SPECIAL CAUTION FOR OPINION PUBLISHERS, ON-LINE RESEARCH SERVICES, AND OTHER OPINION DATA VENDORS

Unofficial publishers of California opinions, on-line research services, and other opinion data vendors are advised to exercise caution as to any California appellate opinions not procured from this Web site. Before disseminating opinions procured from another source (e.g., a paper copy from a court) as published and citable (see rule 977 Cal. Rules of Court), consider checking with the Reporter of Decisions office at (415) 865-7168.

Very often an opinion is unavailable on this Web site because it cannot, for some reason, be cited or relied on as a published opinion under rule 977. Occasionally an opinion is not available because of a lapse by the court in sending the computer version, but such a lapse should neverbe assumed by publishers. The Reporter's office can clarify an opinion's publication status and generally make the opinion available on the Web site within a few hours when unavailability is by a lapse in sending the computer version.

It has happened, for example, that a postfiling publication order was mistakenly filed for a Court of Appeal opinion. The opinion had already become final and the Court of Appeal no longer had jurisdiction to order publication. For this reason, it was never a citable, published opinion; thus it was not made available on the Web site. Notwithstanding this, the opinion was disseminated as a citable, published opinion by some publishers based on their receipt of paper copies. Querying the Reporter's office as to the opinion's unavailability on this Web site would have prevented this mistake.

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