How to read a court docket, one entry at a time

A docket looks like a spreadsheet written by someone in a hurry. Dates on the left, short descriptions on the right, and abbreviations nobody explains. But it's the closest thing to a case diary that the public can see, and once you know the pattern, it reads in order.

Every entry answers three questions. Who filed it or who issued it? What is it? And does it change the schedule? A motion is a request. An order is a decision. A notice tells someone about a date or an event. The entries that matter most for planning are orders and notices, because those are the ones that set or move dates.

Guides in Docket Basics walk through real entry types you'll see on South Carolina and federal dockets, including PACER, which charges 10 cents a page with a $3 cap per document. We'll never invent a docket entry to make an example look tidier. When we show a sample, it's labeled as a sample.