Sunday, September 13, 2015

Unpublished opinions available online!

Here is a news release from the Clerk of the Appellate Court announcing that, at least for future cases, the full text of unpublished appellate decisions will be available online.  This is a welcome change and will allow attorneys and other persons who may not have access to online opinions through a service like Westlaw to get access to unpublished opinions. Plus Kansas Defenders will be able to link to unpublished decisions!

We have seen our appellate courts more and more willing to cite unpublished decisions as persuasive, and this option should facilitate that even more. Now here's hoping that the appellate rules will be amended to dispense with the requirement of attaching unpublished opinions when cited in pleadings (at least if the unpublished decision is available on line).

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