St. Landry Parish Court Docket Searches
The Clerk of Court's Courts Division handles most district matters in St. Landry Parish. Start there. The Clerk keeps civil, criminal, traffic, juvenile, non-support, adoption, and succession or probate records. For online case lookup, ClerkConnect information describes a local subscription route. The Louisiana Clerks' statewide tools add another layer for the parishes and categories they cover. Neither route puts every St. Landry Parish court record online as a free public image.
Gather details before any docket search. The court named on your citation, summons, order, or prior minute entry comes first. A case number plus filing year beats a common name every time. If no number is handy, try each spelling of the name. Then check the result against the court, case type, filing date, division, and party role. A shared name alone proves nothing about who owns that St. Landry Parish court docket.
- Identify whether the matter belongs in the 27th Judicial District Court, a city or mayor's court, a justice court, the Louisiana Third Circuit, or federal court.
- Choose the record category, such as civil, criminal, traffic, probate, family, municipal ordinance, or federal.
- Check the St. Landry Parish ClerkConnect route and then the statewide eClerksLA or LCRAA route when the category fits.
- Read the result as a docket timeline, not as a promise that each listed filing has a public image.
- Call or visit the proper custodian for a missing result, a court-date confirmation, inspection, or a particular copy product.
Note: An empty online result in St. Landry Parish can mean a wrong court, a spelling slip, a historical index, a restricted file, or a local system change.
St. Landry Parish Docket Search Lanes
There is no single all-purpose St. Landry Parish database. The local ClerkConnect page sells subscription access to criminal, traffic, civil, and probate records. One-day, 30-day, and 365-day terms are listed, plus a page-print charge. The generic registration page may not show St. Landry in its parish list. So the Clerk's own access page is the better starting point. Confirm current availability with the Clerk before paying.
Statewide options sit on top of that. eClerksLA and the Louisiana Clerks' Remote Access Authority describe a free statewide criminal-search category. Account access and category limits still apply, though. State law requires public electronic access to eligible minute entries or summaries for newer St. Landry Parish criminal cases. That access runs through the LCRAA framework. That promise has limits. Not every pleading, exhibit, transcript, or sealed document shows up online.
| Access lane | Useful for | Important limit |
|---|---|---|
| ClerkConnect information | St. Landry Parish civil, criminal, traffic, and probate access described by the Clerk | Subscription status and authenticated fields need current confirmation |
| eClerksLA or LCRAA | Statewide categories and eligible criminal minute-entry access | Not a complete free search of every Louisiana district-court image |
| Courts Division or Archives | Inspection, narrow copy requests, and older St. Landry Parish material | The requester must identify the court and the item needed |
Court Dockets: What They Show
Think of a St. Landry Parish court docket as a timeline of one case. What it lists depends on the court and category: the case number and filing date, party roles, the assigned division or judge, attorney appearances, service, motions, hearing settings, minute entries, orders, judgments, costs, and appeal references. Even a closed or disposed label can be followed by an appeal, collection activity, a related case, or another later event.
The docket is not the whole file. An entry can name a motion or exhibit. The image itself may stay unavailable, redacted, sealed, or tucked in a historical series. So ask the Courts Division for the exact item. That could be the docket, the minute entry, a judgment, a plain copy, a certified copy, a conformed copy, or a transcript.
| Case number | The court's identifying number. Ask the St. Landry Parish custodian about the applicable format and year. |
|---|---|
| Parties and roles | Names or role labels that help distinguish a party, attorney, creditor, witness, or another participant. |
| Docket entry | A dated case event, not necessarily a downloadable filing or a complete account of what occurred. |
| Setting | A scheduled court event such as an arraignment, rule, conference, hearing, trial, or sentencing. |
| Minute entry | A court summary of an event or ruling. It is not the same as a transcript. |
| Disposition | The recorded outcome or current resolution. Read it with the full St. Landry Parish case context. |
St. Landry Parish Docket Terms
Short labels on a St. Landry Parish docket usually describe procedure, not outcomes. A continuance simply moves a hearing date. An allotment assigns the case to a judge or division under court rules. A return of service notes how notice was delivered, or whether it was. These terms help when a calendar line is unclear. They also help when a docket carries several dates.
- Arraignment
- A criminal proceeding where charges and plea or status are addressed.
- Allotment
- Assignment of a St. Landry Parish case to a judicial division under local rules.
- Exception
- A procedural or legal objection raised in a civil case.
- Minute entry
- A court or clerk summary of an appearance, ruling, plea, or other event.
- Continuance
- A postponement or rescheduling of a court setting.
See a label you do not recognize? Ask the Courts Division. Staff can tell you whether it marks a setting, a ruling, a document, or an administrative action on the St. Landry Parish docket. Requesting the matching minute entry or order beats guessing at an abbreviation.
