Case Research Online Donna Nixon Head of Reference Services

Case Research Online Donna Nixon Head of Reference Services Lecturing Fellow 1 03/08/24

Structure of state & federal courts-- 3 Levels: Trial courts Intermediate Appellate Court Highest court (often called Supreme Court) 2 03/08/24

Jurisdiction: Fed? State? Federal courts have jurisdiction of: – federal constitutional issues – issues covered by federal law/statute State courts have jurisdiction over: – state level matters that are not trumped by federal law Some overlap of jurisdiction where there are both federal and state matters involved 3 03/08/24

There are other jurisdiction limitations for courts: Geographic-does this court cover this area of the country or world? Subject matter-does this court adjudicate these types of matters (e.g. bankruptcy, military, family courts) Over the person-does this court have authority to bind this person or entity to a judgment? 4 03/08/24

Map of federal circuits (district & appeals courts) 5 03/08/24

Federal Case Reporters U.S. Supreme Court – U.S. Reports (official) – Supreme Court Reporter (West) – Lawyers Edition (Lexis) Bankruptcy Reporter Other specialty court reporters: military, court of claim, federal rules reporters, etc. Federal Supplement (West) prints some trial court cases 10 03/08/24

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Sample Legal Citations Supreme Court Citations: Turner Broad. Sys. v. FCC: – 520 U.S. 180; (What is the reporter name?) – 117 S.Ct. 1174; – 137 L. Ed. 2d 369 Federal Appellate Court Citations: – 397 F3d 570; – 968 F2d 158; – 91 F. 114 Federal Trial Ct. Citation: 21 F.Supp. 19 State Regional Reporter: 78 SE2d 980 State Reporter (N.C.): 25 N.C. 250 13 03/08/24

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Searching Case Law by Subject You will often search for a case by subject rather than by citation. Best method: ONE GOOD CASE METHOD-locate one case that is really on point, then use to find other cases on point. How? – Ask assigning attorney if there is any case that illustrates issue. – Look at annotations to: relevant statute, legal encyclopedia, journal or ALR article. DOING A FULL-TEXT DB SEARCH IS LEAST EFFICIENT MEANS 22 03/08/24

How to use “One Good Case” Use headnotes in that case to find other cases with the same headnotes: – “More like this” in Lexis – “Custom Digest” in Westlaw Read decision and note any earlier cases cited in that one good case. Shepardize or KeyCite the case to find later cases on point (those that have cited your case). 23 03/08/24

Searching Case Law by Topic Full-Text Searching. Choose: – Type of search: Terms & Connectors-Boolean Natural language-keyword search w/out having to use booleans. – Use narrower database to limit unnecessary searching – Choose limiters (field/segment restrictions, date limiters) – Brainstorm alternate keywords (eg. “death penalty” & “capital punishment”). Terms also may change over time. 25 03/08/24

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After you have done a search If not many hits, broaden your terms (in some cases, may need to broaden jurisdiction Once get a good 50 or less, look through the list of hits for cases on point Use cases you’ve found to locate other cases on point (remember: custom digest & more like this) 35 03/08/24

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Now we need to update it? 41 03/08/24

Updating Cases Use to: check the prior and subsequent history of a case to make sure a case is good law to find other later cases that have dealt with that area of law and cited your case to find other relevant material that have cited to your case (law journal articles, ALR, etc.) 43 03/08/24

Evaluating updating signals/flags If red flag, make sure that the flag is for the part of the decision on which you want to rely, if not, the flag is not as significant If yellow/caution flag check: – if it means: criticism, modification, distinguished – if it is from a binding jurisdiction (remember, your court is not bound by decisions of a lower or co-equal court 44 03/08/24

Updating Caselaw w/Shepards There are two types of Shepard’s (Lexis) reports: Shepard’s for Research (FULL) provides a complete report for your case, including prior history subsequent history and every citing reference. Shepard’s for Validation (KWIC) provides a more limited report that allows you to quickly determine precedent. It includes only those citing references with editorial analysis, and excludes any prior history. 45 03/08/24

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Westlaw Signals (con’t) Blue H: In cases or administrative decisions, a blue H indicates that there is some history but it is not known to be negative history. Green C: A green C indicates that the case has citing references, but no direct or negative indirect history. Quotations marks: Quotation marks indicate that the citing case directly quotes the cited case. 48 03/08/24

Westlaw Flags Red Flag-In cases and administrative decisions, a red flag warns that the case or administrative decision is no longer good law for at least one of the points of law it contains. Yellow Flag-In cases and administrative decisions, a yellow flag warns that the case or administrative decision has some negative treatment, but has not been reversed or overruled. 50 03/08/24

Depth of treatment stars (West): 4 Stars - The citing case contains an extended discussion of the cited case, usually more than a printed page. 3 Stars - The citing case contains a substantial discussion of the cited case, usually more than a paragraph but less than a printed page. 2 Stars - The citing case contains some discussion of the cited case, usually more than a paragraph. 1 Star - The citing case contains a brief reference to the cited case, usually in a string citation. 51 03/08/24

Updating 52 03/08/24

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How an unreported case looks in Westlaw or Lexis “Unreported” cases are cases the court does not want to have precedent. Here are some examples of citations that should alert you to unreported status of a case: 185 Fed. Appx. 716 (Federal Appendix) 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 28127 2007 WL 465219 Note: if a case has a Westlaw or Lexis number, but also has a regular reporter citation, such as F3d, it is a reported case, not an unreported case. 55 03/08/24

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