While statutes are neatly organized by subject, case law is published in books (called reporters), by the date the case was decided. This will make it a little more difficult to find cases that are important to your issue. However, when a case is cited, it allows the reader to find the right book to be able to read the case.
Example Citation
Brown-Bears v. Goldilocks, 123 P.3d 456, 459 (Colo. 2017).
Name of the Case
Brown-Bear v. Goldilocks - The names of the parties become the name of the case. In the citation, the names may be italicized or underlined.
Reporter
123 P.3d 456, 459 - the next part of the citation will tell in which book the case is printed. From the example above:
Book Number
123 P. 3d 456, 459 - This is the specific book where the case is printed.
Reporter Series
123 P.3d 456, 459 - Colorado cases are published in the Pacific Reporter. That’s what the “P.” stands for in the sample citation. This sample case is found in the third series of the Pacific Reporter.
Page Number
123 P.3d 456, 459 - The start of the case appears on this page of the book.
Pinpoint
123 P.3d 456, 459 - A pinpoint provides the exact page in the reporter where specific information may be found. This allows the reader to quickly get to the important part of the case, without having to read the whole case. Not all citations may have a pinpoint page number.
Court and Year
The last part of the citation lets the reader know which court decided the case and in what year. A Colorado Supreme Court case will be abbreviated (Colo.). A Court of Appeals case is abbreviated (Colo. App.).
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