1st Paragraph:
Facts:
– who is the plaintiff who is the defendant
– What happened that lead up to the lawsuit (who, what, why, when)
2nd Paragraph:
What the issues are? (why are they in court? Ex: plaintiff believes his search and seizure rights were violated)
3rd Paragraph:
Legal history:
Lower courts (full names) analysis & outcome (their decision) (why it was appealed if applicable)
• Trial court (you’ll see the word “district”) where the trial occurred
• Appeals court (you may see the word “circuit” (losers file appeals) – how many appeals there are, there may be a number of different appeals and a number of different courts
4th Paragraph:
Highest court determination:
– their analysis (most likely Supreme Court – include names of courts) give detail