A California case citation format, under the California Style Manual, is written as the italicized case name, the year in parentheses, the volume, the official reporter abbreviation, the starting page, and a pinpoint page: Intel Corp. v. Hamidi (2003) 30 Cal.4th 1342, 1351. California Rules of Court, rule 1.200 lets you use either the California Style Manual or The Bluebook, so long as you stick with one throughout the document.1Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 1.200 – Format of Citations Most California practitioners use the California Style Manual because it is the official style of the California Official Reports.2Supreme Court of California. California Style Manual Fourth Edition
The Four Parts of a Full Citation
Every full California case citation has the same components in the same order:
- Case name, italicized, with the parties separated by “v.” (for example, Intel Corp. v. Hamidi).
- Year of decision in parentheses, placed immediately after the case name.
- Reporter information: volume number, abbreviated reporter, and the page where the opinion begins.
- Pinpoint page, separated from the starting page by a comma.
There is no comma between the case name and the parenthetical year. When the whole citation appears inside a sentence, it sits within parentheses and the ending period goes inside the closing parenthesis.
A Supreme Court citation looks like this: Intel Corp. v. Hamidi (2003) 30 Cal.4th 1342, 1351. The 30 is the volume, Cal.4th is the fourth series of California Reports, 1342 is the first page of the opinion, and 1351 is the specific page cited. For a Court of Appeal case: Albertson’s, Inc. v. Young (2003) 107 Cal.App.4th 106, 113. Cal.App.4th refers to the fourth series of California Appellate Reports.3California Courts. Citing Your Sources of Information
Because California Reports publishes only Supreme Court opinions, the parenthetical for those cases is just the year. For Court of Appeal cases, the parenthetical can include the district designation along with the year.
Official Reporters and Parallel Citations
The official reporter for Supreme Court opinions is the California Reports, abbreviated by series: Cal., Cal.2d, Cal.3d, Cal.4th, Cal.5th. For the Courts of Appeal, the official reporter is the California Appellate Reports: Cal.App., Cal.App.2d, Cal.App.3d, Cal.App.4th, Cal.App.5th.3California Courts. Citing Your Sources of Information Documents filed in California courts must include citations to these official reporters.1Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 1.200 – Format of Citations
Parallel citations to the Pacific Reporter (P., P.2d, P.3d) and the California Reporter (Cal.Rptr., Cal.Rptr.2d, Cal.Rptr.3d) are recommended by the California Style Manual but not strictly required. When you include them, they go in brackets after the official citation, and the pinpoint page sits after the official reporter page number, before the brackets:
Example v. Case (2010) 50 Cal.4th 100, 110 [234 P.3d 500, 100 Cal.Rptr.3d 50].
Many judges and clerks expect parallel cites even though a brief without them will not be rejected on that basis.
Differences From Bluebook Formatting
If you learned citation in law school, you learned The Bluebook first, and California style requires a few habits to unlearn. The California Style Manual places the year in parentheses right after the case name; The Bluebook places it at the end. California uses no comma between the case name and what follows; The Bluebook uses one. California requires italicized case names; The Bluebook allows italics or underlining. California puts the whole citation in parentheses when it appears within a sentence, with the period inside.
The same case in each style:
- California Style Manual: (Smiley v. Citibank (1995) 11 Cal.4th 138, 145.)
- Bluebook: Smiley v. Citibank, 11 Cal. 4th 138, 145 (1995).
Short Forms for Repeat References
Once a case has a full citation, you do not repeat it every time. Which short form to use depends on where the next reference falls.
Within the Same Paragraph
If nothing has changed from the immediately preceding citation, use Ibid., italicized, inside parentheses. If you are pointing to a different page of the same case, use Id. with the new page: (Id. at p. 65.) You can also shorten to just the case name or just the reporter information when the reference is unambiguous: (Silacci, at p. 562.) or (45 Cal.App.4th at p. 562.).
In a Later Paragraph
When you cite a previously mentioned case in a new paragraph, the California Style Manual uses supra. This is one of the sharper departures from Bluebook practice, which does not use supra for case citations. The format: (Silacci v. Abramson, supra, 45 Cal.App.4th at p. 562.) Use “at pp.” for a range. The full short citation sits within parentheses with the period inside.
Opinions You Cannot Cite
Not every California opinion is fair game, and getting this wrong can lead a court to strike parts of your brief.
Under California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115, an unpublished opinion from the Court of Appeal or a superior court appellate division cannot be cited or relied on by a court or party in any other case. Two narrow exceptions exist: when the opinion is relevant under law of the case, res judicata, or collateral estoppel; and when it is relevant to a criminal or disciplinary action because it states reasons for a decision affecting the same defendant or respondent in another such proceeding.4Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court 8.1115 – Citation of Opinions Outside those situations, keep unpublished opinions out of your filings.5Judicial Branch of California. Unpublished and Non-Citable Opinions
A depublished opinion, one originally published but later ordered depublished (usually by the California Supreme Court), carries the same prohibition.
The rule on opinions under Supreme Court review changed in 2016. Before then, a grant of review automatically depublished the Court of Appeal opinion. Now, under rule 8.1115(e)(1), a published Court of Appeal opinion remains published and citable for its persuasive value while Supreme Court review is pending, unless the Supreme Court specifically orders otherwise.4Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court 8.1115 – Citation of Opinions
Cases Not Yet in the Official Reports
When a decision has come down but has not yet been assigned a volume and page in the official reporter, cite it with the full filing date, the case docket number, and a placeholder for the reporter information, such as “__ Cal.App.5th __.” The docket number lets readers pull the opinion from online databases. For opinions available only through Westlaw or Lexis, add the database identifier after the placeholder. Update the citation to the standard format once the official reporter citation is available, and check for that update before filing if your deadline allows.