What's the difference between a case number and a docket number?

[mlissner]

I'm a bit confused because I'm new to the legal space and I keep hearing these terms. Can somebody help?

[mlissner]

In general, people use these interchangeably and they're the same thing. For my part, I try to avoid saying "case number" because I think it's less clear than "docket number". In my mind:

• A case represents the legal dispute between two parties and it can start at a lower court, be appealed, go back down, or further up, etc. At each court, the case will have a different number according to that court's number system, and so a single case doesn't really have a single case number.

• A docket is the collection of files and metadata associated with a legal dispute at a particular court, where it has a particular number, the "docket number."

Is all of this pedantic? Will it be bait to make other people chime in? Yes, and yes.

In general, the terms are the same thing, but the above is, at least, how I think about it.