Rule 20 - Copy of Opinion; Requirement of Three-Justice Majority; Nonprecedential Status of Orders; Citation Format(1) In each case, the clerk of the supreme court shall distribute without charge to counsel of record for each party one copy of the opinion filed by the court and of the order made. The opinion or final order, when mandated in accordance with Rule 24, shall constitute the judgment of the court.(2) Without limiting the authority of a single justice under Rule 21(7), a majority consisting of at least three justices, either full-time or temporarily assigned pursuant to RSA 490:3, must concur in any judgment of the court.(3) Non-precedential Status of Orders. An order disposing of any case that has been briefed but in which no opinion is issued, whether or not oral argument has been held, shall have no precedential value, but it may, nevertheless, be cited or referenced in pleadings or rulings in any court in this state, so long as it is identified as a non-precedential order and so long as it was issued in a non-confidential case; provided however, that an order may be cited and shall be controlling with respect to issues of claim preclusion, law of the case and similar issues involving the parties or facts of the case in which the order was issued. See also Rule 12 -D(3). All citations to non-precedential orders shall identify the court, docket number and date.(4) Citations to Supreme Court of the United States cases that cannot be made to the official United States Reports or to the Supreme Court Reporter shall include the month, day, date and year of decision or a reference to United States Law Week. Citations to other federal decisions not presently reported shall identify the court, docket number, and date. (5) Citations to the opinions of this court shall be to the New Hampshire Reports if the cited opinion has been so published, except that citation to an opinion issued after January 1, 2024, shall be: (a) to the neutral citation form (e.g., State v. Shea, 2024 N.H. 1); or (b) to the New Hampshire Reports if the cited opinion has been so published. Citations to non-precedential orders of this court shall conform to paragraph (3) above.(6)Citations to the other State court decisions may either be:(a) to the official report and to the West Reporter system, with the year of decision; or(b) to the West Reporter only, in which case the citation should identify the State court by name or level, and should mention the year of decision.Amended Nov.10, 2015., eff. 1/1/2016; amended effective 9/30/2019; amended effective 1/1/2020; amended December 30, 2024, eff. 1/1/2025.