For pending and unreported cases, the 20th Edition of The Bluebook calls for citation to the LEXIS or Westlaw electronic report of the case when one is available. But if you are in the Fort Worth Court of Appeals, you would be wise to use the citation to Westlaw if it is available.
The Fort Worth Court of Appeals’ website includes a section about practicing before the court. Included under that heading are the court’s Internal Operating Procedures. The section of that item that addresses briefs contains the following advisory:
Because the court does not
subscribe to Lexis, the court
prefers that any citations and
hyperlinking to authorities be to
Westlaw.
But then last Spring, the court issued an opinion with this footnote:
This court’s website advises litigants that it does not subscribe to LEXIS and requests that parties cite to Westlaw in their briefing. See, www.txcourts.gov/2ndcoa.aspx, Internal Operating Procedures, Briefs & fn 1 (2022). Despite this request, Loudermilk cites to LEXIS, not Westlaw, throughout his brief, requiring this court to cross reference to Westlaw to
In re Estate of Hodges, No. 02-20-00020-CV, 2022 Tex. App. LEXIS 3036, *7-8 n.2, 2022 WL 1420976 (Tex. App.–Fort Worth May 5, 2022, pet. denied).
find the cases cited by him. We encourage all parties to pay attention to the requirements for briefing.
Note the use of the word “requirements” in the final sentence. Whether an actual requirement or not, practitioner would be well-advised to provide the Westlaw cite when the authority does not appear in a reporter.