Citing Unpub. Opinions in Wash.

This month the Washington Supreme Court adopted a new General Rule on citing formal opinions. Parties will still be unable to cite unpublished opinions by the Washington Court of Appeals but, effective Sept. 1, will be able to cite unpublished opinions from other jurisdictions if they could be cited under their own jurisdiction's rules. GR 14.1.

The current rule is stated in RAP 10.4(h), but it only address opinions from the Washington Court of Appeals, not other jurisdictions. And since the rule is in the Rules on Appeal, it didn't obviously apply to citations to trial courts (although I always assumed that it did). After Sept. 1, RAP 10.4 will reference GR 14.1.

For a summary of the Ninth Circuit's rule on citing unpublished opinions, see earlier post.