Connecticut Case Lookup — Find Your Court Case

Dena Standley | September 21, 2023

Legal Expert, Paralegal
Dena Standley, BA

Dena Standley is a seasoned paralegal with more than 20 years of experience in legal research and writing, having received a certification as a Legal Assistant/Paralegal from Southern Technical College.

Edited by Hannah Locklear

Editor at SoloSuit
Hannah Locklear, BA

Hannah Locklear is SoloSuit’s Marketing and Impact Manager. With an educational background in Linguistics, Spanish, and International Development from Brigham Young University, Hannah has also worked as a legal support specialist for several years.

Fact-checked by Patrick Austin, J.D.

Attorney from George Mason
Patrick Austin, JD

Patrick Austin is a licensed attorney with a background in data privacy and information security law. Patrick received his law degree at George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School, where he served as the Editor-in-Chief for the National Security Law Journal.

Summary: Are you trying to find your Connecticut court case records online? Below is SoloSuit's guide to Connecticut's court structure, court scheduling, how to search for cases by name and docket numbers, and why you should keep track of your case.

Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, you can access court records in Connecticut. Not only can you find your court case, but you can also access any other cases that the state considers public records.

If you don't have time to visit the court clerk to find out if someone has sued you, you can get the information online. Either of these links may have the information you are looking for:

Once logged in, search for your court case in Connecticut by:

Case name
Party name
Docket number
Attorney

Different court divisions handle specific cases. For example, the civil division of the superior court will generally hear small claims cases. An example of a small claim is unpaid medical bills below $5,000. So, with that in mind, let's take a closer look at how Connecticut's courts are structured.

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How are the courts structured in Connecticut?

The judicial system in Connecticut is one of the simplest to understand. Connecticut does most of its judicial business at the state level and has only eight counties. Since SoloSuit deals with civil cases, we will focus on the civil court structure in this section.

The Connecticut judiciary has four general levels:

The Supreme Court: The Supreme Court is the highest level court in the state. It has a chief justice and six assistance justices. This court reviews decisions of the lower Superior Court to confirm that they did not commit any legal errors. In other words, the Supreme Court mostly deals with cases that have been appealed from other courts.
Appellate Court: The Appellate Court's jurisdiction is similar to the Supreme Court's in that it also reviews the Superior Court's decisions.
Superior Court: The Superior Court is typically where your debt collection lawsuit goes. It deliberates all legal controversies except those that fall under the jurisdiction of the Probate Court. However, appeals from the Probate Court may end up here. Connecticut has 13 judicial districts and 20 geographical areas. Knowing which of these districts or areas your lawsuit falls in is vital. The four trial divisions of the Superior Court are civil, criminal, housing, and family. Debt lawsuits are civil cases. Hence, that division should interest you if a debt collector sues you.
Probate Court: Unlike other courts, the Probate Court is not state-operated. These courts have jurisdiction over some civil cases, as well as several other types of cases.

The graphic below illustrates the civil court structure in Connecticut:

Connecticut court structure

With this overview of the Connecticut court structures in mind, let's understand a few more terms you may come across. You'll also discover the easiest way to find your debt collection lawsuit.

What is court scheduling?

Once the plaintiff files the lawsuit and every requirement for it to proceed has been met (either by proper filing or deadline expiry), the judge will move to set the dates. The most important of these is the trial date.

Scheduling is an informal hearing. It's not the setup to argue your case but rather to talk about how the case will proceed. At the hearing, all parties contribute opinions about any inquiries they may have and any concerns that may affect the set dates.

With the trial date fixed, the judge can set deadlines for other important events, such as the latest evidence collection and filing date.

It's good practice to bring your lawyer to the scheduling hearing if you plan to have one represent you. The reason is that once important deadlines are set, your attorney may have difficulty clearing their schedule to make all hearings. So they should be present at scheduling and raise any reservations about the dates.

