United States District Court, Central District of California
Filing Procedures
Subject: Section:Contact: Last Updated:
How to Determine Proper Location for Civil Filings How to Determine Proper Location for Civil Filings Clerk of Court04/05/2005

TYPICAL PARTS OF A CIVIL CASE NUMBER:

Docket Number
CV
SACV 00-0000
EDCV		District Judge’s Initials
XYZ		(Magistrate Judge’s Initials)
(UVW)
(UVWx)

Please note: New complaints can be filed in any of the divisional offices.

STEPS TO DETERMINE LOCATION:

  1. Are there parentheses with initials inside the parentheses at the end of the case number?

    NO – Case number looks like :
    “CV 00-00000 XYZ”
    “SACV 00-00000 UVW”
    “EDCV 00-00000 XYZ”

    Documents must be filed at the location where that district judge or magistrate judge is located. Locate initials from charts of district judges and magistrate judges to determine location for filings.

    YES – Case number looks like
    “CV 00-00000 XYZ (UVW) or (UVWx)”
    “SACV 00-00000 XYZ (UVW) or (UVWx)”
    “EDCV 00-00000 XYZ (UVW) or (UVWx)”

    Go to Step #2

  2. Are the magistrate judge’s initials in the parentheses followed by a lower case “x”?

    NO – Case number looks like
    “CV 00-00000 XYZ (UVW)”
    “SACV 00-00000 XYZ (UVW)”
    “EDCV 00-00000 XYZ (UVW)”

    Documents must be filed at the location where the magistrate judge is located. Locate initials from chart of magistrate judges to determine location for filings.

    YES – Case number looks like
    “CV 00-00000 XYZ (UVWx)”
    “SACV 00-00000 XYZ (UVWx)”
    “EDCV 00-00000 XYZ (UVWx)”

    Go to Step #3

  3. Has this specific matter (i.e. discovery, settlement conference) been referred to the magistrate judge?

    NO – go to Step #4

    YES – Documents must be filed at the location where the magistrate judge is located. Locate initials from chart of magistrate judges to determine location for filings.

  4. Documents must be filed at the location where the district judge is located. Locate initials from chart of district judges to determine location for filings.