A memorandum decision is a document written by a court that only gives the result of the court’s decision on a case. A memorandum decision is usually very short and does not include the court’s reasoning or explanation for reaching the result. Memorandum decisions are neither published nor binding precedents, therefore a party may not cite them in courts. However, since January 2015, the state of Arizona allows attorneys to cite memorandum decisions as persuasive authority under circumstances that no previous opinions have adequately addressed the subject issue before the court; and the citation is not to a depublished opinion or a depublished portion of an opinion.
[Last updated in September of 2020 by the Wex Definitions Team]