Reading a Docket

A docket can tell a whole story in fifty lines if you know how to read it, and it can mislead badly if you do not. "Motion to Dismiss" is not a dismissal. "Hearing Held" does not say what happened at the hearing. A charge listed on day one may be gone by day ninety. This lesson teaches the grammar of Idaho and federal dockets, then translates a sample case line by line.

What the clerk must record

Idaho Court Administrative Rule 31 tells the clerk of the district court what a register of actions must contain. Each action gets a file number, noted in the register where the action's first entry is made. Then "all papers filed or lodged with the clerk, all process issued and returns made thereon, all appearances, orders, verdicts and judgments, including writs of executions and satisfactions of judgments, shall be noted chronologically." The notations "shall be brief but shall show the nature of each paper filed or writ issued and the substance of each order or judgment of the court." The notation of an order or judgment "shall show the date of entry," and a jury demand must be noted.

The parts of that rule worth memorizing:

• Chronological. The register reads top to bottom (or bottom to top, depending on the display) in date order. Sequence tells you cause and effect.
• The substance of each order or judgment. The entry should tell you what the judge decided, at least in brief.
• Date of entry. The date an order or judgment is entered starts clocks, such as the time to appeal. It may differ from the date the judge signed it or the date of the hearing.

Rule 31 also exempts traffic infractions, other infractions, and misdemeanor citations with a guilty plea at first appearance from the register requirement; for those, the citation is the docket. I.C.A.R. 32(d)(3) and (d)(4) make "the chronological case summary of events" and hearing calendars open to the public, and I.C.A.R. 38 requires courts to keep the register of actions even after they destroy the rest of an old criminal file.

Idaho case numbers

Since each county moved onto the Odyssey system (2015 to 2018, see lesson 02), Idaho trial court case numbers have followed one pattern. Take CR01-24-31665, the Ada County number shown on the Supreme Court's Cases of Interest site:

Part	Example	Meaning
Case type	CR	Criminal. CV is civil. Other case types use other letter codes, shown with the case type on the case page.
County code	01	The county where the case is filed, numbered in alphabetical order of Idaho's 44 counties (01 Ada, 14 Canyon, 42 Twin Falls)
Year	24	The year the case was opened, here 2024
Sequence	31665	The case's sequence number within that county's filings. Some counties pad with zeros (CR08-23-00521) and some do not (CR28-23-1513).

The county codes are consistent across published case numbers. The Cases of Interest site pairs CR14-26-10252 with Canyon County, CR38-26-1685 with Payette County and CR01-24-31665 with Ada County, and lists a transferred case as "Formerly CR38-25-1295." Supreme Court transcript lists show numbers such as CR03 (Bannock), CR08 (Boise), CV10 (Bonneville), CR28 and CV28 (Kootenai), CR30 (Lemhi), CR35 (Nez Perce) and CR42 (Twin Falls), each matching the county's place in the alphabet. If you know the alphabetical list of counties, you can place any case number on the map.

Code	County	Code	County
01	Ada	28	Kootenai
03	Bannock	29	Latah
08	Boise	30	Lemhi
10	Bonneville	35	Nez Perce
14	Canyon	38	Payette
42	Twin Falls

The codes above are confirmed by published case numbers; the others follow the same alphabetical order.

Watch for traps. A transferred case gets a new number in the new county, so one prosecution can have two numbers. Cases filed before a county went live on Odyssey carry older formats. And a felony that starts with a magistrate keeps its number when it is bound over to district court, so the number alone does not tell you which judge is handling it now.

Idaho appellate numbers

The Idaho Supreme Court and Court of Appeals use a docket number with a sequence number and a year, such as 54406-2026 or 51091-2023 on the Cases of Interest site. Opinions on the Supreme Court's opinions page carry that docket number and usually name the trial court and county the appeal came from. To trace an appeal back to the trial file, look in the opinion or the appellate record for the district court case number.

The Idaho case page, part by part

Open a case in the iCourt Portal and you see the public parts of the register of actions. Labels may change as the courts update the portal, but the content follows from Rule 31 and Rule 32(d), and a case page typically covers:

Case information

The case number, the court (district court or magistrate division, and the county), the case type, the date filed, the assigned judge and the status. Status words such as "Active," "Pending," "Closed," "Reopened" or "Inactive" describe where the case stands administratively. "Closed" means the court considers the matter resolved for now; it does not tell you how. A closed case can be reopened by a motion, a probation violation or a remand from an appeal.

Parties

Each party is listed with a role and, usually, an attorney. The public portal withholds addresses and phone numbers, and the FAQ says it does not show Social Security, driver's license or account numbers.

