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Most Court Documents Available to the Public: Clerks Can Also Give Out Basic Case Information

Posted on: Friday, 17 March 2006, 09:00 CST

By Kira Millage, The Bellingham Herald, Bellingham, Wash.

Mar. 17--Curious about a murder case from the late 1980s? Want to know when your next court appearance is? All you have to do is ask. Court documents, for the most part, are public record and therefore available to anyone who wants to see them. Jenifer Green, a deputy clerk for Whatcom County Superior Court, said people come in daily asking for cases. People can check out case files from Whatcom County's three kinds of courts - superior, district and municipal - but the documents must be read in the office. Clerks can also give basic information without checking out the file, including the next court date and what stage the case is in. Whatcom County Superior Court cases from 2005 and this year are available on the courthouse computer system, and documents can be printed for a small fee. The court has cases dating back to the 1800s, but finding things older than 1980 might take a bit of time, Green said. The files are in storage, and older files are indexed on card files, not a computer. Bruce VanGlubt, Whatcom County District Court administrator, said people come in daily asking about cases, but it's usually to find their own court date, not to check past cases. WHICH COURT TO CHECK District courts: Cover areas not handled by municipal courts. Handle minor cases, such as traffic violations, misdemeanors, civil cases involving damages up to $50,000 and small claims cases under $4,000. Municipal courts: Cover cases that happen within city limits and break city laws. Handle mostly traffic violations. Superior court: Any case that happens within a certain area, usually a county, can be heard in superior court. There is no limit as to the cases that can be heard, but many superior court cases involve felonies, juveniles or civil disputes with large monetary values. People can search online through the Washington State Courts Web site for specific cases, but only the docket information is available, at the most. For detailed information about a case, you must contact the court clerk's office for the specific court. Information can be found by calling or visiting court clerks' offices. Whatcom County Superior Court: Whatcom County Courthouse, 311 Grand Ave. Suite 301, Bellingham. Phone: 676-6777. Whatcom County District Court: Whatcom County Courthouse, 311 Grand Ave. Suite 401, Bellingham. Phone: 676-6770. Bellingham Municipal Court: 2014 C St. Phone: 676-6978. Blaine Municipal Court: 344 H St. Phone: 332-8311. Ferndale Municipal Court: 2095 Main St. Phone: 384-2827. Lynden Municipal Court: 323 Front St. Phone: 354-4270. Everson-Nooksack Municipal Court: 111 W. Main St., Everson. Phone: 966-3411. Sumas Municipal Court: mailing address P.O. Box 9, Sumas. Phone: 988-5711. TO FIND YOUR COURT DATE: * Go to the Washington Courts Web site (http://dw.courts.wa.gov/) and click on "Find my Court Date." * Choose which court your case will be in (Whatcom Superior, Bellingham Municipal, etc.). * Type in your last name and the first initial of your first name. You can type in the case number if you have it. * When your case comes up, you can click on the case number to get a printable page of information.

TO FIND A SUPERIOR COURT CASE: * Go to the Washington Courts Web site and click on "Case Number/ Case Name Search." * Click on "Superior Court Cases." * Choose which court the case was in. * Pick which type of case it is, (i.e. criminal, civil, domestic). * Pick which year the case was filed in or any year BEFORE that. Case records for all superior courts only go back to 1975 online. * Type in the last name and first initial of the defendant's name or type in the case number by clicking on the tab above the search box. * When the different cases come up, click on the one you want, and you can view the docket information. For Whatcom County cases, if you need to see the actual documents associated with the case, you must go in person to the Whatcom County Superior Court Clerk's Office at the Whatcom County Courthouse. For other superior courts, some of them have the documents online. If a document is available, you can click on the document number to view it. TO FIND A DISTRICT OR MUNICIPAL COURT CASE: * Go to the Washington Courts Web site and click on "Case Number/ Case Name Search." * Click on "Municipal and District Court Cases" * Choose which court the case was in. * Pick which type of case it is (i.e. criminal felony, civil, infraction traffic, etc.) * Pick which year the case was filed in or any year BEFORE that. Case records for all superior courts only go back to 1975 online. * Type in the last name and first initial of the defendant's name or type in the case number by clicking on the tab above the search box. * When the different cases come up, click on the one you want, and you can view the case number, the file date and whether the case is open or closed. Docket information is not available online for municipal and district courts at this time. For more information, you must go to the court clerk's office.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Bellingham Herald, Bellingham, Wash.

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Source: The Bellingham Herald, Wash.

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