A Louisiana court case search by name is free through several online tools, and which one you use depends on where the case was filed. For state cases in most parishes, the statewide eClerks LA portal at evaultla.com is the practical starting point. If that comes up short, you can search the specific parish clerk’s website, the appellate courts directly, or, for federal matters, PACER.
What to Gather Before You Search
Start with the person’s full legal name, including a middle name or any known alias. Louisiana has 64 parishes, each with its own clerk of court, and common surnames like Landry, Boudreaux, or Richard will return dozens of unrelated hits without something to narrow the field.
Next, figure out which court system likely handled the matter. State courts hear most cases: criminal prosecutions, personal injury suits, divorces, successions, and contract disputes. Federal district courts handle a narrower slice, mainly federal-law claims, bankruptcy, and disputes between citizens of different states where the amount exceeds $75,000. Louisiana has three federal judicial districts, headquartered in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Shreveport.
For state cases, the parish matters because each clerk keeps its own records. If someone was arrested in Caddo Parish but the lawsuit you want was filed in Orleans Parish, search Orleans. When you don’t know which parish handled a case, the statewide tool below lets you check several at once.
Free Statewide Search Through eClerks LA
The eClerks LA portal at evaultla.com is the most practical free starting point. This statewide system offers free searches across dozens of participating parishes for civil and criminal case information, along with land records and marriage licenses.1eClerks LA. eClerks LA Home You pick a parish from a dropdown, enter the party’s name, and the system returns matching records from that parish’s database.
The portal also has a free “eClerks Alert” feature that monitors land and criminal filings across Louisiana parishes and notifies you when new records match your search. That’s useful for landlords, employers, or anyone who needs ongoing monitoring rather than a single lookup. An account requires only an email address.
One point of confusion worth clearing up. The Louisiana Clerks’ Remote Access Authority portal at laclerksportal.org sounds like it should be the go-to resource, but it only covers land records and marriage licenses.2Louisiana Clerks’ Remote Access Authority. Louisiana Land and Marriage Records Search It will not return court case docket information.
Searching a Specific Parish Clerk
Parishes participate in the statewide system to different degrees, so sometimes you need to go directly to a parish clerk’s own website. Costs vary sharply.
Some parishes let you run name searches at no charge and only bill for copies. East Baton Rouge Parish provides free access to its clerk’s e-search service and charges $1.00 per page for document copies.3East Baton Rouge Parish Clerk of Court. East Baton Rouge Parish Clerk of Court – Section: Public Records Request Notice Others sell subscriptions. Caddo Parish, for example, charges $20 for a single day of online access, $50 per month, or $500 annually.4Caddo Parish Clerk of Court. Caddo Parish Clerk of Court Civil Court Costs The same search can cost nothing in one parish and hundreds a year in another.
Inside a parish system, you enter the party’s name and can usually filter by case type (civil, criminal, family, probate) and by filing date. Results typically show the case number, filing date, parties, and current status. Clicking into a case shows the docket, including motions, hearing dates, and judgments. Many systems let you download PDFs of individual filings, subject to per-page copy charges.
Searching Louisiana Appellate Courts
If the case was appealed, trial court records won’t tell you how it ended. Louisiana has five Courts of Appeal, each covering a region of the state. The Third Circuit alone covers 21 parishes in southwest and central Louisiana. Each appellate court runs its own docket search.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal lets you search by litigant name, case number, district court number, or attorney bar roll number, and results link to PDFs of opinions and dispositions.5Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal. Case Search The Third Circuit similarly allows searching by party name.6Louisiana Court of Appeal, Third Circuit. Louisiana Court of Appeal Third Circuit The other circuits provide comparable tools on their own websites.
The Louisiana Supreme Court maintains a docket search at lasc.org/Docket. Appellate searches are generally free and return the appellate case number, the lower court’s case number, filing dates, and the eventual ruling.
Searching Federal Cases Filed in Louisiana
Cases filed in Louisiana’s three federal district courts or the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals are not in any state system. You search those through PACER, the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system run by the federal judiciary.
Anyone can register for a free PACER account at pacer.uscourts.gov.7PACER: Federal Court Records. Find a Case If you know which federal district handled the case, you can search that court’s records directly. If not, the PACER Case Locator at pcl.uscourts.gov searches a nationwide index of federal cases, updated daily, and tells you which court and case number match a party name.
PACER charges $0.10 per page to view documents, capped at $3.00 per individual document. Fees for a full quarter are waived if your total usage stays at $30 or less, which covers a fair amount of searching for most people.8PACER: Federal Court Records. Frequently Asked Questions The system is available around the clock.
Going In Person for Older or Certified Records
When records aren’t digitized, or when you need certified copies, visit the clerk of court office in the parish where the case was filed. Most offices have public terminals for name searches on the internal system. For older cases predating electronic filing, a clerk can search physical indices.
Louisiana law sets the baseline copy fee at $1.00 per page.9Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 13-841 Certification fees vary. Bossier Parish charges $5 to certify a document if you bring your own copy and $10 if the clerk provides the copy.10Bossier Clerk of Court. Bossier Clerk of Court Copy Fees Expect similar ranges elsewhere. If you need the copy for use in another proceeding or a government application, ask specifically for a certified copy; only the certified version carries legal weight.
Why a Name Search Can Come Back Empty
Not every case appears in a public search, even with the right name and the right parish. Several categories of records are restricted, and the search results won’t tell you a hidden file exists.
Juvenile and Adoption Records
Juvenile court records are confidential under the Louisiana Children’s Code. Article 412 prohibits disclosure of records concerning any matter before the juvenile court, except traffic violations, unless a specific exception in the Code applies.11Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Children’s Code 412 – Confidentiality of Records Disclosure Exceptions Sanctions Adoption records carry tighter restrictions still. A name search returns nothing for these cases.
Expunged Criminal Records
Louisiana allows expungement of certain arrest and conviction records. An expunged record is removed from public access but not destroyed. It becomes confidential and remains available only to law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges.12Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure 971 – Legislative Findings If you search for someone whose record has been expunged, you’ll see nothing, which is a common source of confusion when you know an arrest or charge occurred.
Sealed Records
Judges can seal specific records in civil or criminal cases by court order, typically to protect trade secrets, victims of certain crimes, or sensitive family matters. A sealed case may appear by case number, but the underlying documents will be inaccessible.
If You’re Searching for a Background Check
If you’re pulling court records to make a hiring, tenant screening, or similar decision, federal law adds duties beyond finding the records.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act applies whenever you use a third-party screening company to compile someone’s court records into a background report. Under the FCRA, screening companies cannot report arrests that did not lead to convictions after seven years from the date of the charge. They must include all disposition information when reporting criminal charges or eviction proceedings, and they cannot report records that have been expunged or sealed.13Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Fair Credit Reporting Background Screening
If you take an adverse action against someone based on information from a background report, such as denying a job or an apartment, you must provide an adverse action notice identifying the reporting company and giving the person 60 days to obtain details and dispute errors. Skipping that step creates FCRA liability, and small landlords and employers miss it more often than they realize.