Pennsylvania Court Case Lookup

In Pennsylvania, a court case is a dispute between two or more parties settled by a judge, jury, or some other court process. Within the Pennsylvania court system, court cases are deemed civil or criminal. A civil court case is a non-criminal disagreement filed by private citizens, organizations, or government entities against other similar parties. In contrast, the government initiates a criminal court case against a citizen for criminal acts. A Pennsylvania court case lookup provides members of the public with access to court record information generated in the course of judicial proceedings within state limits. Pursuant to the state FOIA, Pennsylvania court records are public unless otherwise decided by a law or court order.

The judiciary in Pennsylvania consists of the supreme court, superior court, commonwealth court, courts of common pleas, and minor courts. These courts collectively hear hundreds of thousands of cases in any given year.

Are Court Cases Public Record in Pennsylvania?

Yes. Court cases are presumptively open to the public per the Pennsylvania Constitution and common law. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court's Public Access Policy of the Unified Judicial System governs public access to these cases. Accordingly, members of the public can request to view or copy records of Pennsylvania court cases, except for sealed or otherwise confidential cases. For example, adoption court cases and juvenile dependency cases.

How to Conduct a Pennsylvania Court Case Lookup

Generally, individuals can perform a Pennsylvania court case lookup online or in person. Individuals searching for Pennsylvania cases online can find case information as follows:

Access the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania (UJS) web portal
Click "Case Information"
Use any of the 13 available options (including a case number) to search for court cases.

Some local courts, like the Philadelphia Municipal Court, also provide public case access on their websites.

A person can also look up a Pennsylvania court case at the courthouse where it was filed. One may contact the court clerk's office to determine the case lookup procedure.

Can I Get Pennsylvania Court Case Documents Online?

Not in all cases. Although the Pennsylvania courts allow interested persons to search court cases, view case information, and even view/print docket sheets online, access to court case documents is often paywalled or available only to users with a username and password. Usually, a person will have to visit or write the court to obtain court case documents.

How to Conduct a Pennsylvania Court Case Search by Name

Anyone who wants to conduct a Pennsylvania court case search by name can follow these steps:

Visit the homepage of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania (UJS) web portal.
On the top menu, hover the mouse pointer over "Case Information" and click "Case Search".
Click the dropdown arrow in the "Search By" tab and select "Participant Name".
Enter the case party's last and first name. To refine the search results, one may also use additional search options like a filing date range, county of filing, and case status.
Click "Search".

Bear in mind that appellate court cases cannot be searched by name on the UJS portal; interested parties must use the "Appellate" or "Docket Number" search function instead.

Private aggregate sites are another option for performing a Pennsylvania court case search with a person's name.

What is a Court Case Number?

A court case number is a unique code given to a court case to distinguish it from others filed in the same court. It often consists of numbers, alphabets, and sometimes, special characters (like a hyphen).

A case number carries some details about a case, such as the type of case, the presiding court's name/location, the year a case was filed, and sometimes, the presiding judge's initials. This enables courts to identify a case and retrieve related information or documents.

How to Conduct a Case Number Search in Pennsylvania

Members of the public who want to conduct a case number search in Pennsylvania can visit the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania (UJS) online portal. There, the individual should select "Case Search" from the top menu (as explained previously) and select "Docket Number" from the dropdown menu. Subsequently, enter the docket number and click "Search".

One can also visit the courthouse within working hours to search for a court case with its docket number.

How to Remove Court Cases From Public Record in Pennsylvania

Former case participants can petition the court to remove their cases from the public record via sealing or expungement. Both limit the public's access to court cases. However, whether the court grants or denies a request often rests on the following factors:

The type of case and its seriousness
Whether a statute, court order, or court rule permits the restriction
Whether the court finds a reasonable privacy or safety concern to bar public access
The age of the case
The petitioner's behavior and history (typically for criminal cases)

Eligible criminal defendants can petition the court under 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122 to expunge their court cases. Legal eligibility to expunge criminal cases is outlined in Act 134 of 2008. The expungement filing fee varies by county. Low-income earners can apply for a waiver, however.

Those who want to file for criminal case expungement should note that only non-convictions can be expunged. Felony and misdemeanor convictions cannot usually be expunged from the public record, except if the record holder is 70 years old or older and remained crime-free for 10 years following any incarceration period or the record holder obtained a pardon. Nonetheless, law enforcement agencies can still access pardoned cases.