Role	Who it is
Plaintiff	The person or entity who starts a civil lawsuit
Defendant	The one sued in a civil case or charged in a criminal case
State of Idaho	The prosecuting party in state criminal cases, represented by the county prosecuting attorney or the Attorney General
Petitioner and respondent	The parties in cases started by petition: divorce, judicial review, name change, probate, protection orders
Appellant and respondent	On appeal, the party who appeals and the party who defends the decision
Intervenor	A non-party the court allows to join, sometimes a news organization seeking access
Pro se, or self-represented	A party with no attorney listed

Charges (criminal cases)

Each count is listed with the statute, a description, the offense level (felony, misdemeanor or infraction), the offense date and, later, a disposition for that count. Charges change. A complaint filed in the magistrate division can be amended, a felony can be reduced to a misdemeanor in a plea agreement, and counts can be dismissed. Always read the charge list at the end of the case as well as the beginning, and match each disposition to its count.

Events and hearings

This is the chronological list Rule 31 requires: filings, notices, orders, hearings and their results. Hearing entries show the hearing type, date, time, judge and a result. Learn the result words:

• Held: the hearing happened. It says nothing about the outcome; look for the minute entry or order on the same date.
• Vacated: taken off the calendar. Look for why.
• Continued: moved to a later date, often listed as a new hearing.
• Hearing scheduled: set for the future. Not proof that it will happen.

Dispositions and judgments

The disposition is how a count or claim ended: dismissed, guilty plea, found guilty, found not guilty, withheld judgment, judgment for plaintiff, default judgment, stipulated dismissal and so on. A criminal case's judgment of conviction, and any sentence, appears here and in the events list. In civil cases, look for the entry titled "Judgment" and for later entries such as "Amended Judgment," "Satisfaction of Judgment," "Writ of Execution" or "Notice of Appeal."

Financial information

Many cases show fines, fees, restitution and payments. The portal's Make Payments tile handles criminal and traffic payments. A balance due is not the same as a sentence; read the judgment for the actual fine and costs.

Documents: what each one is

Document	Category	What it does	Does it decide anything?
Complaint (civil)	Pleading	Starts a lawsuit; states the plaintiff's claims and what they want	No; it is one side's allegations
Complaint (criminal), information, indictment	Charging document	Formally accuses a defendant of crimes	No; the defendant is presumed innocent
Summons	Process	Notifies a defendant of a civil case and the deadline to respond	No
Answer	Pleading	The defendant's response to each claim, plus defenses and any counterclaim	No
Affidavit or declaration	Evidence	Sworn statement of facts, often attached to a motion	No; it is one person's sworn account
Motion	Request	Asks the judge to do something	No; look for the order
Memorandum or brief	Argument	Explains the law and facts supporting or opposing a motion	No
Notice (of hearing, of appearance, of filing)	Notice	Tells others something has been scheduled or filed	No
Stipulation	Agreement	Records an agreement between parties, often asking the court to approve it	Not until the court enters an order
Minute entry	Clerk's record	Summarizes a hearing: appearances, rulings, next dates	It records decisions made in court
Order	Ruling	Decides a motion or issue	Yes, that issue
Memorandum decision and order	Ruling with reasons	A longer order explaining the judge's reasoning	Yes, the issues addressed
Judgment	Final decision	Resolves the claims (civil) or records conviction and sentence (criminal)	Yes, the case, subject to appeal
Notice of appeal	Appeal	Starts an appeal to a higher court	No; the appellate court will decide
Writ of execution, garnishment	Enforcement	Lets a winning party collect a money judgment	Enforces an earlier judgment
Satisfaction of judgment	Notice	Records that a judgment has been paid	Closes out the debt

The federal docket sheet

Federal courts use CM/ECF (Case Management/Electronic Case Files), and the public sees the docket through PACER. A federal docket report opens with a header of case information, typically including the case number and caption, the assigned judge, the date filed, the nature of suit or offense, the basis for jurisdiction and whether a jury was demanded, followed by the parties and their attorneys. Then come the numbered docket entries, each with a date filed, an entry number and the docket text. Labels vary slightly by court.

Federal case numbers

The District of Idaho case at United States v. Idaho, No. 1:22-cv-00329-BLW, a 2022 suit by the federal government against the State of Idaho, shows the pattern:

Part	Example	Meaning
Office	1	The divisional office number where the case was opened
Year	22	2022
Type	cv	Civil. Criminal cases use cr. Bankruptcy cases are numbered in the bankruptcy court's own system.
Number	00329	Sequence number
Judge	BLW	Initials of the assigned judge, here Judge B. Lynn Winmill of the District of Idaho

The judge initials can change if a case is reassigned, so search by the core number (1:22-cv-00329) when in doubt.