You should also have your schedule in mind to ensure that you won't be out of state or country on pre-scheduled business on important court dates.

Search by case name

If you know the case name, go to Case Name Search and enter the name. You may type in the complete name or part of it, but you have to spell it correctly.

To narrow down the search:

Fill in the date.
Choose either Supreme court or Appellate court in the drop-down button (leave the date blank and select both courts if you don't have the information. It may take longer to spot your case).
Click the search button.

Let's explore an example of a situation requiring a case search:

Example: A consumer named Smith learned that JPMCB sold his credit card debt. He suspected that the debt collector was possibly suing him, although he has not received a Summons. Smith recently moved to a new address because he couldn't keep up with the rising rent costs at his previous apartment. Before he moved, he received debt validation from the debt collector and a warning that they planned to sue. Now, Smith strongly feels that the summons and complaint may have ended up at his old address. So he decides to check court records to see if his gut feeling is more than just a feeling.

To find the case using Name Search, Smith may have to guess the name of the case because he hasn't seen the court papers. It's not hard to figure out the parties in the case and hence the case name. The case name may be ExampleDebtCollectors (plaintiff) vs. Smith McDoe (defendant).

Search for case by party name

Go to Appellate/Supreme case lookup and type the party's name to find your case by party name. You are party to the case because you suspect you're being sued. So you can type in your legal name or the plaintiff's name. As with case names, type your name in full or partially with the correct spelling. Don't use nicknames.

For a broader search, leave the other fields as-is. Or you can choose the court type if you know where the case was filed. Narrow the search even further by selecting the case status. Click submit to see the results.

As in Smith's case, he needs to type in Smith McDoe. Because he doesn't know a lot about courts and the status of the case, he leaves the other fields black and clicks submit.

Search by docket number

Every case filed in a court has a case number. Here's how case numbers are assigned:

Year: Usually, the case number begins with a two-digit figure for the year.
Case type: After the year, the case type is listed. For example, CIV stands for civil cases.
Case number: Following the case type, there will be a designated case number (usually four or five digits).
Judge's name: Finally, the judge's initials are usually included at the end of the case number. For example, JD stands for Jane Doe.

Let's take a look at a real example using the format above.

Example: 22-CIV-21895-JD is the 21,895th civil case filed in 2022, assigned to Honorable Jane Doe.

The case number is the fastest way to find your case because it's unique and appears in all the papers submitted to the court. Go to search by docket number. Enter the number and hit search.

You can get the docket number by searching the parties on Connecticut's judicial branch website.

Search for a case in Connecticut by attorney

Do you know the name of the attorney who is representing the plaintiff? If yes, then finding your case is quick. You can also use the Juris number if you have it. Go to search by Attorney, fill in the remaining fields, and click search.

Why should you keep track of your court case?

It is super important to know if you have a court case and how it's going. If you need to attend a hearing, you can't miss it, or the judge may issue a default judgment. If that happens, the consequences may be disastrous. You could lose your savings, wages, or property.

You have 30 days to respond to a debt collection Summons in Connecticut. You can't afford to miss the deadline, because if you do, you will lost by default. Instead, draft and file a timely, professional Answer with SoloSuit.

What is SoloSuit?

SoloSuit makes it easy to fight debt collectors.

You can use SoloSuit to respond to a debt lawsuit, to send letters to collectors, and even to settle a debt.

SoloSuit's Answer service is a step-by-step web-app that asks you all the necessary questions to complete your Answer. Upon completion, we'll have an attorney review your document and we'll file it for you.

Respond with SoloSuit

"First time getting sued by a debt collector and I was searching all over YouTube and ran across SoloSuit, so I decided to buy their services with their attorney reviewed documentation which cost extra but it was well worth it! SoloSuit sent the documentation to the parties and to the court which saved me time from having to go to court and in a few weeks the case got dismissed!" – James

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>>Read the FastCompany article: Debt Lawsuits Are Complicated: This Website Makes Them Simpler To Navigate