Top Law Schools

.

It depends.

It could be considered good law only to the extent that it does not conflict with the express wording of the statute. If the legislative history of the statute shows an intent to codify the common law as expressed in the district court (and shows intent to overturn the appellate interpretation), then courts are likely to view prior common law decisions as persuasive authority on interpretation of the statute.

An example of this is the Uniform Trade Secrets Act. There was a large body of trade secret case law developed throughout America. The UTSA synthesized it all and came up with a uniform statute, now adopted by most states. But to the extent prior common law cases do not conflict with the wording of the statute, courts will still cite them when analyzing claims brought under the UTSA. They don't control, but they remain relevant, and are to some extent still "good," meaning carry weight when cited.