More information about Pennsylvania's criminal expungement process (plus forms) can be obtained from the state police's website or a court's website. For example, the York County Court of Common Pleas provides extensive information on expungement petitions and eligibility in Pennsylvania. One may also review the applicable laws.

On the other hand, parties to a civil case can file a petition to seal with the court to conceal their cases from public examination (an expungement cannot be used for civil cases). An interested party may consult a local legal professional to determine if their case can be sealed under Pennsylvania's civil laws.

How to Check a Court Case Status in Pennsylvania

Members of the public can check the status of a court case (e.g., if it is open, closed, or inactive) on the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania (UJS) web portal. A party can use any UJS search parameter (participant name, docket number, attorney) to generate results. A "case status" column is included in all search results.

If the presiding court maintains an independent case search portal, one may also access this to confirm a court case status. A person may also send a written inquiry to the court handling the case or contact the clerk's office directly.

How to Find Supreme Court Decisions in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania supreme court decisions can be retrieved from the state judiciary's opinions webpage. On the site, individuals can search for supreme court decisions with any keyword or search with specific criteria, such as the posting type, date range, caption, or author. An individual can contact or visit the Supreme Court Prothonotary's offices to obtain official opinions.

What Percentage of Court Cases Go to Trial in Pennsylvania?

Generally speaking, many court cases are resolved before a formal court trial in Pennsylvania. The exact percentage of cases that go to trial differs by the court and case type, but it is generally low.

To state an example, in 2021, only 1.2% of the 138,077 criminal cases filed in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas were resolved by a non-jury trial; 0.8% were settled after a jury trial. Similarly, of the 123,335 civil cases processed in the common pleas courts, only 0.9% went to a bench trial and 0.2% to a jury trial. Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Magisterial District Courts processed 297,466 non-traffic violation cases in 2021. Only 19.0% went to trial.

How Long Does a Court Case Last in Pennsylvania?

Because the duration of a court case in Pennsylvania is mainly dependent on the case's complexity and the presiding court's caseload, no court case has the same timeline in the state. The basic rule is that the more complex a case is, the more time it will spend on a court's docket before it is resolved, except if both parties can settle outside of the court.

How to File a Case in Court in Pennsylvania

The first step in filing a court case (a civil lawsuit) in Pennsylvania is to determine the court with jurisdiction to hear the case. This may be a limited jurisdiction court (a magisterial district or municipal court) or a court of common pleas.

The next step is to submit the petition or complaint to the court clerk's office. Courts usually provide a standard complaint form and other relevant forms on their websites. A petitioner may also find some forms (like a civil complaint form for a small claims case or landlord-tenant disputes) on the state judiciary's forms webpage.

Each petitioner (plaintiff) completing a civil petition in Pennsylvania must provide sufficient information so the respondent knows why they are being sued, and the court understands the civil action. After completing the required forms and documents, the plaintiff can submit them to the court in person or electronically. (The Pennsylvania judiciary provides the PACFile portal for submitting cases electronically to the supreme, commonwealth, superior, and some common pleas courts; some courts, including the Philadelphia courts, also provide e-filing systems.) The petitioner must also pay the required filing fee or apply for a fee waiver if insolvent.

Once filing procedures have been completed, the petitioner must inform the respondent (the sued party) of the lawsuit before other court processes, like discovery and a trial, can be held. This is known as the service of process; it involves sending a copy of the civil petition to the respondent. After the service of process, the case proceeds to the pre-trial stage, which may feature a settlement between the parties before the trial date. More information about the civil court process in Pennsylvania is available on the judiciary's website.

What Does It Mean if a Court Case Was Resolved Before the Trial Date?

If a court case was resolved before the trial date, it means that the litigants or court finalized the case using a means that did not require the case parties to stand trial before a judge or jury. For example:

Settlement: The case parties reached a favorable settlement before the trial date, perhaps by mediation or arbitration.
Discontinuance/dismissal: The plaintiff either withdrew the case or the court dismissed it on its own motion for a legitimate reason.
Summary judgment: Upon a party's motion, the court entered a summary judgment without a full trial because there were no facts to be tried, or the facts could be decided without going to trial.
Default judgment: The defendant failed to respond to the lawsuit within an allotted time frame, leading the court to enter a default ruling in the plaintiff's favor and close the case. (Notably, Pennsylvania law offers relief from a default judgment if the losing side files a petition timely and has a reasonable explanation for the inaction or delay that led to the judgment's entry.)