This week we talk about narrowing by a circuit, searching by citation, and more. Let’s get started!
Holiday Closure Announcement:
Casemaker Support will be closed Thursday 11/22 and Friday 11/23 for the Thanksgiving Holiday.
We will reopen Monday 11/26 at 8 am EST. Have a wonderful holiday weekend Using a Pin Cite
Have a pin cite? No worries, Casemaker knows what to do. Enter the pin cite in the search bar and Casemaker will pull up the case that particular page is located in. Simple and easy!
Narrow by Circuit
While the Jurisdiction menu will aid you to narrow your search to Circuit court cases, it will not allow you to narrow to a specific circuit. However, that option is still available! Once you perform your search, click to view all the case results. You can also click on the Cases link on the left. Either option will pull up your results list and a menu on the left side. This left side menu gives you the option to narrow your results by a variety of different ways. For example, you could use the Jurisdiction option to narrow to check the box for Circuit. Note you may have to click a link at the bottom of the category to get all your options. Next, you can narrow to the United States Court of Appeals you wish by checking off the appropriate box. Now your results should be narrowed to the Circuit court you prefer.
Searching for Cases with Citation
The most frequently used function of Casemaker for most users is searching by citation. From the home page, you can simply type your citation in. You do not have to worry about being too picky if you use the wrong spacing, punctuation, or capitalization; Casemaker will automatically correct that for you. You do however need to make sure you are using only the reporter citation and the proper abbreviation. Casemaker goes by the Blue Book citation guidelines if you have any questions regarding abbreviations. For example, with Kearns v. Ford Motor Co., 567 F.3d 1120 (9th Cir. 2009), all you would put in the search bar is 567 F.3d 1120. Be sure you select the correct jurisdiction, however – you will not be able to pull up a New Hampshire Superior Court case when searching in US Court of Appeals!
Sometimes a particular citation brings up more than one result, and there is a very good reason for this. The other case shares a page with the case you were searching for. For example, your case may end on page 104 and another case begins on the same page of the reporter. This means even if you are typing in a pin cite, you will still be able to locate the case you are looking for.
That is all for this week! We will back with more tips and tricks next week. Thanks again for making Casemaker a Valued Member Benefit. |
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