San Diego Superior Court

San Diego Superior Courthouse is located in San Diego County at 220 West Broadway, San Diego, CA 92101. The Superior Court is the State of California’s trial court of general jurisdiction. The Court hears all major civil and criminal cases.

The Superior Court handles felony criminal cases, misdemeanor criminal cases, juvenile matters, family law matters, probate matters, small claims matters, and traffic matters. Civil cases include unlawful detainer actions (evictions), personal injury, and breach of contract cases.

The court also has exclusive original jurisdiction over dependency matters involving children, and mental health proceedings. The Court shares concurrent original jurisdiction with the Municipal Courts for limited civil matters, election contests, and actions to determine validity of ordinances or governmental contracts.

The Superior Court operates out of 35 courthouses: 26 in metropolitan San Diego, and 9 in the more rural areas of the county. The main courthouse is located in downtown San Diego.

There are currently 63 Superior Court judges. In addition to their judicial duties, they also supervise the operation of the court and its departments, and perform administrative functions assigned by state law or the California Constitution.

The Superior Court for San Diego County is one of the busiest courts in California. In 2018, the court handled over 1.3 million matters, including 479,000 criminal cases, 723,000 traffic cases, and 131,000 civil cases. The total number of employees is approximately 2,300. This includes over 800 sworn peace officers.

The Superior Court is part of the state court system, which is structured as follows:

The Supreme Court is the highest court in the state and is responsible for reviewing appeals from the lower courts. The Courts of Appeal are intermediate appellate courts that hear appeals from the superior and municipal courts. There are six Courts of Appeal in California, located in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, Riverside, and Santa Ana. The Superior Courts are the state’s trial courts of general jurisdiction. There is one superior court in each county. Municipal Courts are limited jurisdiction courts that handle criminal misdemeanor cases and infractions, traffic cases, parking violations, minor civil matters, and some juvenile matters.

For more information about the Superior Court of California, San Diego County, please visit their website at: www.sdcourt.ca.gov.