The header stamp on every page

CM/ECF stamps each filed page with a header. The first page of the court's August 2022 decision in that case reads: "Case 1:22-cv-00329-BLW Document 95 Filed 08/24/22 Page 1 of 39." That line tells you the case, the docket entry number (95), the filing date and the page count. A declaration filed as an exhibit in the same case, published by the Justice Department, is stamped "Document 86-5 Filed 08/19/22," meaning attachment 5 to docket entry 86. Cite federal documents this way ("Dkt. 95," "Dkt. 86-5") and anyone can find them.

Entry types

• Filed documents link to a PDF. The docket text describes the document and who filed it, and often names the related entry ("re 76 Motion for Preliminary Injunction").
• Attachments are listed under the main entry by number: exhibits, declarations, proposed orders.
• Orders by the judge are entered by chambers or the clerk. A long ruling is usually titled "Memorandum Decision and Order."
• Text-only entries have no PDF. Courts use them for short orders (granting an extension, resetting a hearing) and notices. The docket text is the order. Federal courts commonly label these "TEXT ONLY" or say no document is attached.
• Minute entries summarize a hearing: the judge, who appeared, the court reporter, what was argued and what was ruled. They are often text-only.
• Notices of electronic filing go to the parties by email; they are not separate public documents.

Saving money on federal dockets

PACER charges $0.10 per page, and a docket report counts as a document capped at $3 under the PACER fee rules as of October 2026; the Judicial Conference has approved a temporary rise to $0.12 per page, with the quarterly waiver going from $30 to $40, starting January 1, 2027. The same page suggests using docket report filters to limit fees; the docket report screen lets you set a date range, which shortens a long report. Lesson 08 covers PACER accounts, the $30 quarterly waiver and the free RECAP archive. Many District of Idaho opinions are also free on GovInfo's U.S. Courts collection, which is where the decision quoted above can be downloaded.

Abbreviations and Latin you will meet

Term	Meaning
v. or vs.	Versus. The first name is the plaintiff, prosecution or petitioner.
et al.	"And others": more parties than the caption names
ROA	Register of actions
Dkt.	Docket entry (federal)
PSI	Presentence investigation report (sealed; see lesson 03)
PH or prelim	Preliminary hearing in a felony case
FTA	Failure to appear
BW	Bench warrant, often after a failure to appear
NOA	Notice of appearance, or notice of appeal; read the entry
PD	Public defender
DPA, PA	Deputy prosecuting attorney, prosecuting attorney
Pro se	Representing oneself
Ex parte	Asked for or decided with only one side present or notified, as with many temporary protection orders
In camera	Reviewed by the judge privately; such filings are exempt under I.C.A.R. 32(g)(15)
Sua sponte	On the court's own initiative, without a motion
Nunc pro tunc	"Now for then": an order that takes effect as of an earlier date, often to fix a clerical error
Voir dire	Jury selection questioning
Nolo contendere	No contest: a plea that does not admit guilt but accepts conviction
With prejudice / without prejudice	Dismissal that bars refiling / dismissal that generally allows refiling
Stip.	Stipulation, an agreement between parties
Mot., Ord., Memo., Aff., Decl.	Motion, order, memorandum, affidavit, declaration
MSJ	Motion for summary judgment: asks the court to decide without trial because the key facts are undisputed
TRO, PI	Temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction
Remand	Sending a case back to a lower court, or from federal back to state court
Affirmed / reversed / vacated	On appeal: the lower decision stands / is overturned / is wiped out, often with a remand

How to tell what actually happened

A docket rewards skepticism. Use these rules:

1. Find the decision, not the request. For every motion that matters, find the order that resolved it. Unresolved motions are common; some are withdrawn, mooted or never ruled on.
2. Read the last entries first. Status, final judgment, dismissal, appeal and satisfaction entries tell you where things stand. Then read from the start to learn how it got there.
3. Match dates. A minute entry dated the same day as a "Hearing Held" entry tells you what happened at that hearing. An order filed a week later may record the ruling formally.
4. Follow the charges. In criminal cases, compare the original complaint's counts with the final disposition of each. "Guilty plea" on count 2 and "Dismissed" on counts 1 and 3 is a different story from "Guilty on all counts."
5. Distinguish "judgment" in criminal cases. A judgment of conviction is a conviction. A withheld judgment, which Idaho Code 19-2601 allows, means the court withholds judgment and places the defendant on probation after a guilty plea or finding; a defendant who completes the terms may apply under Idaho Code 19-2604 to have the plea or finding set aside. Lesson 05 explains the difference.
6. Look for appeals and post-judgment activity. A notice of appeal, a motion to reconsider, an amended judgment or a remand can change the result months later.
7. Read the document. Docket text is a clerk's summary, usually accurate but brief. Quote the order or judgment, not the docket line, whenever the exact words matter.