Lack of "Authoritative Effect" Doesn't Render Decision Meaningless
At Law.com, Howard Bashman takes issue with advice offered by the Seventh Circuit’s Judge Easterbrook in RLJCS, Inc. v. Professional Benefit Trust Multiple Employer Welfare Benefit Plan & Trust, The judge had admonished the parties for their attention to a district court decision, noting “decisions of district courts have no authoritative effect.”
The judge appears to urge litigants to merely incorporate any helpful observations from the district court opinion, rather than debate the merits of the opinion itself. Bashman notes the judge himself has cited several treatises, authority arguably would be even less “authoritative” than district court opinions.
My own suspicion is Bashman and Easterbrook actually agree that citation to a district court opinion, or even a treatise, is wholly appropriate when more authoritative precedent does not exist. I think we can all agree with that.
