Today, we’re reviewing the contents of our database, which includes every case decided by the California Supreme Court since January 8, 1990. For every case, we’ve captured the following data points:
CIVIL CASES:
Official Reporter Citation
California Reporter Citation
Docket Number
Case Name
Petitioner
Petitioner Governmental Entity (Y/N)
Respondent Governmental Entity (Y/N)
Source of Appellate
Last time, we began our analysis by addressing the competing theories of judicial behavior. Formalism, the oldest theory, teaches that judicial decision making can be explained and predicted based upon the facts, the applicable law and precedent and judicial deliberations – and nothing more. But if formalism explains all of judicial decision making, then many
Our latest repost:
We begin our analysis by addressing the foundation of the entire body of data analytic scholarship on appellate judging: competing theories of judicial decision making.
The oldest theory by far is generally known in the literature as “formalism.” This is the theory we all learned in law school, according to which every
Our short series of contextual reposts continues:
Although the state Supreme Courts have not attracted anything near the level of study from academics engaged in empirical legal studies that the U.S. Supreme Courts and Federal Circuits have a number of different researchers have attempted to compare how influential the various state courts are for the
I’m always surprised when I encounter litigators who dismiss litigation analytics as a passing fad. In fact, as shown in the reprint post below, it’s a century-long academic enterprise which has produced many hundreds of studies conclusively proving through tens of thousands of pages of analysis the value of data analytics in better understanding how
The Illinois Supreme Court Review recently marked its sixth anniversary. In April, this blog turns five.
So I thought it was time for a first: cross-posted reprints from the earliest days of the blogs. My early attempts to provide context for the work and to answer the question I often heard in those days: “Interesting,
Between 2005 and 2019, the Supreme Court decided 53 civil constitutional law cases. Thirty-two of those cases involved challenges to state government actions. Ten cases involved claims of individual rights. Seven cases involved civil procedure and judicial issues. Finally, four cases related to challenges to local government actions.
Join us back here next Thursday as
In the past two weeks, we’ve taken a deeper look at the Supreme Court’s cases in two areas of law, asking which sub-areas those cases fall in. Today, we’re moving on to another subject – civil constitutional law cases.
Between 1990 and 2004, the Supreme Court decided ninety-six civil constitutional law cases. Just short of
Last week, we drilled down on the Supreme Court’s tort cases, looking year by year at what sub-areas of tort law produced the Court’s cases. This week, we’re doing the same thing for the Court’s docket of insurance cases. We’re dividing the field of insurance law into six sub-areas: coverage; separate torts against insurers (outside
Between 2005 and 2019, the Supreme Court decided only 29 insurance cases – far fewer than in our first 15 years. Fourteen of those cases involved coverage questions (although four of those fourteen fell in a single year – 2005). Three involved insurer torts, four dealt with exclusions, only two addressed defenses, three related to