Dockets, filings, and court records
Exhibit
An exhibit is a document or object attached to a filing or offered at trial as proof of something.
On a docket, exhibits are the attachments hanging off a main entry, numbered or lettered. The contract, the emails, the photographs, and the expert report all arrive this way, which is why a single motion entry can carry thirty separate PDFs behind it.
Exhibits attached to a filing are public unless sealed, but being on the docket does not make them evidence. A document only becomes evidence when it is admitted, and an exhibit list at trial is a separate creature from the attachments to a brief.
Attachment numbering is a small trap in research. The exhibit letters used by the lawyer rarely match the attachment numbers assigned by the filing system, so a citation to Exhibit C may live at attachment three, four, or somewhere else entirely.
How it appears on a docket
DECLARATION of R. Patel in support of 88 Motion for Summary Judgment. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit A - Purchase Agreement, # 2 Exhibit B - Email chain, # 3 Exhibit C - Invoices)
Related terms
- Redaction — Redaction is blacking out protected information in a filing so the rest of the document can stay public.
- Deposition — A deposition is sworn out-of-court testimony taken in front of a court reporter, where lawyers question a witness on the record.
More on dockets, filings, and court records
See this term in a real case
Search federal court records and read the filings where exhibit actually shows up. New to federal dockets? Start with how to find a federal case.