California legal research tips

California legal research tips are the topic of this blog post.  I will be assuming that the reader has a basic understanding of what types of legal materials are available for California. I will concentrate mainly on legal research for California as it relates to case law.

There are three basic kinds of published cases for California.

California Supreme Court cases that are published in the California Official Reports. All decisions of the Supreme Court are published in the California Official Reports. See California Rule of Court 8.1105. Cited as Cal. or C.

California Court of Appeal cases that are published in the California Official Appellate Reports. Only certain decisions of the Court of Appeal are published. Cited as Cal.App., or CA.

Cases from the Appellate Division of various Superior Courts in California. Each county has an Appellate Division. Only certain cases of the Appellate Divisions are published. The cases are published in the California Official Appellate Reports Supplement, cited as Cal. App. Supp., or CA Supp.

Only published cases can be cited or relied upon unless they fall under an exception. See California Rule of Court 8.1115. Thus it is vital to ensure that any case you are looking at is in fact a published case.

Remember that just because a case has a California Reporter, Daily Journal, Lexis or other citation does NOT mean that it has been published in the Official Reports. Be sure to verify that the case is published before using it. Failure to do so is a big mistake!

It is also essential that you READ THE ENTIRE CASE to ensure that it is applicable to your situation. This author has on numerous occasions read a motion that cites a case and when he read the case he found that it either, (a) did not really say what was claimed by the opposing party, or (b) that the case did say some of what was quoted, but it was taken out of context, such as for example, in one case the opposing party had claimed that a California Supreme Court case supported their demurrer to a cross-complaint, however the case cited did not support their demurrer, it in fact supported the opposition! The author discovered that fact after reading the exact page number cited. In other words the opposing party did not even read the case at all.   That was a huge mistake!!

Obviously their tactic did not work as the demurrer was overruled. Remember that the short summary of a case does not always tell you how the Court ruled. For that you need to actually read it. Don’t get caught like a deer stuck in the headlights. Read every case that you cite from start to finish. And read every case cited by your opponent from start to finish. You will be surprised how many attorneys and parties fail to read a case before citing it. All they read is the short blurb in the annotated code, or in a legal treatise. 

If you have access to a law library, looking through the indexes, such as the West index for California, or another treatise such as CA JUR for the legal issue you are researching, or one of the Rutter Group books published on your legal topic, is highly recommended. To discover the essential elements of a particular cause of action checking the California Civil Jury Instructions known as CACI is extremely helpful as the elements for most civil causes of action are included as well as many affirmative defenses.

That can save you literally hours of research time as opposed to other methods. Of course if you have online access to either Westlaw® or Lexis® then you have a tremendous resource available to you. Make the most of it. Both companies offer training in how to use their database. Both companies also offer access to their database on a pay per use basis but that can be very expensive if you do not know how to use them.

Be sure to verify that the case you want to cite, or that has been cited by your opponent, has not been overruled by a higher court, or disapproved, or that other Courts of Appeal disagree with the reasoning. For that you will need to either use Westlaw® or Lexis® to make sure that your case is still good law. Failure to do so can be a big mistake! You do not want to cite a case that is no longer good law. Particularly if you are representing yourself. That will really make you look bad in Court. If instead every case you cite says exactly what you wrote in your brief or motion, and the case is still good law then you will look good in Court.

Attorneys or parties in California who wish to view collections of sample documents for California and Federal litigation sold by the author can click below.

http://www.scribd.com/LegalDocsPro/collections

The author of this blog post, Stan Burman, is a freelance paralegal who has worked in California and Federal litigation since 1995. Visit the author's website at: http://www.legaldocspro.com

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Copyright 2013 Stan Burman. All rights reserved.

DISCLAIMER:

Please note that the author of this blog post, Stan Burman is NOT an attorney and as such is unable to provide any specific legal advice. The author is NOT engaged in providing any legal, financial, or other professional services, and any information contained in this blog post is NOT intended to constitute legal advice.

These materials and information contained in this blog post have been prepared by Stan Burman for informational purposes only and are not legal advice. Transmission of the information contained in this blog post is not intended to create, and receipt does not constitute, any business relationship between the author and any readers. Readers should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel.