regarding costs and adjustments. If a cost has been adjusted, it will be displayed in blue and it will be underlined.
• Click on the adjusted amount to see why the court made the adjustment. The cost may have been transferred to a collections office and may still be payable to that office.

After reviewing a case record:

1. To return to the General Index Search Criteria screen to enter new search criteria, just click the link New Search... (on the right side of the screen, above the tabs)
2. To return to the list of cases from your original search criteria, do one of the following:
   • Option 1: Click the Back arrow on the menu bar until you return to the original list.
   • Option 2: Click the down-arrow next to the Back icon on the menu bar. Then select “Court View 2000 – Public Access”. This will return you to the original list of cases.

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Other Information

Deciphering Case Numbers | Court Location Prefixes | Case File Suffixes | Case Types | Historical Cases | Requesting Copies of Court Records | Reporting Errors to Records | Reporting Technical Difficulties

Deciphering Case Numbers

A case number is made up of four parts:

1. The prefix tells you the judicial district and court.
   Alaska has four judicial districts. A map of the judicial districts is available on the court's website.
   In this example, 3PA stands for Third Judicial District, Palmer. A complete list of court location prefixes is provided below.

2. This number is the year the case was filed with the court.
   In the example above, the case was filed in 1998. Paper documents for some older criminal case numbers may also have a letter before the year (S,C,M, or B); however, the letter has been removed in all electronic court case records and should not be included when searching for a court case.

3. This number is the next available number in the sequence of cases filed that year.
   In this example, this case was the 1234th case filed in 1998.

4. The suffix tells you the general category of the case.
   In the above example, CI stands for Civil. A complete list of case suffixes is provided below. Case suffixes change over time. For example, domestic violence cases used to have a separate suffix of DV; today they are assigned a CI suffix. If you do not get a satisfactory result when searching for a domestic relations or domestic violence case number filed prior to 1995, try searching on the case number using the following suffixes: DV, DR, and CI.

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Court Location Prefixes

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Case File Suffixes

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Case Types

Case type refers to the breakdown of different kinds of cases. For example, traffic, civil, divorces, dissolutions, probate, small claims and criminal etc. Confidential cases are not available through web access. Parties to a confidential case may only access file information at the courthouse and may be required to produce identification in order to view the file.

Examples of confidential cases include:

• All children’s proceedings (Delinquency and Child In Need of Aid cases)
• Adoptions
• Alcohol Commitments
• Mental Commitments
• Emancipation
• Most other probate cases types except estates and protective proceedings

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Requesting Copies of Court Records

Requests for copies of case files should be submitted in writing to the records department or clerk of court where the case was filed. A complete list of Alaska Court System contact information is available on our website. Email requests for copies are not accepted.

Your written request for copies should include:

the names of the parties

the case number

the case type (for example: civil, criminal, probate, small claims)

your name

your address

your phone number

Records in some proceedings, such as juvenile matters, are confidential and only parties to the case are allowed access to the file.

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Reporting Errors to Records

If you believe a record in the database contains a factual error, please contact the clerk of court where the matter was filed.

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Reporting Technical Difficulties

If you are experiencing technical difficulties with CourtView, contact:

Alaska Court System
IS Help Desk
907-264-8212

8:00 am - 4:30 pm *
Monday - Friday

The Helpdesk can not provide information about case records.

*Alaska is one hour behind the west coast.

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Rev. 23 February 2009 © Alaska Court System www.state.ak.us/courts webmaster@courts.state.ak.us

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