A case citation tells where a full copy of the court’s legal opinion in a case may be located. A complete citation includes the names of the parties in the case, the volume number of the court reporter, the court reporter abbreviation, the page number of the reporter where the case begins, and the year the case was decided. In state cases and in federal appellate and district court cases, the citation will also identify the court which issued the opinion.
Federal Cases:
U.S. Supreme Court Cases:
Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 550 U.S. 618 (2007).
Case Name – Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 550 U.S. 618 (2007).
At the trial level the first name in a case citation refers to the plaintiff and the second to the defendant. If the case is at the appellate level, it may be reversed depending upon which party is bringing the appeal. For example, in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. at the trial level Ledbetter is the plaintiff. If Ledbetter loses at the trial level and appeals, the case name at the appellate level would be Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. v. Ledbetter. In citations, the case name is always italicized or underlined.
Volume Number and Case Reporter – Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 550 U.S. 618 (2007).
530 is the number of the particular volume of the relevant case reporter in which the opinion is located. It is important to note that the volume number must be read in conjunction with the case reporter as there are a number of different reporters. Decisions of the United States Supreme Court are available in three separate reporters, U.S. (the United States Reports), S. Ct. (the Supreme Court Reporter), and L. Ed. (United States Supreme Court Reports Lawyer’s Edition). Each reporter will have the case in question, but the volume numbers will vary depending upon the reporter used. For citation purposes, you only cite to the U.S. Reports (U.S.) unless the case is only available in the Supreme Court Reporter (S. Ct.) published Thomson Reuters.
Page Number and Year – Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 550 U.S. 618 (2007).
The number following the reporter abbreviation is the first page of the case. Reporter volumes typically contain numerous different cases. The year the case was decided is the final element of a case citation.
Appellate and District Court Cases:
Court: Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 421 F.3d 1169 (11th Cir. 2005)
Opinions from the federal appellate courts are all published in the Federal Reporter. Thus you need to indicate which court issued your opinion in the parenthetical along with the date of the opinion. Similarly, all of the district court opinions are published in the Federal Supplement thus the need to identify the court issuing the opinion.
State Cases
State court opinions are typically issued in a regional reporter published by Thomson Reuters. The regional reporters are:
Because of this it is necessary to list the court issuing the opinion cited.
MacDougall v. Levick, 77 S.E.2d 579 (Va. App. 2016).
Indicates this opinion was issued by the Virginia Court of Appeals
Levick v. MacDougall, 805 S.E.2d 775 (Va. 2017).
Indicated this opinion was issued by the Supreme Court of Virginia.