January 2021 Bar Bulletin
By Ian Cairns
In 2016, the Washington Supreme Court amended General Rule 14.1 to allow the citation of unpublished opinions issued by the Court of Appeals. A number of appellate judges, as well as many practitioners, opposed the amendment and predicted dire consequences should it become reality, including that unpublished opinions would become “accidental precedent” for non-existent legal principles.1
But what has actually happened in the four years since GR 14.1 was amended? Did the sky fall? This article briefly outlines the history and origin of GR 14.1 before concluding that, in the author’s opinion, the amendment to GR 14.1...