Blue Booking Tips

My legal writing instructors posted Blue Booking tips* on TWEN. Hopefully they are useful:

Some tips about citing cases

Abbreviating case names

A case’s name may take three different forms in your memo, and how you abbreviate it in each is different. (Thank you, Blue Book editors!) First, understand the difference between case names appearing in a textual sentence and in a citation sentence or clause. If you refer to the case by name when discussing it, you are using it in a textual sentence. If you are not discussing the case, but instead are citing it to support a claim, you are using it in a citation clause or sentence. For example:

• Case name in textual sentence: In Nelson v. Carlson, 123 S.E.2d 456, 457 (N.C. 1980), the court held…
• Case name in citation clause: Courts consider many factors: non-compliance with corporate formalities, Nelson v. Carlson, 123 S.E.2d 456, 457 (N.C. 1980); inadequate capitalization, Smith v. Jones, 234 S.E.2d 567, 568 (N.C. Ct. App. 1995); …
• Case name in citation sentence: No one factor is determinative. Nelson v. Carlson, 123 S.E.2d 456, 457 (N.C. 1980).

The first time you refer to a case in a textual sentence (even if you have previously cited it in a citation sentence), you may abbreviate only eight words (BB rule B5.3), and you must immediately follow the case name with the remaining elements of a full cite (id.).

• Eg. 1: In East Market Street Square, Inc. v. Tycorp Pizza IV, Inc., 625 S.E.2d 191, 196 (N.C. Ct. App. 2006), the court identified five elements.
• E.g. 2: In Henderson v. Security Mortgage & Finance Co., 160 S.E.2d 39, 44 (N.C. 1968), the court identified five elements.

After you have referred to the case by name in a textual sentence once, you may refer to it thereafter in the text of the same general discussion using a short name, consisting only of the first party’s name, shortened to save space. (BB rule B5.3.) There are special rules if several of your cases have the same first-party name or if you are citing multiple cases with the same name (as in appellate and supreme court versions of the same case).

• Eg. 3: SDS is more like the defendant in Henderson than the defendant in East Market Street. (Note: see comment below about citing cases to support ‘mixed assertions.’)

The first time you cite a case to which you have not previously referred by name in a textual sentence, you must provide a full case name and cite according to BB Rule B5.1.1 in the citation sentence or clause, and you must abbreviate the case name according to BB Rule B5.1.1(v) and Table T.6.

• Eg. 4: The Eighth Circuit analyzed this issue in a 1975 case. Lakota Girl Scout Council, Inc. v. Havey Fund-Raising Mgmt., Inc., 519 F.2d 634 (8th Cir. 1975). (Note: I have not provided a pincite page number, because my textual sentence does not make any assertion about the content of the case. “Management” is abbreviated here, but it would not have been if we presented the case name in a textual sentence.)

• Eg. 5: The court addressed this issue in a 1968 case. Henderson v. Sec. Mortgage & Fin. Co., 160 S.E.2d 39 (N.C. 1968). (Note: See note on Eg. 4. Compare the case name in Eg. 2 and note the differences in abbreviation.)
• Eg. 6: The court addressed this issue in 2006. E. Mkt. St. Square, Inc. v. Tycorp Pizza IV, Inc., 625 S.E.2d 191 (N.C. Ct. App. 2006). (Note: See note on Eg. 4. Compare the case name in Eg. 1 and note the substantial differences in abbreviation.)

Once you have cited a case with a full cite, either by referring to it in a textual sentence or citing it in a citation sentence, you can use a short cite for it (provided you meet the requirements in BB Rule B5.2). In this case, you will come up with an unambiguous short name for the case. What is unambiguous depends on the other cases you cite. Here are citation sentences with acceptable short names for the cases in the examples above (assuming these short names thoroughly distinguish each of them from other cases cited in the memo).

• Eg. 7: E. Mkt., 625 S.E.2d at 196.
• E.g. 8: Henderson, 160 S.E.2d at 44.
• Eg. 9: Lakota Girl Scout, 519 F.2d at 634.

Citations for ‘mixed’ assertions

Assume that you have presented a rule for an issue, and that you have discussed a case illustrating the rule, properly citing the assertions you made about the case. Now, you wish to make a comparison to your client’s problem in a sentence referring to the case. Here is the example:
The defendant in East Market created several subsidiary corporations, all of which were engaged in the same line of business. 625 S.E.2d at 196. Unlike the defendant in East Market, Snyder Corp. has not created SDS to engage in the same business as Snyder Corp., its dominant shareholder.
The question is, what cite is required at the end of this sentence, if any? The BB provides no firm guidance. There are two prevailing views. (1) No cite is needed as you have already discussed the case and cited the relevant facts before making this statement. (2) You need a cite introduced with a “See” signal. It has to be a “See” cite, because the sentence makes a mixed assertion, partly about a case and partly about your client’s situation. The cite supports your proposition, but does not directly state it. Here, your cite would be

• See id.

Ready to puke? Sorry, we don’t provide barf bags. Ready to protest? The BB editors invite your suggestions at Harvard Law Review, Gannett House, 1511 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138.

*These blue booking tips are from my legal writing instructors. I have not checked them for accuracy, so use at your own risk. Please cross check the citations with the actual blue book before citing.