Legal Question in Appeals and Writs in Washington

Re: Circuit of Appeals

Washington State Courts are only bound by decisions of higher Washington State Courts (with the exception of the U.S. Supreme Court). However, decisions of other states and the federal court's are persuasive authority in Washington. One concrete example is the Civil Rules of Procedure. THe Washington court's have specifically held that Federal cases interpreting the federal equiavlent of the State Civil Rule are persuasive authority.

Re: Circuit of Appeals

Washington State lies within the jurisdiction of the 9th federal circuit court of appeals, based in San Frisco, California. A ruling from the 7th circuit does not apply to issues in Washington State in a binding way. That means that our state courts are not legally required to follow the case as a legal precedent. But the ruling may be persuasive enough to influence judges here that the same issue in Washington should be decided the same way. This is called �secondary authority� because it is not binding on the state courts, but the state courts can choose to adopt the reasoning behind it if they want to.

A ruling made by a federal circuit court of appeals can be derived from either state law or derived purely from federal law. Federal circuit courts of appeal review cases decided by the federal district courts located within their circuit, and often those district courts use state statutes as the foundation for their rulings.

For example, when deciding an issue of whether the U.S. Government is liable for a worker�s injuries suffered at work, the U.S. District Court sitting in Seattle or Spokane will resolve the issue by applying Washington State safety and employment laws. If the case is appealed to the 9th circuit, the court of appeals may make a ruling based on state law, but that ruling is not necessarily binding on the state-level courts in Washington. The fact that a federal court made the ruling does not automatically convert the ruling into a precedent that must be followed in all courts of the state. Likewise, when the 9th circuit court of appeals makes a ruling on a case that is based on Oregon or California law, that ruling is not applicable to cases here in Washington.