Chapter 13 Finding and Interpreting Court Opinions

2 Court Opinions o Mandatory Authority o Higher court o Same jurisdiction o Persuasive Authority o Other terminology: o Analogous cases o Distinguishable cases o First impression o Overrule

Finding Court Opinions o Citation o Case Reporters o State and Regional o Official and Unofficial o Parties o Appellant/Petitioner o Appellee/Respondent 3

4 How to Read & Understand Case Law o Legal cases are identified by a “legal citation” (or a “cite”) as the example below: D.A.B.E., Inc. v. City of Toledo, 393 F.3d 692 (6 th Cir. 2005). Title: First Party is Plaintiff, second party is Defendant. The parties are either italicized or underlined.

5 How to Read & Understand Case Law o Legal cases are identified by a “legal citation” (or a “cite”) as the example below: D.A.B.E., Inc. v. City of Toledo, 393 F.3d 692 (6 th Cir. 2005). Citation: Case is found in Federal Supplement 3 rd, Volume 393, page 692.

6 How to Read & Understand Case Law o Legal cases are identified by a “legal citation” (or a “cite”) as the example below: D.A.B.E., Inc. v. City of Toledo, 393 F.3d 692 (6 th Cir. 2005). Case was decided by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, 2005.

Elements of a Court Opinion o Case Citation: location of case opinion by volume/page reference in reports/reporters o Case Name and Title: identify main parties and status o Name of Appellate Court: court rendering the case opinion o Docket Number: appellate court file number o Date of Decision: date appellate court opinion is official o Case Summary: identify the issue, holding, disposition and procedural history of case 7

Elements of a Court Opinion o Headnotes: numbered paragraphs identifying rules of law appearing in case o Names of Justices: identify judge who wrote the opinion for the court, concurred or dissented with the disposition of the case o Facts of the Case: o Substantive Facts – what happened to the parties that brought about the lawsuit o Procedural Facts – what happened procedurally in the lower courts before the case reached the court issuing the opinion 8

Elements of a Court Opinion o Opinion of the Court: full discussion of the applicable law covering the specific facts of the case along with the reasoning process used by the court in resolving the legal issue presented on appeal. Opinions of the court may be Unanimous, Majority, Concurring and Dissenting o Holding: legal principle reached by the court o Decision: disposition of the case based on the holding of the court in answering the legal issue(s). o Affirm, Reverse, Overrule 9

Format of a Case Brief o Look online for Case Brief Assignment o Case Brief Rubric is also posted online o In class assignment: Herrera v. Hernandez, 164 Cal.App.4 th 1386 (2008). 10