Digesting Cases 101

1. Read the whole case from the start to finish.

2. For cases with concurring/dissenting opinions, digest as you finish each
opinion. No need to restate facts unless appreciated differently.
3. As you read the case, take note of which facts and issues you’ll include in
the digest.
4. You shall only include the facts that are relevant to the matter under
litigation; likely related to your class.
5. Start your digest with the title of the case, citation, date and ponente
6. Divide you digest into Facts, Issue/s and Ruling sections.
7. Fill in the section on the facts with ones you chose earlier. Make sure the
sentences flow with each other. You are telling a story of how the case
came about. Sometimes you wil have to include how it moved up the
judicial hierarchy from RTC to CA to SC.
8. Fill in the Issue section. The “whether or not” is the easier to formulate.
Some cases just have one issue, some have more.
9. Some issues may not be relevant to your topic so be sure to include only
the ones relevant o your subject.
10.Fill in the section on the court’s ruling. How did the court resolve the issue?
What was the reasoning behind the ruling?
11. In the ruling section, answer the issues and lift from the decision
generously and verbatim.