Getting Cameron Parish Court Records
Susan Racca, the Cameron Parish Clerk of Court, holds the files of the Thirty-Eighth Judicial District Court of Louisiana. That court is usually called the 38th JDC. Its coverage runs across civil, criminal, juvenile, traffic, succession, election, and related trial-court records. Not every case belongs to her office, though. A Justice of the Peace, the Louisiana Court of Appeal, Third Circuit, or a federal clerk keeps cases from those courts. The Clerk offers no anonymous portal for Cameron Parish case documents. Requests go through the office directly. Identify the record and its case category, then ask staff which current channel can handle what you need.
- Identify the court, case or suit number, party name, approximate year, and exact document or docket entry sought.
- Choose plain, conformed, or certified copies only after deciding what the record will be used for.
- Contact the Clerk to confirm whether the request can be handled at the counter, by mail, by phone-assisted request, contact form, fax if accepted, or a written public-record request.
- Ask for a fee estimate for a large search or document set before submitting payment or expecting delivery.
- Keep the request, invoice, delivery proof, and any response about a limitation or denial.
For 38th JDC records and services, the official starting point is the Cameron Parish Clerk of Court site. It connects you to the office that actually holds the files.
Cameron Parish Court Record Request Details
Vague requests are hard to fill. Give Clerk staff the case or suit number if you have it. Add the parties or entity name, the approximate year, and the court category. Say exactly what you want: a signed judgment, a docket sheet, a petition, a minute entry, or a certified copy each describes different work. A general inquiry form is not an order form. State your delivery method and ask whether the current channel accepts it.
The Clerk's official home page names the office and its local court-services role.
Before calling a request complete, check the reply. Confirm the fee, the delivery method, and whether another office holds the file.
Court Record Types
A Cameron Parish court record can be a docket history or the underlying document itself. The 38th JDC file may hold civil, criminal, juvenile, traffic, succession, and related trial-court materials. The Clerk keeps those materials. A public docket entry often just points to a document you still must request. Lower-court and appellate records may sit with a different office entirely.
- Docket sheets and minute entries that record court events in sequence.
- Pleadings, such as petitions, answers, motions, and filed responses.
- Orders, judgments, plea papers, and other court rulings.
- Service returns, exhibits, and attachments when they are public and available.
- Traffic, succession, family, civil, or criminal materials tied to the specific 38th JDC case.
Cameron Parish Court Record Copy Forms
The Cameron Parish Clerk publishes no dedicated form for requesting a docket sheet, certified judgment, civil case file, criminal file, or broad court-record copy. Its forms page covers conveyance, mortgage, cancellation, lien, marriage-officiant, and similar materials. None of those becomes a 38th JDC case-file request. The contact form is only a general inquiry. It has First, Last, Email, and Comment or Message fields. It does not complete a certified-copy order.
The Cameron Parish Clerk links and forms page shows what the catalog actually includes.
Put the record details in a written inquiry. Then follow the submission method the Clerk confirms for that document and certification choice.
Inside a Cameron Parish Court Record
The file sits behind the docket. A docket line may say a motion was filed or judgment entered, but that line is not the motion or the signed judgment itself. Once a search turns up a case, use the record fields to ask for the exact public item. The distinction matters: it keeps you from paying for a docket history when you really need a court document.
| Case or suit number | The court identifier that lets the Clerk locate the file, if known. |
|---|---|
| Caption or parties | The names used in the case, helpful when a number is unavailable. |
| Docket sheet | A chronological list of filings, settings, orders, and other case events. |
| Pleadings and exhibits | Filed petitions, answers, motions, service returns, and attachments subject to public-access rules. |
| Orders and judgments | Written court actions that may need a plain, conformed, or certified copy. |
Cameron Parish Court Record Contact Options
You can visit the Clerk's counter at 119 Smith Circle, Room 21, Cameron, LA 70631. Mail goes to P.O. Box 549, Cameron, LA 70631. The office lists 337-775-5316 and weekday hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. A fax line, 337-775-7172, appears on the contact page for Clerk functions. Nothing says every record request can be faxed. Call ahead or use the contact channel to confirm the right route before sending a copy request.
The Cameron Parish Clerk contact page carries the current local details.
Questions about an actual hearing, Zoom, motion, trial setting, or reset go to 38th JDC chambers. That number is 337-775-5649, answered on weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Chambers handles scheduling, not the files.
