(May 31, 2011) Background The system of case citation that has historically prevailed in the United States relies upon the elements of printed case reporters, that is, volume number, case name, beginning and pinpoint page numbers, and year of filing. In Illinois, citations have been made to our state’s official reporters (Illinois Reports and Illinois Appellate Reports), with parallel citations to the appropriate West regional reporter (North East Reporter and/or Illinois Decisions) also allowed. But reliance upon printed reports for access to the courts’ opinions has diminished with the rise of electronic databases, such as those found on the Court’s own Internet website, Westlaw and Lexis-Nexis, and various CD-ROMs. In this state, the Illinois Supreme and Appellate Courts’ opinions have been made available on the judiciary’s website since 1996. However, the requirement that case citations be made to printed reporters has prevented direct citation of those opinions, even though they are now widely available on various electronic databases. To remedy this situation, the Illinois Supreme Court has amended Supreme Court Rule 23, and has entered an administrative order in relation to Rule 23, to direct Illinois reviewing courts to assign, at the time of filing, public-domain case designator numbers (e.g., “2011 IL 102345”) , as well as internal paragraph numbers, to all opinions and Rule 23 orders filed after July 1, 2011. Further, any opinions that were filed prior to July 1, 2011, but not released for publication until a later date will be assigned a public-domain case designator number and internal paragraph numbers by the Reporter of Decisions. All opinions that have been assigned public-domain case designators and paragraph numbers will be posted to the Illinois judiciary’s website. Additionally, Rule 6 has been amended to require the use of public-domain case citations for all Illinois reviewing court opinions filed or released for publication after July 1, 2011. The amendments to Rules 6 and 23 will thus introduce a new system of case citations to Illinois law based directly on the decisions of the courts. It should be noted, though, that while amended Rule 6 requires a citation to the courts’ public-domain numbering and paragraphing scheme in lieu of an Illinois Official Reports citation, the rule continues to allow citations to the unofficial regional reporters. Citations A public-domain case designators is unique to each opinion and is comprised of the year of decision, the court abbreviation, and a unique identifier number derived from the docket number. A public-domain citation shall include the designator preceded by the case title and will be in accord with the following examples: Supreme Court People v. Doe, 2011 IL 102345 Appellate Court Districts People v. Doe, 2011 IL App (1st) 101234 People v. Doe, 2011 IL App (2d) 101234 People v. Doe, 2011 IL App (3d) 101234 People v. Doe, 2011 IL App (4th) 101234 People v. Doe, 2011 IL App (5th) 101234 Appellate Court Workers’ Compensation Division Doe v. Illinois Workers’ Compensation Comm’n, 2011 IL App (1st) 101234WC In the above, a citation to People v. Doe, 2011 IL 102345, shows People v. Doe as the case name; 2011 as the year of decision; the Illinois Supreme Court as the court of decision; and 102345 as the court-assigned identifier number, which, in the Supreme Court, is the docket number and, in the Appellate Court, is the last six digits of the docket number. Where a subsequent opinion is filed under the same docket number, such as upon reconsideration of the cause after remand, a sequential capital letter will be appended to the unique- identifier number, regardless of the year-designation portion of the citation: People v. Doe, 2011 IL App (1st) 101236 People v. Doe, 2012 IL App (1st) 101236-B Orders filed under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 23 will have the letter “U” appended to the unique-identifier number: People v. Roe, 2011 IL App (5th) 101237-U Additionally, Illinois reviewing court opinions will include internally numbered paragraphs. Where a pinpoint citation to an opinion is appropriate, the citation shall include the public-domain citation followed by the pinpoint paragraph or paragraphs of the opinion. E.g.: People v. Doe, 2011 IL App (1st) 101234, ¶ 15 People v. Doe, 2011 IL App (1st) 101234, ¶¶ 21-23 People v. Doe, 2011 IL App (1st) 101234, ¶¶ 57, 68 For those opinions filed prior to July 1, 2011, but not released by the filing court for publication until after that date, the Reporter of Decisions office will add internal paragraph numbers, as well as the public-domain designator numbers.
