Verifying Search Results Legal Research Guide Verifying Search Results Finding a case or statute on point does not end the researcher's task. The found authority must be verified to make sure that it is still good law, i.e., that a higher court or the same court has not subsequently overruled or reversed the found case or law.
Verification is accomplished through the utilization of case citators.
In addition to telling you whether a case has been overruled or disapproved, Shepard's can also tell you whether the holding of a case has been criticized, limited, or followed by other cases. This is possible because Shepard's and most other citators tell you every case that has cited or mentioned the found or principal case. 181, is shown. The first two citations shown in parenthesis are to parallel citations, i.e., reports of the case found in other sets of court reports. Letters to the left of citations are analysis abbreviations showing case history and treatment of the case.