When filing a brief or writing a memorandum, be sure to follow these rules.
Basic Structure of a Federal Court Case CitationIn a basic citation to a case found in a reporter, a lawyer must efficiently convey four basic pieces of information:
- The name of the case;
- Where the case can be found;
- The court that decided the case; and
- The year the case was decided.
The name of the case comes first, followed by where it can be found. The court and the year come last in parentheses.
Party Names in Federal Court Case Citations
When a party is a person, use only the last name of the person. When there are multiple plaintiffs or multiple defendants in a case, use the name of the first one.
For example, take the following fictitious citation:
Steven v. Christopher, 201 F. Supp. 3d 128 (E.D. Va. 2009).
“Steven v. Christopher” is the name of the case.
The case name should always be underlined or italicized.
When a party is a company, an organization, or other type of entity, use its complete name, but abbreviate words in the name according to Rule 10 and as provided in table T.6.
For example, if your parties are National First Southern Engineering Coalition (plaintiff) and Azalea Limited Company (defendant), the case name is: Nat’l First S. Eng’g Coal. v. Azalea Ltd.
Drop the word “company” from the defendant’s name due to Rule 10.2.1.(h), which allows only one corporate designation per party name.
Case Location: Volumes, Reporters, and Pages in Federal Court Case Citations
A reporter is a collection of cases bound together in a book. There are two main types of federal reporters: one for the trial courts, called district courts, and one for appellate courts, called circuit courts.
Trial court reporters are indicated by “F. Supp.” A series number, such as 2d or 3d, may follow “Supp.”
Appellate court reporters are indicated by “F.” Like trial court reporters, a series number may follow the “F.”
After the case name and before the name of the reporter, you must include the volume number of the reporter.
After the reporter name, you should insert the number of the first page on which the case appears. If you are citing a particular page in the opinion, called a pinpoint cite, you should insert that page number in the citation.
For example: Steven v. Christopher, 201 F.3d 128, 130 (E.D. Va. 2009).
Adding the Name of the Court to a Federal Court Case Citation
The “E.D. Va.” in the parentheses tells you the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia decided the case.
For trial courts, you should always indicate the district that decided the case, starting with the location (E., W., N., or S.) followed by the abbreviation for district, “D.”
After the D., insert the state abbreviation. Table T.10 contains a full list of state abbreviations.
If a federal appellate court had decided the case, the circuit number would appear in the parenthetical. The circuits are abbreviated with ordinals. Keep in mind the n and r are omitted from 2nd (2d) and 3rd (3d). Periods do not follow the circuit names.
Date of the Federal Court's Decision in Citations
The “2009” in the parentheses in the citation tells you the year of the court's decision.
Punctuating a Federal Court Case Citation
Memorize the punctuation for a basic case citation. The case name is followed by a comma. No comma appears either between a page number and the first parenthesis or between the name of the court and the year.
Finally, note that “versus” is abbreviated as “v.” in case names, not “vs.,” and it is in lower case.
Following this simple prescription will allow you to comply with the Bluebook rules for citing a federal case.
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