St. Landry Parish Courts and Their Dockets
The Twenty-Seventh Judicial District Court for the Parish of St. Landry is the main general-jurisdiction trial court. Four divisions share district-court matters under assignment rules. City courts, mayor's courts, and justice courts in St. Landry Parish keep their own records. The Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal handles appeals. The Western District of Louisiana handles federal matters.
Picking the wrong court is a common reason a St. Landry Parish search comes up empty. In fact, it may be the most common one. A parish traffic payment route is not a municipal citation file. A justice-court eviction or small civil claim may never reach the district-court index. And a federal case lives in PACER, not in a parish clerk search.
| Court | Docket covers | Where to start |
|---|---|---|
| 27th JDC | District civil and criminal matters, plus listed Clerk record categories | St. Landry Parish Courts Division and its online access route |
| Opelousas or Eunice City Court | Separate local city-court matters | City court judge, marshal, or administrator contacts |
| Sunset or Port Barre Mayor's Court | Municipal matters and locally scheduled court sessions | Town clerk or traffic clerk and the citation |
| Justice court | Specified limited civil, eviction, and magistrate matters | Correct justice-of-the-peace office |
| Western District, Lafayette Division | Federal civil, criminal, and bankruptcy matters in separate systems | PACER and the federal Clerk |
St. Landry Parish Docket Access Map
St. Landry Parish case assignment carries local quirks, so the court name matters. The 27th JDC assigns civil and criminal cases by random allotment among four divisions. Traffic, non-support, protective-order, juvenile, and some preliminary matters follow different local rules. A related felony can even be consolidated by motion. Case type and division are safer search clues. Any guess about where a case should land is not.
Family, support, custody, and protective matters may go to a hearing officer. That applies to specified proceedings under judicial direction. Juvenile and adoption records carry confidentiality limits. Before treating a missing public result as proof that no case exists, ask the Clerk which category and office applies.
Note: For an uncertain St. Landry Parish record search, the best first routing clue is the court named on the citation, order, or caption.
Court Dates and Settings in St. Landry Parish
No single calendar covers every 27th JDC hearing in St. Landry Parish. The Clerk's public material simply does not publish one. A docket setting can mean many things. It might be a filing date, arraignment, motion, rule, status conference, pretrial event, trial, sentencing, judgment, or a post-judgment proceeding. Start with the most recent summons, citation, minute entry, or order in the case. Then confirm the date with the Courts Division or the assigned court before you drive over.
Different case types run on different tracks. St. Landry Parish family and support settings may go through a hearing-officer process. Traffic court runs once per month on the parish traffic route. The exact citation still controls. Municipal calendars vary too: Sunset posts a monthly Mayor's Court schedule, Port Barre posts a scheduled Magistrate Court date, and each city court has its own contacts. The St. Landry Parish court schedule page lays out the fuller confirmation path.
The Clerk's Courts Division overview names the St. Landry Parish record categories. Sort those out before you ask about a calendar item.
That St. Landry Parish overview separates record categories and marks where image availability ends. For current calendar details, confirm with the court that holds the case.
St. Landry Parish Court Calendar Reality
St. Landry Parish court dates shift. A continuance can move a hearing. So can an emergency order, closure, or administrative change particular to one court. The official 2024 and 2025 closure materials show why a courthouse address by itself cannot confirm that a hearing will proceed. Verify any current St. Landry Parish appearance. Go through the court, the relevant division, or the notice in the case file.
For an older setting, ask for the calendar entry or minute entry by date, case category, and court. For a current one, a phone call usually beats an unconfirmed email or a payment page. Ask about public attendance, security, identification, remote appearance, and any local attendance rules that apply.
A setting is not automatically a trial date. Read the St. Landry Parish docket label and ask the court what type of event is scheduled.
Docket Access Under Louisiana Law
Two bodies of law govern public access to a St. Landry Parish court docket: specific court-record rules and the Louisiana Public Records Law. Inspection and copying are separate requests. A requester may ask to examine a non-sealed public record, order a plain or certified copy, and demand the legal basis if part of the record is withheld. One caution from the Clerk's current cost page: the final amount may not be known until a final judgment or dismissal is received.
Key Rules:
La. C.C.P. art. 251 names the clerk as custodian and provides for public examination and copying during office hours, subject to law.
La. R.S. 13:754 supplies the framework for the Louisiana Clerks' Remote Access Authority and its portal.
La. R.S. 13:5992 requires eligible public electronic criminal minute-entry access for newer district matters, with lawful limits.
La. C.C.P. art. 14.1 addresses electronic filing, redaction responsibilities, and public access subject to law.
A St. Landry Parish public request works best with specifics. Name the court, the case number or a narrow date range, and the item you want. State whether you want inspection or a copy, whether certification is needed, and ask for the non-sealed portions if the file may hold protected material.
St. Landry Parish Docket Limits
Public does not mean unrestricted. St. Landry Parish juvenile proceedings are generally confidential under the Children's Code. The Clerk treats adoption records as confidential. Expunged criminal records get confidential treatment under Louisiana law. What a search returns may be a restricted marker, a limited metadata line, a redacted image, a minute summary without the filing, or nothing at all.
