Searching the Cook County Court System

The Cook County Court System is one of the largest courts systems in the world with population in excess of 5,000,000 people. The surrounding collar counties, working population and tourists expand the daily Chicago-metropolitan area to 8 million people.

Criminal Division

The Criminal Division is separated into six geographical districts with the Felony Division, located at 26th & California in Chicago, Illinois. The courts in the six districts hear both felony and misdemeanor cases. The six districts are numbered 1st through 6th and are located in the following cities respectively: 1st/Chicago; 2nd/Skokie; 3rd/Rolling Meadows; 4th/Maywood; 5th/Bridgeview and 6th/Markham.

All felony files are located and warehoused at the Felony Division while Misdemeanor files are maintained at each individual district. When searching Cook County criminal cases, indexes can be done at any district but files must be viewed at their respective location. The search criteria are name, date of birth or case number. Unfortunately, Cook County does not include date of birth information on misdemeanors, therefore, files have to be pulled and matched to the identifiers of the subject of the search.

Searching common names presents difficulties in obtaining matches at the misdemeanor level. Middle initials can be used as eliminators but it is not unusual to find a match where the middle initial is not shown on the index. Cost and time factors are considerations when conducting misdemeanor searches on common names. Common names, without middle initials, can produce several hundred possible matches in misdemeanor searches.

Misdemeanor files are generally accessible for the previous four years in the 2nd through 6th district and for the preceding two years in the 1st district. Older files need to be ordered from the warehouse and take approximately three to five days to obtain for review. Misdemeanor cases, older than 10 years, are usually destroyed and Certified Destruction Orders will be provided by the Clerk's office.

All felony files can be obtained at the Felony Division located at 26th & California in Chicago, Illinois. Felony files are also warehoused approximately two to three years after the final dispositions. Case numbers are assigned in a numerical sequence starting with the year and district number, with the last two numbers representing the number of defendants in this case. Felony numbers will contain the letters CR after the year while misdemeanors will have no letters.

Civil Cases

The Cook County Civil Division hears all cases, except Municipal and Paternity cases at the Daley Center located in downtown Chicago, Illinois. Municipal cases, also known as Small Claims cases, are matters less than $30,000. Matters over $30,000 are assigned to the Law Division. In addition to Law and Municipal, Cook County also has Divorce, Chancery, Paternity and Probate Divisions.

All civil cases are maintained at the Daley Center except for District Municipal cases that are located at the districts It is anticipated that the Law Division cases will eventually be heard at the various districts in the very near future.

Case numbers indicate the year, type, location and sequential order of that particular type of case. Numbers in the 400-series are generally housing violations; numbers in the 100-series with six digits usually involve contract or collection matters; five-digit numbers generally represent tort matters; numbers in the 3,000-series that have six digits generally are personal injury matters and numbers in the 700-series are usually forcible entry & detainer complaints (landlord/tenant).

Copy fees are charged at $2.00 for the first page with $.50 for each page thereafter. Items that provide a good overview of the file are complaints, answers to interrogatories, docket sheets and dispositions or last orders in the file.

Traffic Cases

Traffic cases are heard at individual districts with the Central Traffic Division now located at the Daley Center 50 W. Washington St., Chicago, Illinois. Due to the number of traffic citations issued in Cook County, this type of search can present certain problems and difficulties. Obtaining copies of traffic citations can take as long as eight weeks if the citation can be located. The index can usually provide enough information to answer client's requests.

Summary

Searching Cook County does present certain problems and frustrations due to its population and decentralization. The key to successful searching in Cook County is utilizing a search firm experienced and familiar with the nuances of the system to insure accurate and expeditious results.