LETS TAKE A LOOK

IN THE LITTLE BLUEBOOK . . .

Prof. Lisa Cannon

Basic Case Citation

Any case cite has three basic components:

Case name: Cannon v. Lee,
Reporter: 42 Cal. App. 3d 459
Court (if necessary) and year: (2004).
Pulling it all together, we get: Cannon v. Lee, 42 Cal. App. 3d 459 (2004).
Heres where to look for more information about each of these components:
Case name: light blue pages 10-12 and Rule 10.2 (pages 96-102)
Reporter: light blue pages 12-13 and Rule 10.3 (pages 102-104)
Court and year: light blue pages 13-14 and Rules 10.4 and 10.5 (pages
104-107)
Here are some particular rules that apply to case cites:
Abbreviations: abbreviate the terms from your case name that are listed
in tables T.6 and T.10 when the cite goes at the end of your sentence
(see Bluebook rule 10.2.2 on pp. 101-102). If the case name appears in
the text of your sentence, only abbreviate a few common things (see
Bluebook Rules 10.2.1(b) and 10.2.1(c) on pages 97-98).
Italics vs. Underlining: Note that in our class we will be following
typeface conventions for court documents, and I would prefer you
underline case names rather than italicizing them. See rule B2 on pages
6-7 of the Bluebook for more information on typeface conventions.
Spacing: If you have single letters and numbers, dont put spaces
between the periods: F.2d and U.S. and N.E.2d. If you have a multi-
letter abbreviation, you need spaces on either side of it: F.Supp. and
Cal.App.3d. See Bluebook rule 6.1(a) on page 87 for more information
on this general spacing rule.
Court name: you only need to include the court name along with the
year when the name of the court is not obvious from the cite. For
example, the Federal Reporter (F., F.2d, F.3d) and the Federal
Supplement (F. Supp., F. Supp. 2d) contain cases from a wide variety of
federal courts, so you must include the name of the court in the
parenthesis: (9th Cir. 2007). In contrast, the Supreme Court Reporter
(U.S.) only contains Supreme Court cases, so you do not need to put the

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 court name in the date parenthesis. See Bluebook page 14 for more
information.
Parallel cites: certain jurisdictions will require that you include cites to a
parallel reporteryou must consult the local rules to determine what
the court requires. See Bluebook pages 14 and 102 for more
information. California rules of court only require you to cite to
the official California reporters: Cal. App. and Cal. If a different
state requires you to cite to more than one reporter, heres how youd
do it: Kenford Co. v. County of Erie, 73 N.Y.2d 312, 357 N.E.2d 176, 540
N.Y.S.2d 1 (1989).
Electronic sources: When you cite to an unpublished case (e.g. one that
you only find onlinenot in an official reporter), see Bluebook Rule
B10.1.4 (pages 14-15).
Scholarly Writing: The Bluebook governs the rules for scholarly writing.
In general, the Bluebook wants you to cite to regional reporters like P.2d.
Use the typeface conventions in the main white pages for such writing.
Those typeface conventions have you using italics rather than
underlining.
Lets test some of the things covered in these rules. Please generate the
proper case cites for the following scenarios (and assume that the cite is at
the end of your sentence and requires abbreviations listed in tables T.6 and
T.10). Do not forget to use proper underlining.

Bluebook team name:

Your section: B5
Members of your team: Shannon Weiss, Julia Tower, Matthew Toothacre,
Jacob Yang

1. George Lucas has sued Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Jabba the Hut,
who in turn sued Darth Vader. The actions were consolidated into one
case. The decision by the United States Supreme Court was issued on
December 9th, 2006 on page 42 of the United States Reports, Volume
50. (Hint: see Bluebook rules B10.1.1 (page 11), 10.2.1(a) (pages 96-
97), and 10.2.1(g) (pages 99-100).
Lucas v. Skywalker, 50 U.S. 42 (2006).

2. The United States of America brought an action to seize land located in

San Diego County in the City of Vista at the address 449 Lucky Cat
Road, Vista, CA. You are citing to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
decision issued March 6, 2007 on page 49 of the 334th Volume of the

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 Federal Reporter Second Series (Hint: see Bluebook Rule 10.2.1(a)
(pages 96-97), Rule 10.2.1(f) (Page 99), and Rule 10.4(a) on (page 105).

United States v. San Diego County, 334 F.2d

3. An action brought by parent, Lisa Cannon, on behalf of her son, Oliver

Cannon, against his school district, Detroit Unified School District. The
case appeared in the 449th Volume of the Northwestern Reporter
Second Series at page 59 and was decided by the Michigan Court of
Appeals in 1974. (Hint: see Bluebook Rule B10.1.1(ii) (page 11), Rule
10.2.1(b) (pages 97-98), Rule 10.4(b) (105-106), and Tables T.1, T.6 and
T.10).

4. A case in which a juvenile delinquency petition was filed against a minor

with the initials J.H. that appears in volume 19 of the Southwestern
Reporter Second Series on page 11 and was decided by the Texas
Supreme Court (which is the highest state court) in 1992. (Hint: see p. 8
and Bluebook Rule 10.2.1(b) on pp. 90-91).

5. Case brought by the People of the State of California versus a criminal

defendant named George Foreman in the California Court of Appeal and
decided in 1984. This case appears in volume 33 of the California
Appellate Reporter Third Series at page 59, volume 67 of Wests
California Reporter Second Series at page 220, and volume 99 of the
Pacific Reporter at page 8. You are putting your cite in an appellate brief
that you are filing in the California Court of Appeal. (Hint: see Bluebook
Rule 10.2.1(f) on p. 92, and Rule 10.3.1 on p. 95).

6. A case brought by Johnson & Johnson Company L.L.C. against Pacific

Line Railroad Limited and reported in volume 62 of the Federal
Supplement Second Series on page 987. The opinion was written by
Judge Thompson of the United States District Court for the Southern
District of California and issued on March 19, 2006. (Hint: see Bluebook
p. 8; Rule 10.2.1(h) on p. 93 and rule 10.4(b) on p. 98, including Tables
T.1, T.6, T.7 and T.10)

7. A case you found online on both Lexis and Westlaw, involving a man
named Jim Halpert who sued Michael Scott in the Southern District of
California, case number 10-428. The court issued an unpublished

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 opinion on August 1, 2010, which you found on Lexis at 2010 U.S. Dist.
LEXIS 24983 and on Westlaw at 2010 WL 498345. You want to cite to
page *8 on Lexis and page *7 on Westlaw. (Hint: see Bluebook rule
B10.1.4 and Rule 10.8.1(b)). Please form one cite to Lexis and one cite
to Westlaw.

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