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INDIANA RESEARCH
Indiana Case Law Search: Find Indiana Court of Appeals and Supreme Court Opinions That Bind Your Trial Court
Ask an Indiana question the way you would ask a colleague and get back opinions from the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, and the Tax Court, with the citation you actually file and the holding in plain language.
Last updated August 2026 · US firms · Research tool, not legal advice
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- Question
- Short answer
- Authorities
Casesearch shows you the sources. Always read the full opinion and verify citations before you rely on them.
The short answer
Indiana case law search means finding the opinions that control your issue in Indiana. Appellate Rule 65(D)(1) sets the weight in one sentence: a published Supreme Court opinion is binding precedent for all Indiana courts, and a published Court of Appeals opinion is binding precedent for all Indiana trial courts. That wording matters, because it binds trial courts without binding other Court of Appeals panels, so two panels can disagree and only the Supreme Court settles it. Memorandum decisions are not binding on any court, but one issued on or after January 1, 2023 may be cited for persuasive value by any litigant.
Trial courts
a published Court of Appeals opinion binds them, but not other panels
15
Court of Appeals judges in three-judge panels that rotate three times a year
Jan 1, 2023
memorandum decisions become citable for persuasive value
About 80%
of Indiana appellate decisions are memorandum decisions
Side by side
The Indiana court structure and what binds your court
Indiana states its precedent rule in the text of Appellate Rule 65(D) rather than leaving it to case law, which makes the weight of an Indiana opinion unusually easy to check. Read the rule first, then the opinion type, then the date.
| Court | What it decides | How it is cited | Precedential weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indiana Supreme Court | Discretionary transfer, plus direct appeals in death penalty, life without parole, and statutory constitutional challenges | N.E.3d, formerly Ind. through 1981 | Binding precedent for all Indiana courts under App. R. 65(D)(1) |
| Court of Appeals (published opinion) | Most civil and criminal appeals, in three-judge panels with statewide jurisdiction | N.E.3d, formerly Ind. App. through 1979 | Binding precedent for all Indiana trial courts, but not on other panels |
| Court of Appeals (memorandum decision) | The routine majority of appeals, resolved without a precedential opinion | Slip or docket cite, marked memorandum decision | Not binding on any court, citable for persuasive value only if issued on or after January 1, 2023 |
| Indiana Tax Court | Exclusive jurisdiction over cases arising under Indiana tax laws | N.E.3d | Binding on the agencies and parties before it, reviewed directly by the Supreme Court |
| Trial courts (circuit, superior, county) | General trial jurisdiction across the 92 counties | Not published as precedent | No precedential value |
| Seventh Circuit and Indiana federal district courts | Federal questions and diversity cases applying Indiana law | F.4th, F.Supp.3d | Persuasive only in state court on questions of Indiana law |
Casesearch is a research accelerator, not legal advice. Confirm the current cite and the decision type before you file.
How do I search Indiana case law?
Describe the issue as a full question rather than a string of keywords, and let the search return the opinions that actually address it. Indiana makes one part of this easier than most states. Because every Court of Appeals panel has statewide jurisdiction, you are not trying to work out which appellate district your county belongs to before you can trust a case. A published opinion out of any panel binds your trial court the same way.
The harder part is sorting decision types, because Indiana issues far more memorandum decisions than published opinions. The Court of Appeals of Indiana issues roughly 2,000 written decisions a year across its 15 judges, and by the court's own count about 80 percent of them are memorandum decisions. So only about one in five carries precedential weight. A search result that hands you a memorandum decision without saying so is handing you something that binds nobody.
Ask the question in a sentence
Include the statute, the parties, and the procedural posture so the search has real facts to match.
Check published or memorandum first
This single label decides whether the decision binds your trial court or merely persuades it.
Watch the January 1, 2023 line
A memorandum decision issued before that date cannot be cited for persuasive value at all.
Look for a conflicting panel
Panels do not bind each other, so a second published opinion may point the other way.
Are Indiana Court of Appeals decisions binding?
On trial courts, yes. Appellate Rule 65(D)(1) says it directly: a published opinion of the Court of Appeals is binding precedent for all Indiana trial courts. If you are in a circuit or superior court anywhere in Indiana, a published Court of Appeals opinion on your point is authority the judge must follow, regardless of which panel issued it or which part of the state the judges live in.
On other Court of Appeals panels, no, and that omission is deliberate. The rule binds the Supreme Court's published opinions to all Indiana courts and binds the Court of Appeals' published opinions only to trial courts. A later panel that thinks an earlier panel got it wrong can say so and decide differently. That puts Indiana in a different place from its neighbors. Michigan makes published Court of Appeals opinions bind the Court of Appeals itself and gives panels a special conflict panel to resolve disagreements, and Wisconsin goes further still by forbidding its Court of Appeals from overruling itself at all. Indiana does neither. It lets the split appear and leaves it for the Supreme Court to resolve on transfer.
