The Daily Appellate Report publishes new case opinions from the California Courts and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals daily, and is available in print at the San Diego Law Library.
Advance Sheets and Newly Issued Opinions.
Many of the official reporters issue supplements called "advance sheets" that are paperback booklets that you will find at the end of the shelf containing the most recent reporter volumes. The opinions included in these advance sheets (known as "slip opinions") are not officially published yet, and may be amended, withdrawn, superseded, or depublished before the final bound volumes are issued. Opinions that appear in the Daily Appellate Report or an online service like Lexis or Westlaw, and that have been approved for publication may not actually be included when the bound volume is issued. If you decide to cite such an opinion, update it frequently so that you know if the opinion has been reversed, overturned, withdrawn, or depublished before you submit your brief or before your hearing. (For more information about updating case law see the information under "Making Sure a Case is Still Good Law" below). If you see that the California Supreme Court has granted review of a Court of Appeals ruling, note that the Court of Appeals opinion is no longer considered published. California Rules of Court, Rule 8.1115(e). For a California case, you can also find this information in the "Cumulative Subsequent History Table" in the back of the latest official advance sheet booklet, although it will be two or three weeks behind.
Making Sure a Case is Still Good Law
Just because a case is published in an official reporter does not mean that it can be cited to prove a legal point. Even an opinion that has been published may later be amended or withdrawn, or may be reversed by a higher court. To ensure that a particular case that you want to cite is still valid or good law you must use Shepard's Citations (on Lexis) or Key-Cite (on Westlaw). Shepard's and Key-Cite are online services that report the subsequent history of each published case (that is, whether it has been overturned or reversed), as well as any subsequent cases that have cited that case. The library provides free access to Shepard's and Key-Cite on our patron computers.
Old Cases
Finally, if you are citing an opinion that is very old and has not been cited by another case for many years, you may want to search the subject of the opinion in the appropriate state codes or statutes to make sure that it has not been superseded by a statute. As statutory law has expanded in most states over the years, it has come to govern many areas of law that were once governed by case law.