Last week, we reviewed the year-by-year numbers for the Court’s tort law caseload. This week, we’re taking a closer look at the Court’s tort decisions to answer three questions: (1) did the Court hear more defendants’ wins or plaintiffs’ wins from the Court of Appeal on the tort caseload; (2) did the Court tend to reverse defendants’ or plaintiffs’ wins more often; and (3) notwithstanding the winner below, how often did the Court reverse in tort cases?
In fact, the Court’s tort law caseload was lopsidedly inclined towards plaintiffs’ wins below. For the entire period, only 41.58% of the Court’s tort cases were won by the defendant below. Of the defendants’ wins, the Court reversed only 49.37% of the time – a bit below the overall reversal rate. The Court affirmed defendants’ wins three times in 1992, twice in 1993, twice in 1995, once in 1997, five times in 1998, twice in 1999 and 2000, once in 2001, five times in 2002, twice in 2003 and 2004, once in 2005 and 2006, four times in 2007, once in 2008 and twice in 2009 and 2010. The Court affirmed zero defendants’ wins in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016, and one each in 2014 and 2017.
The Court reversed two defendants’ wins in tort cases in 1992, one in 1993, three in 1994 and 1995, zero in 1996, three in 1997, two in 1998, three in 1999 and one in 2000. The Court reversed one defendant’s win in 2001, two in 2002, one in 2003, two in 2004 and 2005, zero in 2006, one per year in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. The Court reversed two defendants’ wins in 2011, three in 2012, zero in 2013, 2015 and 2017, and two each in 2014 and 2016.
On the other hand, the Court reversed in 63.06% of the plaintiffs’ tort law wins it reviewed. The Court affirmed one plaintiff’s win in 1992, two in 1994, one per year in 1995 and 1996, two in 1997 and four in 1998 and 1999. The Court affirmed four times in 2001, three in 2002, once in 2003, twice in 2004, four times in 2005, three times in 2007 and twice in 2008. The Court affirmed one plaintiff’s win in 2013, 2014 and 2015, three times in 2016 and once in 2017.
The Court reversed three plaintiffs’ wins in 1992, eight in 1993, seven in 1994, three in 1995, four in 1997, seven in 1998, four in 1999 and one in 2000. The Court reversed three plaintiffs’ wins in 2001, four in 2002 and 2003, two in 2004, one in 2006, four in 2007, one in 2008, three in 2009 and one in 2010. The Court reversed three plaintiffs’ wins in 2011, four in 2012 and one in 2014, 2016 and 2017.
Finally, in Table 485, we show the data for partial and complete reversals, notwithstanding the winner below. The Court reversed in 75.61% of its tort cases between 1992 and 1995. The Court reversed in 60.87% of its tort cases between 1996 and 2000. The Court reversed exactly half of the tort cases it decided from 2001 to 2005. The Court reversed 51.72% of its tort cases from 2006 to 2010. The Court reversed 65.52% of its tort cases from 2011 to 2017.
Join us back here tomorrow as we turn our attention to the Court’s death penalty cases.
Image courtesy of Flickr by Brian (no changes).