Binding downward
Published Court of Appeals opinions control in every Indiana trial court.
Not binding sideways
One panel may decline to follow another panel's published opinion.
No conflict panel
Indiana has no mechanism for panels to resolve a split among themselves.
Transfer settles it
A genuine conflict between panels is a strong argument for Supreme Court transfer.
Can you cite an unpublished Indiana opinion?
Since January 1, 2023, yes, within limits. The Indiana Supreme Court amended Appellate Rule 65(D) by order dated December 19, 2022 in Cause No. 22S-MS-1, signed by Chief Justice Loretta H. Rush with all justices concurring. The amended rule provides that unless later designated for publication, a memorandum decision is not binding precedent for any court, but that a memorandum decision issued on or after January 1, 2023 may be cited for persuasive value to any court by any litigant.
Two limits catch people out. The date is the date of the decision, not the date of your brief, so a 2019 memorandum decision remains uncitable no matter how squarely it fits your facts. And the rule adds that there is no duty to cite a memorandum decision except to establish res judicata, collateral estoppel, or law of the case, which means the other side has no obligation to surface a bad one and the court has no obligation to distinguish yours. Before 2023 the rule barred citation outright except by the parties to that case for those same three purposes. Arizona made a similar move eight years earlier, opening its memorandum decisions issued on or after January 1, 2015 to citation for persuasive value.
When does the Indiana Court of Appeals publish an opinion?
Appellate Rule 65(A) sets three criteria. A Court of Appeals decision is published if the case establishes, modifies, or clarifies a rule of law, if it criticizes existing law, or if it involves a legal or factual issue of unique interest or substantial public importance. The judge writing the decision recommends publication to the rest of the panel with an explanation tied to one of those provisions, and the panel decides by majority vote.
That standard is why the ratio runs the way it does. Most appeals apply settled Indiana law to a particular record, which satisfies none of the three criteria, so the decision issues as a memorandum decision. It also means a memorandum decision is not a signal that the reasoning is weak. It is a signal that the panel did not think the case changed anything. A well reasoned 2024 memorandum decision on facts close to yours is worth citing for persuasive value even though it binds nobody.
There is one move most practitioners forget. If a memorandum decision in your own case meets one of the Rule 65(A) criteria, you can file a motion asking the Court of Appeals to publish it. The court considers the motion and may redesignate the decision as a published opinion, which converts it from something that binds nobody into binding precedent for every trial court in Indiana. If you won on an issue that keeps recurring in your practice area, that motion is worth the filing fee.
Establishes, modifies, or clarifies a rule of law
The most common route to publication.
Criticizes existing law
A panel flagging a problem with the current rule.
Unique interest or substantial public importance
The catch-all for cases that matter beyond the parties.
Panel majority decides
The writing judge recommends and the panel votes.
You can move to publish
A party may ask the court to redesignate a memorandum decision as a published opinion.
How do I cite an Indiana case?
Indiana has no public domain citation format. It retired its official reporters and moved to the regional reporter instead. Indiana Reports (Ind.) ran through 1981 and Indiana Court of Appeals Reports (Ind. App.) through 1979, and since then Indiana decisions have been published in West's North Eastern Reporter, now in its third series. A modern Indiana citation therefore looks like Smith v. State, 123 N.E.3d 456 (Ind. 2019), with the court and year in the parenthetical and a page pinpoint rather than a paragraph number.
Two details are worth getting right. The court abbreviation distinguishes the courts, so use (Ind.) for the Supreme Court, (Ind. Ct. App.) for the Court of Appeals, and (Ind. T.C.) for the Tax Court, because the weight of the opinion turns on which court issued it. And when you cite a memorandum decision for persuasive value, identify it as one; you are offering persuasive authority, not binding precedent, and a citation that hides the difference invites the court to notice for you. Our guide to reading a legal citation walks through reporters, pinpoints, and parentheticals in more detail.
N.E.3d is the reporter
Indiana has used the North Eastern Reporter since the official reports ended.
Ind. and Ind. Ct. App.
The parenthetical tells the reader which court, and therefore how much weight.
Page pinpoints, not paragraphs
Indiana did not adopt a paragraph based public domain cite.
Label a memorandum decision
Say what it is when you cite it for persuasive value.
What is the Indiana Tax Court and when does it matter?
Indiana is one of a small number of states with a dedicated tax court, and it changes where a state tax question lives. The General Assembly created the Indiana Tax Court effective July 1, 1986. A single judge sits on it, and it has exclusive jurisdiction over cases arising under Indiana tax laws, which covers initial appeals from final determinations of the Indiana Department of State Revenue and the Indiana Board of Tax Review, along with certain appeals involving the Department of Local Government Finance.
