Series 14158

DESCRIPTION: The miscellaneous civil and criminal case alphabetic indexes record the names of the parties involved in miscellaneous civil and criminal actions and provide assigned case numbers, facilitating clerical management of and access to the case files. Information about most cases is limited to the name of the party (individual, corporation, state, county, city, or government agency), adverse party, judge, the case number, the initial filing date, and the number of index entries for parties in the case. The cause of action is sometimes mentioned in cases involving criminal investigations, extraditions, and adoptions. The cause of action can take the place of the name of the party or be a notation following an individual's name. A notation that a case has been sealed or expunged may also follow a name or cause of action.

ARRANGEMENT: The two fiche making up the miscellaneous civil and criminal case alphabetic indexes are arranged chronologically. The first fiche covers a three-year period beginning in 1977 and ending in 1979 while the other fiche encompasses a nine-year span from 1980 through 1988. Entries on each fiche are arranged alphabetically by plaintiff or defendant name. Multiple case entries for a single party are listed chronologically by initial filing date.

RESEARCH NOTE: The case number assigned by the court is essential to locate the desired case file. Researchers should first consult the miscellaneous civil and criminal case alphabetic indexes to find the unique case number before attempting to access the miscellaneous case files. The index for 1980–1988 identifies parties as either plaintiff or defendant but the earlier index (1977–1979) does not. Adverse or opposite parties in the litigation are not named in either. A list of all parties in a particular action may be derived through the MISCELLANEOUS CIVIL AND CRIMINAL CASE NUMERIC INDEXES (series 14159) once the case number is obtained via the alphabetic indexes.

RELATED RECORDS: Case files placed in the MISCELLANEOUS CIVIL AND CRIMINAL CASE FILES (1934, 1940–1992), series 6381, and the MISCELLANEOUS CIVIL AND CRIMINAL CASE FILES (RESTRICTED) (1940–1992), series 14156, are indexed by the miscellaneous civil and criminal case alphabetical indexes. The MISCELLANEOUS CIVIL AND CRIMINAL CASE NUMERIC INDEXES, series 14159, index these same cases by case number. Prior to the creation of the alphabetic indexes, the internal indexes to the MISCELLANEOUS CIVIL AND CRIMINAL FILE REGISTERS OF ACTIONS (1925–1977), series 14157, were the only way to access the miscellaneous civil and criminal case files.

FINDING AIDS: A research guide entitled "Using Court Records" is available for archives' patron use. A Wang computer index maintained by the court for cases filed since 1989 is available in the office of the court clerk.

CUSTODY HISTORY: The Salt Lake County Clerk, who was constitutionally designated as ex-officioclerk of Third District Court in and for Salt Lake County, created and maintained the indexes.

PROCESSING NOTE: Indexes were designated as a permanent record by Records Disposition Request 68-3, which also authorized microfilming and destruction of the original documents. The records retention policy of the Utah Judicial Council reprinted in the 1983 state retention schedule first specified a nine-year retention of the original before microfilming. These microfiche copies were produced circa 1980 and 1988. The miscellaneous civil and criminal case alphabetic indexes were archivally processed by W. Glen Fairclough, Jr., in September 1994.

CONTAINER LIST