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In this lesson, you will learn to identify primary sources, secondary sources, and ways the court views each of them.
Using Appellate Opinions
- Skim the case
- History of the case
- Status of the case
- Using appellate opinions: Negligence
- Using appellate opinions: Trespassing
- Using appellate opinions: Landlord-tenant
- Using appellate opinions: Breach of contract
Transcript
You don\’t have to read an entire case to decide whether it\’s relevant. Skim the facts first, and select cases that are similar to your own set of facts. If you\’re looking for cases about \”negligence of a therapist\”, you can skip all cases about \”slip and fall\” even though they\’re about negligence.
If you find no cases about negligence of a therapist, then you widen your scope and look at other negligence cases. If the facts are relevant, determine how the case turned out. If the person in your position with a similar set of facts won, that\’s the case you want to read more of. You also want to make sure the cases you like haven\’t been overturned. That means you have to know the other cases that used it and how the ruling went.
Do more recent courts support the opinion of the previous court? If so, keep it. It still appears to be good law.
Plessy v Ferguson was overturned. How do you know that? You can look it up and see what more recent court decisions say about it. Keep cases that are still good law. Dump cases that have been overturned.
Let\’s look at some cases to see how they work. Plaintiff pro se Susan sues the defendant, a psychologist, for negligence and emotional distress.
Here, a Wisconsin court clarifies what the law means by \”medical negligence\”. Depending on what the rest of the case says, this one may and probably will be used by both parties in the case.
In this opinion, the plaintiff sued the defendant for trespassing after she unaware that it was not hers used his property as her own. This appellate case is being used because the plaintiff feels the facts are on par with his position.
Byron sues his landlord, Simone, for treble damages for unlawfully locking him out of his apartment. Within this appellate case, the plaintiff finds a specific statute says exactly what he needs it to say in regards to treble damages.
A plaintiff sues a contractor for shoddy work after signing off on the work. A defendant may use the appellate case to prove that if the plaintiff had problems with his work, she should have said something about it sooner.
That\’s what it looks like the law is saying. Finding support for your arguments can be tedious, but every so often you come across a gem that wins your case.