For research, exclusive jurisdiction is the operative word. If your question is a state tax question, the controlling body of Indiana decisions sits in the Tax Court rather than in the general Court of Appeals line, and a search that only looks at the Court of Appeals will quietly miss it. Tax Court decisions are reviewed by the Indiana Supreme Court rather than by the Court of Appeals, so the appellate path is shorter and the Supreme Court's tax opinions carry particular weight.
Where can I find Indiana case law online?
The official decisions are free. The Indiana Judicial Branch posts Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and Tax Court decisions as they issue, labels each Court of Appeals decision as an opinion or a memorandum decision, and keeps a searchable archive. Google Scholar and CourtListener carry the same opinions with stronger full-text search. What none of the free sources reliably give you is a citator, a plain-language holding, or a warning that a later opinion or a conflicting panel has changed what controls.
The paid tier buys editorial depth and a treatment system. Westlaw and Lexis carry headnotes plus KeyCite and Shepard's, which earn their keep on complex appellate work. For the everyday job of finding the controlling published opinion, reading the holding, and confirming it still stands, a self-serve tool covers the work at a fraction of an enterprise seat. We compare the whole category in the legal research software guide, and if you are leaving an incumbent, the guide to switching legal research providers walks through contract notice windows and exporting saved research.
Frequently asked
Questions buyers ask about indiana case law search
How do I search Indiana case law?
Describe your issue as a full question and search Indiana Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and Tax Court decisions. Because every Court of Appeals panel has statewide jurisdiction, you do not need to identify an appellate district first. Check whether each result is a published opinion or a memorandum decision, because only published opinions bind Indiana trial courts.
Are Indiana Court of Appeals decisions binding?
On trial courts, yes. Appellate Rule 65(D)(1) makes a published Court of Appeals opinion binding precedent for all Indiana trial courts. It does not bind other Court of Appeals panels, so a later panel may disagree with an earlier one. When published opinions conflict, the Indiana Supreme Court resolves it on transfer.
Can you cite an unpublished Indiana opinion?
Yes, if it was issued on or after January 1, 2023. Under amended Appellate Rule 65(D)(2), a memorandum decision issued on or after that date may be cited for persuasive value to any court by any litigant, though it is not binding precedent for any court. Memorandum decisions issued before January 1, 2023 still cannot be cited except to establish res judicata, collateral estoppel, or law of the case.
When does the Indiana Court of Appeals publish an opinion?
Appellate Rule 65(A) directs publication when the case establishes, modifies, or clarifies a rule of law, criticizes existing law, or involves a legal or factual issue of unique interest or substantial public importance. The writing judge recommends publication and the panel votes. About 80 percent of Indiana appellate decisions are memorandum decisions rather than published opinions.
How do I cite an Indiana case?
Use the North Eastern Reporter with a court and year parenthetical, as in Smith v. State, 123 N.E.3d 456 (Ind. 2019). Indiana Reports ended in 1981 and Indiana Court of Appeals Reports in 1979, and Indiana never adopted a public domain citation, so pinpoints are to pages rather than paragraphs. Use Ind. for the Supreme Court, Ind. Ct. App. for the Court of Appeals, and Ind. T.C. for the Tax Court.
Does Indiana have a separate tax court?
Yes. The Indiana Tax Court was created effective July 1, 1986 and has exclusive jurisdiction over cases arising under Indiana tax laws, including initial appeals from the Department of State Revenue and the Indiana Board of Tax Review. A single judge sits on it, and its decisions are reviewed by the Indiana Supreme Court rather than the Court of Appeals.
Keep reading
Michigan case law search
A neighboring court whose published opinions bind the Court of Appeals itself, with a conflict panel.
Wisconsin case law search
The opposite rule: a Court of Appeals that cannot overrule its own published precedent at all.
Illinois case law search
Public-domain citation and five appellate districts that do not bind each other.
Ohio case law search
District-only binding authority and a public-domain cite in force since May 2002.
Federal case law search
Seventh Circuit authority, F.4th, and what binds a federal court sitting in Indiana.
Can you cite an unpublished opinion
The federal rule, the state variations, and what persuasive value actually buys you.
What decisions are binding in my state
How binding authority works court by court, state by state.
Check if a case is still good law
The treatment check that catches reversals and superseding statutes.
How to read a legal citation
Reporters, pinpoints, parentheticals, and subsequent history.
Legal research software
The four kinds of research tool and how to choose between them.
Casesearch is a legal research tool, not legal advice. Always read the full opinion and verify citations before relying on them.
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Search Indiana case law in plain English
Ask your Indiana question and read the controlling published opinions, the holdings, and the treatment signal for yourself. A research tool, not legal advice.