B17 (p. 24): Bluepages Sources and Authorities for Court and Litigation Documents
BT1 (p. 29): Bluepages table for Court Documents
Citing court documents is a way of citing facts, which are found in the "record" of the case. This is the compilation of documents submitted throughout the duration of the case. The usual progression of court documents to court record is a fairly standard path. First a complaint is filed to the court clerk's office. The clerk starts a file and assigns case number, known as a docket number. From then on, all documents in that case will have that docket number, filed in chronological order. These will generally consist of initial pleadings, discover documents, motions, and responses.
The citation of court documents is useful to both parties in a case, especially if one wants to refer back to documentation already files. To do this, Bluepages Rule B17 states the cite will generally include:
NOTE: The date is included when more than one document has the same name or the date significant to the discussion. Be sure to include the full date in the citation.
The whole citation to the court document is to be enclosed in parentheses, with the period inside the closing parenthesis!
