Upon opening a case, you may notice that certain passages are highlighted in green or pink. You may also see a column of colored bubbles along the far right-hand side of the screen, as shown below.
These colored bubbles comprise our "heat map." Our heat map is intended to direct you to the most cited portions of a case. If you click on a colored bubble, you will be taken to the portion of the opinion corresponding to that bubble. Each colored bubble represents one of the following:
Green: a "key passage", a specific passage cited by other cases.
Pink: language that has been emphasized by other cases (i.e., when a court in another case quotes specific language using italics or the phrase "emphasis added")
Purple: a passage that has been cited more than 20 times (the darker the purple, the more it has been cited)
Blue: this bubble shows you where your search term appears in a case. (Blue will only appear if you are searching for specific words in a case).
The green "key passages" and pink "emphasized language" bubbles contain special filters that enable you to search for additional case law, as explained below.
Using the Green "Key Passages"
When you click on a green bubble that appears on the far right-hand side of the screen, you will be taken to the corresponding green-highlighted text in the opinion. You can then click on the green highlighted text. This will open a separate window, showing a list of the cases that cited this particular portion of the case that you are reading. If you scroll down to the bottom of that window, you will see a button allowing you to "see and filter all citing cases."
Clicking the "see and filter all citing cases" button will take you to a separate screen that lists all cases citing that particular passage. On that screen, you can search through and filter the cases that cite to that portion of the case you were just reading. You can filter the citing cases by search term, jurisdiction, motion type, cause of action, and date.
Using the Pink Passages for Emphasized Language
When you click on a pink bubble that appears on the far right-hand side of the screen, you will be taken to the corresponding pink-highlighted text in the opinion. You can then click on the pink highlighted text. This will open a separate window, showing a list of other cases that have quoted and emphasized the pink-highlighted language in the case that you are reading. If you scroll down to the bottom of that window, you will see a button allowing you to "see and filter all cases."
Clicking the "see and filter all citing cases" button will take you to a separate screen that lists all cases that quote and emphasize that particular passage. On that screen, you can search through and filter the cases that emphasize that portion of the case you were just reading. You can filter these cases by search term, jurisdiction, motion type, cause of action, and date.