A frustration of some court online index sites is that they don’t enable case name searches, only case docket numbers. After the court runner goes to the courthouse, looks up the party name in the onsite computer (which each person can only use for a maximum of 10 minutes), and retrieves all the case numbers, she then has to stand in a long line to obtain the file and pay for copies. Some courts, like the Alameda County, California civil and small claims, have file images at their online site, which can be retrieved using the file number, then copied (for free) and saved to your computer. In some cases, file pages have been scanned that are no longer available in the hard copy file.

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