Yesterday, we began our court-by-court review of the three-year floating reversal rates of every District and Division of the Court of Appeal in civil cases decided by the Supreme Court. Today, we’re concluding that project with Divisions 5-8 of the Second District and the Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Districts.
From 1990 to 2017, the Supreme Court reversed in whole or in part in 64.86% of the seventy-four civil cases it decided from Division Five of the Second District. Like many Districts, the court’s reversal rate a the beginning of the period – 100% for 1990-1992. After falling to two-thirds in 1993, it fell further to 50% in 1994 and only 37.5% in 1995. After two years around the long-term trend value, it had a one-year spike to 77.78% in 1998 and another to 78.57% in 2007 and 75% in 2009. Otherwise, the court’s reversal rate was reasonably close to average each year. The rate was unusually low in 2010 (50%) but then rose to 87.5% in 2012 and 100% in 2013. Division Five’s reversal rate has been close to average ever since.
The Court reversed in 68.18% of the 44 civil cases it heard from Division Six of the Second District. The rate was a bit low in 1992 and 1994 – 57.14% – but rose to 85.71% by 1997 and 83.33% in 1999. Division Six fell to only 40% in 2000, 50% in 2001, 42.86% in 2002 and 50% in 2003, 2004 and 2005. After several years around the long-term average, all six civil cases decided from Division Six since 2011 has been reversed in whole or in part.
Across the entire twenty-eight years, 62.9 of the 62 civil cases from Division Seven of the Second District were reversed in whole or in part. The 90s began with the reversal rate from Division Seven quite low – 44.44% in 1992, 37.5% in 1993, before rising to near average and then past – 77.78% in 1996 and 83.33% in 1997. After three years well below average from 1999 to 2001 (40%, 44.44% and 50%), the reversal rate stayed high from 2002 to 2006. Things have seesawed ever since – a three year dip 2007-2009, reaching a low of 33.33% in 2009; a three-year upswing 2011-2013, reaching a high of 100% in 2012 and another dip from 2014 to 2016 (actually, the Court has heard only seven civil cases from Division Seven since 2012, reversing in two).
Table 660 is truncated since Division Eight of the Second is the newest Division. Since the first case from Division Eight was decided in 2004, the Supreme Court has decided twenty-three civil cases from Division Eight, reversing in 56.52%. Since that time, Division Eight’s three-year floating average reversal rate has been fairly steady around that overall average with only two exceptions – a dip from 2006 to 2009, including lows of 33.33% in 2006 and 2007, and a spike from 2010 to 2012, including 66.67% in 2010, 71.43% in 2011 and 100% in 2012.
Since 1990, the Supreme Court has decided one hundred ten civil cases from the Third District, reversing in 68.18% of them. The court’s three-year average reversal rate was comparatively steady from 1992 through 2009, dipping only to 54.55% in 1993 and 1996 and 55% in 2009. From 2011 to 2015, the reversal rate was on the upswing – 88.89% in 2011, 100% each year from 2012 to 2014 and 80% in 2015. It corrected a bit to 66.67% in 2016 and 57.14% last year.
The Supreme Court has decided eighty-seven civil cases from Division One of San Diego’s Fourth District since 1990, reversing in 49.43%. As was true in many Districts, the rate started out unusually high during the early 1990s; the three-year average was 72.73% in 1992 and 64.29% in 1993. After a few years around the long-term average, the reversal rate dropped to quite low levels from 1998 to 2006 – bottoming out at 25% in 2000 and 2002 and 27.27% in 2004. The court’s civil reversal rate then moved upwards, exceeding the long-term average by more than ten points every year but one from 2008 to 2015. The highest rate during those years was 83.33% in 2013. In the two years since, the reversal rate has settled back down: 40% in 2016 and 36.36% in 2017.
The Supreme Court has decided sixty-seven civil cases from Division Two of the Fourth’s District, reversing in slightly more than half – 50.75%. During the 1990s, the court’s reversal rate remained relatively close to its average, excepting only 1993 and 1997, when it rose to 75%. The rate fell to 37.5% in 2001, 36.36% in 2002, 25% in 2003 and 20% in 2004, but rose back to average until 2009. Since that time, the rate has been relatively volatile – 62.5% in 2009, 75% in 2010, 100% in 2011; a two year drop in 2013 (25%) and 2014 (0%); and another increase in 2016 and 2017 (83.33% both years).
Since 1990, the Supreme Court has decided seventy-two civil cases from Division Three of the Fourth District, reversing in 63.89%. Division Three’s rate was comparatively high for much of the nineties – 78.57% in 1995, 80% in 1997, 1998 and 1999 and 75% in 2000. After several years close to the long-term average, the rate fell to only 25% in 2008, 12.5% in 2009, 25% in 2010 and 44.44% in 2011. After a three year spike to 87.5% in 2012 and 100% in 2013 and 2014, Division Three’s reversal rate settled down to two-thirds in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
The Supreme Court has decided forty-nine civil cases from the Fifth District since 1990, reversing in 63.27%. The rate was unusually high in the mid-nineties at 77.78% in 1993, 100% in 1994 and 88.89% in 1995, but then trended down, reaching 42.86% in 1997 and 1999. The rate dropped to half in 2003 and 2004, but drifted up to 83.33% in 2008, 75% in 2009 and 100% in 2010 and 2012. The court’s reversal rate has generally been well-below its long term trend in the years since – 50% in 2013, 2016 and 2017 and 40% in 2015.
Finally, we come to the Sixth District. The Supreme Court has decided sixty-four civil cases from the Sixth since 1990, reversing in 71.88%. As seen from the Table below, the Sixth District’s civil reversal rate has been subject to as much volatility as any District in the state. For the first half of the nineties, it was extremely high: 100% in 1992, 90.91% in 1993 and 92.31% in 1994. From 1997 to 2001, the rate was unusually low: 40% in 1997, one-third in 1998, 42.86% in 1999 and half in 2000 and 2001. The reversal rate than jumped to 100% by 2003, and stayed there until 2006, before dropping slightly to 83.33% the next year. The reversal rate was fairly steady from 2009 to 2013, but then, after a one-year spike to 80% in 2014, dropped sharply once again: 50% in 2015, zero in 2016 and one-third in 2017.
Join us back here later this week as we turn our attention back to the Court’s criminal docket.
Image courtesy of Flickr by Don Graham (no changes).