INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING THE EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH SHERIFF’S WEB SITE

The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Web Site is relatively simple to use, particularly if you are familiar with the Internet.  If you are not, it is hoped that these instructions will assist you in successfully navigating the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Web Site, www.ebrso.org.

CASE INQUIRY

 “Case Inquiry” is your access to detailed information pertaining to the cases maintained by the Sheriff’s Office.  Here’s how to open it.  Using your mouse, place the arrow or cursor anywhere on the words “Case Inquiry” in the menu located on the left hand side of the screen and single left click onto those words.  This action will  bring up the “General Inquiry screen.

HOW TO SEARCH FOR A CASE

 I.                   If you know the Case Number

 Notice  in the dialog box which begins with the words “Case Number” the words  “17 East Baton Rouge” automatically appear in the box .  17  is the code for all East Baton Rouge Parish cases.  The system automatically assumes (defaults) that your case is case filed in the District Court for the Parish of  East Baton Rouge.  If yours is an East Baton Rouge Parish case, you do not have to do anything with this box.  Move your cursor to the right of the  ê down arrow and into the blank box between the down arrow ê and the “Go” button.  Type in the box the number of the case, such as 99-1234.  After the case number has been typed into the box press the  “Go” button.  In the event that your case is from a parish other than East Baton Rouge Parish, it will be necessary to insert the parish code for your particular case.  That information is obtained by a single left click on the down arrow  ê next to the Case Number dialog box and to the right of the numbers and words  “17 East Baton Rouge.”  A drop down menu will appear which includes a parish code for all sixty four parishes in the state.  Scroll down to the parish which you want and highlight that parish and code.  A single left click onto the highlighted area will automatically place the proper parish code in the proper place.  Now you may enter the case number and press the enter or return button as described above. What will appear at this point is a series of  numbered entries which describe various activities involving the case such as service of process, constructive seizures, payment of costs to various agencies such as newspapers for advertisements, movers, keepers, governmental offices, as well as sheriff docket services and fees.  To the left of each number is a drill down icon ().  A single left click on to this icon will open a screen which provides specific detail on the particular entry.  A more detailed description of how to read the detailed information provided at this point will be provided later.

II.                If you do not know the Case Number

You may still access a case even if you do not know the case number, but it involves a different procedure.  After you have entered the Case Inquiry Page perform a single left click on the magnifying glass icon.  A “Case Search” box will appear in the upper left corner of your screen in a separate window.  It gives you the option to search by case title.

In the box appearing between the words “Case Search” and the magnifying glass type the last name or primary name of a corporate entity in the box.  Click the button labeled “Search” which appears to the right of the name you entered and a search will produce all cases wherein the name you selected appears in the case title.  It is up to you to determine which case is the one you are looking for.  There are some hints or tricks which can help you determine which of the listed cases is the one you are looking for.  The case title may have other names including other defendants and plaintiffs who may have been involved in the case.  If you do not recognize the other names you might want to eliminate those cases from your search as well.  First names might also be helpful in limiting the search.   A single left click of the drill down icon () which appears to the left of your case name will bring up the case detail page for the case which you have accessed in initial window keeping your search results in the search results window.

CHECKING SERVICE 

Click onto the Case Inquiry Section.  After bringing up the case by using the case number or name as described previously a series of numbered entries will appear.  It will be necessary to scroll horizontally in order to see the full entries on this page.  Click the drill down icon () for detailed information.  The words “Service Detail” or “Paper Information” will appear.  Service Detail refers to services rendered by the sheriff’s office or costs paid by it for a given invoice or request.  Papers Information refers to service of process.  Under “Papers Information” the name of the party to be served appears first, next to the address of service.  “Assigned Deputy” refers to the deputy who was assigned to complete the service and the city and state of service.  The words “Served” indicates whether or not the service was made.  If it was not made the word “No” will be placed beside the word “Served”.  Below the Papers Information Box will appear a Returns Box.  If the word “No” appears to the right the word “Returned” the service was not made.  If the word “RTC” appears to the right of the word “Service Status” it means that several attempts were made to serve the individual at the particular address listed and that they were unsuccessful, therefore the paper has been sent back to the clerk’s office.

If the word “Yes” appears in the “Papers Information” box after the word “Served” it means that the document was successfully served.  Below in the Returns Section the date entered will be the date that service was made, and the initials “PERS” or “DOM” will appear.  The initials “PERS” mean that the document was served on the designated individual personally at the address indicated.  The initials “DOM” appearing  under the word “Status” indicate that the service  was made on the party through  service at his or her home on another resident of the domicile on behalf of the person served.

VIEWING MOVEABLE AND REAL ESTATE SEIZURE CARDS

After entering a parish code and case number as indicated above the “Real Estate” or “Moveable” menu option may be selected which will take you to the Real Estate Card or Movables Card.  These “cards” give detailed information about the property to be sold including the address, date the writ was received, writ amount (amount owed) sale date and whether the property is being sold with or without appraisal.

SALES LISTS 

One of the more useful and interesting elements of the web site are the sales lists for both real estate and vehicles. These pages give much information in their own right, and more specific information can be accessed from them as well. The Sales List Pages can be accessed from the Home Page by a single left click onto the words “Real Estate Sales List” or “Movables Sales List.”  As with all pages, the lists can also be accessed from any other page of the web site by a single left click onto the same words.  Once the sales list words are  clicked a sales list will appear for a given day at random.  Click the down arrow which will produce a drop down menu of various sale dates.  Highlight the date which you wish to access and left click that date.  The sales list for that day will appear. The order of  sale appears next to the house or auto icon depending upon whether it is the real estate or movable sales list.  Please note, sales may be taken in a different order on the day of the sale.   The sale order  designation  is an internal clerical assistance to the Office of the Civil Sheriff and is not to be considered as a permanent order for sales on a given day.  To the left of the sale order number is the case number, the case title, property address if it is available, Name of Plaintiff or Creditor Attorney, Claim or Writ Amount which is the amount owed at the time of filing not including attorney fees, interest, costs, and other possible charges.  The final column on the right indicates whether the property is being sold with or without appraisal. 

A single left click onto the house ( ) or vehicle  ( ) icons will take you to the Real Estate Card or Movables Card.  These “cards” give detailed information about the property to be sold including the address, date the writ was received, writ amount (amount owed) sale date and whether the property is being sold with or without appraisal.

A single left click onto the auto icon will take you to the Movables Card which will provide similar information as indicated above on the Real Estate Card.

The Real Estate and Movable Sales Lists also provide opportunities to see pictures of some of the parcels of real estate to be sold, and all vehicles which will be sold at public auction.  A left click  onto the camera icons  ( )  wherever they appear on the respective lists  or cards will bring up a picture of the property to be auctioned.   If a camera icon does not appear for a particular item, it means that there is none available for that item. 

OBTAINING A SALE DATE 

A sale date can be obtained by going to the real estate or movable cards.  This is done by going to the Case Inquiry Page and accessing a particular case using the method described previously.  Below the Parish Code and name there appear three “tabs” identified by the words “General”, “Real Estate”, and “Movables”.  A single left click onto either the real estate or movables tabs will bring up the case card which contains the sale date.  If a sale date does not appear on the card, it means that the sale date has not yet been set. Appraisal information is rarely included since appraisals typically come in until immediately before the auction date.