Fees and Certified Copies
The Clerk's services page lists a plain copy at $1 per page. A conformed copy runs $3, and a certified copy runs $5. A ten-year civil record search runs $15 per name. These are published charges. They are not a guarantee that every Cameron Parish court record is on hand or that one fee covers all work. Ask about page count, search scope, certification, postage, and the current submission method before you pay.
| Clerk Service | Published Amount | Request Note |
|---|---|---|
| Plain copy | $1 per page | Use when a readable copy is sufficient. |
| Conformed copy | $3 | Confirm the current form of conformance needed for the document. |
| Certified copy | $5 | Ask whether the charge applies to the requested certification. |
| Ten-year civil search | $15 per name | Published as a civil search, not a general online case-search fee. |
Cameron Parish Clerk of Court
119 Smith Circle, Room 21
Cameron, LA 70631
337-775-5316
Cameron Parish Court Record Copy Choices
The $1, $3, and $5 amounts describe three different copy options. So choose your words when requesting one. A plain copy does not come certified. A docket entry is not the document it names, either. When you need certification, identify the exact judgment, order, pleading, or other record. Say so plainly. The Clerk's fee page posts no online checkout. It lists no universal payment-method list and no guaranteed turnaround time.
The Clerk services and fees page is where the current copy amounts are published.
Unsure what your request is for? Tell the Clerk of Court the purpose, and let the office confirm which copy type and certification the request truly needs.
Sealed Records and Public Access
Louisiana's public-record law lets people inspect and copy public records. It stops at a court's sealing order, though. It also stops at a statute that makes a file confidential. Juvenile records are one example, and expunged matters often drop out of public view entirely. Filed papers can be redacted too. When access to a Cameron Parish court file seems narrowed, the Cameron Parish Clerk can point to the exact order or statute responsible.
Key Louisiana rules:
Louisiana Constitution, Article I, Section 22 keeps courts open and preserves an adequate remedy through due process.
Louisiana Revised Statutes 44:31 provides the public-record inspection and copying right, subject to other law.
Louisiana Revised Statutes 44:32 addresses custodian access and response duties for public records.
Children's Code Article 412 governs juvenile-record confidentiality and disclosure.
Code of Civil Procedure Article 253 addresses electronic filing, personal-information redaction, and public access.
Cameron Parish Court Record Denial Steps
If a request for Cameron Parish court records is denied, write down what happened. Or if it is limited, do the same. Keep the written request, its scope, the date sent, and the response. Guessing helps no one. Then ask what actually blocked it. It could be a wrong case number, a paper or legacy index, an unavailable attachment, sealing, juvenile confidentiality, redaction, or the wrong office. Sometimes the answer splits. A public docket may be open while a protected exhibit is not, and that partial response can still be correct.
Ask for the basis. Louisiana Revised Statutes 44:35 provides a judicial-review path after a denial or failure to make the written determination required by the public-record law. It does not make confidential court material public.
When a reply is vague, shrink the request to one document. Confirm the Cameron Parish Clerk holds the record, not a Justice of the Peace or an appellate or federal clerk.
Cameron Parish Court Records and E-Filing
Electronic filing in Cameron Parish is not the same as public document retrieval. The Clerk's service page steers attorneys to Clerk Connect. It says attorney civil filings by U.S. mail stop beginning January 1, 2026. Clerk Connect itself shows a workflow of submission, review, and receipt. Nothing there creates an anonymous Cameron Parish court-record inquiry tenant. Nor does it offer public downloads of filed documents. The Clerk Connect e-filing workflow shows filing review, not a public records checkout.
Want an existing court record? Confirm the right request channel with the Clerk, and don't assume an e-filing link opens filed documents to the public.
Cameron Parish Court Record Forms at 38th JDC
The 38th JDC posts local court forms and orders. They cover criminal pleas, custody, support, divorce, name changes, continuances, contempt, and in-forma-pauperis requests. That variety is useful. A form can help you name a case category or a filing, but it never replaces the actual record in a case file. To get a signed order, filed form, or judgment, name the case and the item in your request to the Cameron Parish Clerk. The 38th JDC orders and forms page shows the kinds of filings used locally.
Missing the case number or exact document name? Add the form title as a detail in your Clerk request, and it may bridge the gap.
Cameron Parish Historical Court Records
Older files take a different kind of search. Ask the Clerk how the record is indexed and where the search actually ran. Cameron Parish has a rough courthouse history. There was an 1874 fire, a later courthouse building, and severe coastal storm damage. That background alone proves nothing about a specific record. It does explain why an electronic index may miss an older Cameron Parish file. Give the Clerk the oldest reliable year, the parties, the case type, and any document title. Then ask where the file lives. It might be a legacy series, paper volume, microfilm, scanned collection, or some other storage category. A not-found answer only reflects the stated search scope. Ask what was checked, and go from there.