Today, we begin a seven-post series, reviewing the voting records of all seven current Justices in insurance law cases. First up is the Court’s senior Justice (by longevity), Justice Ming Chin, who announced his retirement last week.

Since joining the Court in 1997, Justice Chin has supported insurers’ positions in 31 cases involving insurance law, while voting against insurers in 25 cases. He voted for insurers in eight of ten cases from 1997 to 1999. From 2000 to 2005, he voted for insurer parties 11 times while voting against them in 13 cases. From 2006 to 2009, he voted for insurers in 7 of 10 cases, but since that time, he has voted for insurers’ positions in only 5 of 12 cases.

Since joining the Court, Justice Chin has voted for insurer parties in cases they won below thirteen times, while voting to reverse such decisions eleven times. From 1997 to 2005, he voted for insurers in nine of fifteen cases, but since that time, he has voted for insurers in only four of nine cases.

Overall, Justice Chin has voted for reversal in 14 cases lost by insurers below, while voting for affirmance 11 times. From 1997 to 2003, he voted for reversal in 8 of 12 cases. From 2004 to 2010, he voted for reversal in 5 of 11 cases. Since that time, the Court has decided only two insurer losses, and Justice Chin has split his votes 1-1.

Join us back here next Thursday as we continue to review the individual Justices’ voting records.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Leandro Neumann Ciuffo (no changes).