Last week, we began reviewing the reversal rate of each District (and Division) of the Courts of Appeal in civil and criminal cases. We began with the years 2000 through 2007. This week, we analyze the data for the years 2008 through 2015.
Division One of the First District has fared quite well for the most part before the Court between 2008 and 2015. Although the court had a reversal rate of 100% in 2008, the rate fell to 50% in 2010, zero from 2011 through 2014, and 33.33% in 2015. Division Two has done quite well too, with a reversal rate of fifty percent from 2010 to 2012, and zero from 2013 through 2015. Division Three’s performance was similar – fifty percent in 2011 and 2012, zero in 2013 and 2014 and fifty percent in 2015. Division Four fared slightly better than the statewide average between 2008 and 2013 – 60% in 2008, 50% in 2010, 57.14% in 2011 and 2012 – before rising to a reversal rate of sixty percent in 2013, three-quarters in 2014 and one hundred percent in 2015. Division Five, on the other hand, had a three-year floating reversal rate of 100% from 2010 through 2013.
Division One of the Second District performed better than the statewide average early in this period. The court’s reversal rate was only 40% in 2008, and 33.33% in 2009 and 2010. But the court’s reversal rate jumped to 75% in 2011, 83.33% in 2012, and between 60% and two-thirds between 2013 and 2015. Division Two of the Second District was at the same level for the most part, with a reversal rate of 66.67% in 2008, 60% in 2009, and 66.67% in 2014 and 2015. During the middle years, the court’s reversal rate was considerably less – 25% in 2010 and zero in 2011 and 2012. Division Three of the Second District ran above the statewide average, with a three-quarters reversal rate in 2008, 81.82% in 2009, two-thirds in 2010 and 70% in 2011, before falling to 42.86% in 2014 and 2015. Division Four of the Second District was just the opposite – slightly below the statewide average in 2008 and 2009, but above in the years since, with a reversal rate of 100% in 2010 and 2011, 83.33% in 2012, 85.71% in 2013, two-thirds in 2014 and three-quarters in 2015.
Division Five of the Second District has, for the most part, run higher than the statewide average, with a reversal rate of 72.22% in 2008, three-quarters in 2009, 87.5 in 2012, 100% in 2013 and two-thirds in 2014 and 2015. Division Six was above the statewide average too – three-quarters between 2009 and 2011, and 100% from 2013 through 2015.
Divisions Seven and Eight of the Second District, on the other hand, have been below the statewide reversal rate for the most part. Division Seven had a reversal rate of only 50% in 2008, and one-third in 2009. The court’s reversal rate rose to 83.33% in 2011 and 100% in 2012 before falling to zero in 2014 and 50% in 2015. Division Eight of the Second District spiked at the same time as Division Seven did – two-thirds in 2010, 71.43% in 2011, 100% in 2012, but fifty percent in 2013 and 2014 and a reversal rate of only 40% in 2015.
Division Three has not performed well at the Court during these years. The court’s reversal rate was just below 60% in 2008 and 2009, before rising to 71.43% in 2010, 88.89% in 2011, 100% from 2012 through 2014 and 80% in 2015. Division One of the Fourth District was well below the statewide average from 2008 through 2010 – 53.33% in 2008, 55.56% in 2009, 50% in 2010 – but has been a bit above the statewide average since, with a reversal rate of 83.33% in 2013, 75% in 2014 and 60% in 2015. Division Two of the Fourth District has consistently performed better than the statewide average, with a reversal rate of 50% in 2012, 25% in 2013, zero in 2014 and 50% in 2015. Division Three of the Fourth District was well below the statewide average reversal rate for the first half of the period before drifting up – 25% in 2008, 12.5% in 2009, 25% in 2010, 44.4% in 2011 – and 87.5% in 2012, 100% in 2013 and 2014, and two-thirds in 2015. The Fifth District has been the reverse – worse than the statewide rate for the first half of the period, a bit better for the second half. In 2008, the Fifth District’s reversal rate was 83.33%, 75% in 2009, and 100% in 2010 and 2012, but 50% in 2013, 60% in 2014 and 40% in 2015. The Sixth District, on the other hand, has performed worse than the statewide average almost from start to finish – 75% in 2008, 66.67% in 2009, 63.64% in 2010, 71.43% in 2013, 80% in 2014 and 50% in 2015.
Join us back here tomorrow as we turn our attention to the Court’s reversal rates for the criminal side of the docket.
Image courtesy of Flickr by Tony Webster (no changes).