Also known as: Fed. Rep. · F. · F.2d · F.3d · F.R. · Federal Reporters
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A series of case reporters published by West that contains decisions of the United States courts of appeals and, historically, district courts. The series began in 1880 and is now in its fourth iteration, cited as F.4th. It supplies the primary printed source for lower federal court opinions that lack an official reporter counterpart.
Fabian Flynn reviewed a signed offer letter from Falcon Dynamics that predated their oral supply agreement. He located the letter in the Federal Reporter digest while researching whether it satisfied the statute of frauds under Restatement section 136. The court accepted the pre-contract writing as a sufficient memorandum.
Finn Fletcher appealed a jury award in a diversity case governed by New York law. Counsel located the controlling appellate decision in the Federal Reporter and urged the court to adopt the material deviation standard from Gasperini. The panel applied that standard to review the verdict.
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Floyd Franklin sought to avoid posting a bond in a shareholder derivative suit. Research in the Federal Reporter revealed the Cohen decision establishing the collateral order doctrine for immediate appeal of the bond order. The court of appeals accepted jurisdiction on that basis.
Farah Fox sued Swift & Company for unpaid overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Counsel found the Skidmore opinion in the Federal Reporter and used its multi-factor test to determine whether the claimed activities constituted compensable work. The district court applied those factors to the facts.
Fisher Foods challenged an environmental regulation issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The parties located Vermont Yankee in the Federal Reporter and relied on its holding that courts may not impose additional procedural requirements beyond those in the APA. The court of appeals enforced that limit.
Fiona Foster sought discovery of documents from the Vice President. Research in the Federal Reporter surfaced Cheney and its emphasis on separation-of-powers concerns in mandamus review. The court of appeals applied that framework to limit the scope of discovery.
The Federal Reporter contains decisions of the United States courts of appeals and, before the creation of the Federal Supplement, also included many district court opinions. It remains the principal printed source for appellate decisions that lack an official reporter.
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The current series is cited as F.4th. Earlier series are cited as F., F.2d, and F.3d. Researchers locate both published and many unpublished decisions through this reporter or its online equivalents.
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No. Only decisions selected for publication appear in the Federal Reporter. From 2001 to 2021, West published a separate Federal Appendix for non-precedential opinions, and today many unpublished decisions are available only electronically.
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Each opinion includes West headnotes, a synopsis, and key number classifications that aid research. These features are absent from the courts' own slip opinions.
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…brought in a verdict of $30,000; and the judgment entered thereon was affirmed by the Circuit Court of Appeals, which held, 90 F.2d 603, 604, that it was unnecessary to consider whether the law of Pennsylvania was as contended, because the question was one not of local, but of general, law and that "upon questions of…