Read results with care. An arrest or charge is not a conviction. A missing result does not prove no proceeding existed. A dismissed, amended, or nolle-prossed charge should be read from the recorded disposition. When access is limited, ask what restriction applies. Ask whether a non-confidential index or minute summary exists. The Louisiana Clerks of Court directory carries the current St. Landry Parish clerk-routing information.
For a current St. Landry Parish record status and any lawful access limit, the originating court or clerk is the source.
How the Clerk Keeps Docket Records
Hon. Charles Jagneaux is the elected St. Landry Parish Clerk of Court named in the current official directory. Day to day, the Courts Division serves as the district-court records desk for civil, criminal, traffic, juvenile, non-support, adoption, and succession or probate categories. You will find it in Suite 121 on the first floor of the parish courthouse. The Clerk's main office listing is routed separately within the same courthouse complex.
When you make a St. Landry Parish docket request, say what you need: a register, minute entry, judgment, certified copy, transcript, or archived record. The Courts Division can tell a district record apart from a city, mayor's, justice, appellate, or federal case. For a historical series, Archives & Research is a separate route.
St. Landry Parish Clerk Courts Division
118 South Court Street, Suite 121
Opelousas, LA 70570
337-948-1653
The official St. Landry Parish contact page lists the courthouse address, mailing address, phone, fax, and department routing.
Those St. Landry Parish contact details put a requester in touch with the proper record custodian, so no other office gets mistaken for the holder of the district file.
St. Landry Parish Archive Docket Trail
Older St. Landry Parish court records stretch far past the online images. The Clerk's indexes reach back to the start of parish records. Suit images only run from 1997 forward. That gap changes how you search an old civil, probate, or historical matter. An index hit may point to a counter or archive request rather than an online image.
The parish archives hold civil district suits from 1813 forward. Probate material runs from 1807 forward. Conveyance, mortgage, coroner, and notarial series sit there as well. Archives & Research works out of Room 11 in the courthouse basement. Call ahead. An old filing may live in a historical series or separate storage. A quick call saves a wasted trip.
For exact date ranges, the Clerk's Archives and Research page lists what each St. Landry Parish series covers. That makes an archive request far more precise.
St. Landry Parish date ranges like these explain the extra step. After an index hit on an old case, a counter or archive request is often the only route to the file itself.
St. Landry Parish Docket Caseload
The Louisiana Supreme Court's 2025 annual report puts St. Landry Parish caseload in context. Its 2025 table counts 9,136 total cases. Those span juvenile, civil, criminal, and traffic categories. Filing to disposition averaged 371 days. The prior reported 2024 category total was 13,433. Treat these as aggregate figures, not a promise about one case or proof that every traffic and juvenile file sits in a single docket.
The 2025 Louisiana Supreme Court Annual Report publishes the St. Landry Parish figures. Check the court type and reporting scope. Only then weigh an aggregate count against the actual docket.
City-by-City Court Dockets in St. Landry Parish
City cases in St. Landry Parish start with the court named on the case. Opelousas and Eunice run separate city courts with their own contacts. Sunset and Port Barre post municipal scheduling through town channels. Arnaudville takes care. The town straddles St. Landry and St. Martin. So the named court and parish decide where the record lives. These city pages stay distinct from the 27th JDC docket.
Opelousas Court Records
2020 population 15,786 · City Court and parish courthouse records are separate lanes.
Eunice Court Records
2020 population 9,422 · Start with the separate City Court contact route.
Sunset Court Records
2020 population 2,909 · Mayor's Court is scheduled through the town clerk.
Port Barre Court Records
2020 population 1,751 · Magistrate Court, traffic clerk, and town calendar are local routes.
Arnaudville Court Records
2020 population 1,009 · Confirm the court and parish named on the citation.
City records come first. The St. Landry Parish Clerk's official hub is the district-court starting point once a matter is confirmed as a 27th JDC case.
That line matters. A St. Landry Parish district search never substitutes for a city or town court record.
Map and Directions to the St. Landry Parish Courthouse
27th Judicial District Court civil and criminal case files for St. Landry Parish are kept by the Clerk's Courts Division, Suite 121 on the first floor of the parish courthouse, 118 South Court Street in downtown Opelousas. Archives & Research, in Room 11 of the courthouse basement, holds pre-digital and historical case series. The 1939 Art Deco courthouse has occupied the same courthouse square since 1806.
St. Landry Parish Clerk Courts Division
118 South Court Street, Suite 121
Opelousas, LA 70570
337-948-1653
Parish security material describes courthouse security personnel and controlled entry; do not assume cameras, phones, large bags, or recording equipment are allowed without checking current courthouse rules. Access has also been interrupted before by water damage and storm closures, so call the Courts Division at 337-942-5606 before a trip.