Depublication of California Court of Appeal Opinions

Using the Official Reports (i.e., California Reports & California Appellate Reports)

One can find information about depublished and superseded Court of Appeal opinions in the bound volumes and advance pamphlets of the official California Appellate Reports.  While depublished/superseded opinions are omitted from the California Appellate Reports bound volumes, you will still find in place of each omitted opinion the case caption along with a note indicating why the opinion was omitted (ordered not published, rehearing granted, etc.).†  

There is a substantial lag time between the publication of the advance pamphlets and the corresponding bound volumes. If you find a recent California opinion in an advance pamphlet, you can check on its status by consulting the Cumulative Subsequent History Table in the back of the most recently published advance pamphlet.†† This table is arranged alphabetically by case name and tracks significant case history "until opinions are final and reported in bound volume form. If the opinion is not to be published in the bound volume, its history will likewise be removed from the table at the time of publication of the corresponding bound volume, unless it then remains under review" (quoting from the table's Preface).

Given that the Supreme Court can change the status of a "review granted" opinion while the case is under review and the fact that "review granted" opinions are gererally not binding precedent until the Supreme Court renders a decision in the case, it is important to check the most recent Cumulative Subsequent History Table to determine the current status of a "review granted" opinion, even if you find the opinion in a bound volume of the California Appellate Reports. Current status information for “review granted” opinions can also be found in the annual Review Granted Opinions Pamphlet and its midyear Cumulative Supplement (along with the text of the "review granted" opinions that were ordered depublished and omitted from the bound volumes).

† Not only are depublished/superseded opinions omitted from the bound volumes of the official reporter but the advance pamphlet page numbers for those opinions are also omitted. This is so that all of the opinions published in the bound volumes retain the same pagination as in the advance pamphlets.

††Advance pamphlets are published approximately every 10 days. The information in the most recent advance pamphlet may be updated by consulting the Appellate Courts Case Information system (discussed on the ...Using the California Courts website page of this guide) or by calling the clerk's office. 

Using West reporters (Unofficial)

In contrast to the official California Appellate Reports, West's California Reporter and Pacific Reporter have always included depublished/superseded California Court of Appeal opinions in both the advance pamphlets and the bound volumes†††. The West reporter system can still be helpful however in ascertaining the publication status of a Court of Appeal opinion:

1. West Reporter Bound Volumes                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
   Depublished California Court of Appeal opinions contained in a bound California Reporter volume will likely include a note in the case caption that indicates that the opinion has been depublished. (West uses the phrases “not officially published” or “ordered not published” for depublished opinions.) Information that an opinion was depublished has been included in the California Reporter since about 1972, when the practice became common.  If the Supreme Court certifies only portions of an opinion for official publication, the full text of the opinion remains in the California Reporter. Information on which portions of the opinion were not certified for official publication is noted in the caption. Additionally, if there has been a grant of a rehearing or a review by the California Supreme Court in a case, this is also noted in the case caption (though remember that the publication rules have changed regarding the impact of "review granted" opinions on publication status).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    
2. California Reporter Advance Pamphlets
   
   The advance pamphlets for the California Reporter include two tables that can assist researchers in determining the status of an opinion. These tables are found in the preliminary pages at the front of the advance pamphlets. The first table is the Case History Table, which, like its official counterpart, the Cumulative Subsequent History Table, lists cases by their names. The Case History Table covers all cases still in the California Reporter advance pamphlets; cases are deleted from the table once the corresponding bound California Reporter volumes are published. The second table is the Cumulative Review, Rehearing and Hearing Table, which is organized by West Reporter cite and gives subsequent history information. Opinions that are depublished by Supreme Court order are identified (West uses the phrase “not officially published”). The advance pamphlets also contain Parallel Citation Tables. These tables give no information on the granting of review, transfer and hearing and rehearing, so they should not be relied upon to ascertain an opinion’s official status.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
3. California Subsequent History Table (KFC 47.2 C3 – Level 2)
   
   This Table published by West is issued on an annual basis and is arranged by California Reporter citation. It supplies the citations to Supreme Court orders that affect cases from volume 248 of the Pacific Reporter, first series, except for depublication information, which is covered from volume 1 of the California Reporter. The California Reporter advance pamphlets’ Cumulative Review, Rehearing and Hearing Table (mentioned above) updates this table.

††† Court of Appeal opinions were published in the Pacific Reporter from 1905 to 1959. Since 1959 (when The California Reporter was introduced), Court of Appeal opinions have been published in the California Reporter instead of the Pacific Reporter. California Supreme Court opinions are still published in both reporters.