Professor Uelmen’s Latest Survey Shows A Rise in Reversals.
In the September 2009 issue of the California Lawyer, Professor Gerald F. Uelmen talks about the recent trends in California Supreme Court decision making, doing so in an article wickedly entitled “Too Much Togetherness?” Beyond this main topic, Professor Uelmen also has an interesting survey for the 2004-2009 period concerning affirmance rates for both the California Supreme Court and the various California Courts of Appeal. We thought we would share some of the findings with you. However, he basically concludes that there is a significant variance in affirmance rates among the various intermediate courts, while the overall affirmance rate by the Supreme Court has held somewhat steady.
The overall affirmance rate for all cases during 2004-2009 for the California Supreme Court was 41.5%, a slight decline from the 45.9% rate for the earlier 1996-2004 survey period. (Professor Uelman observed that there was little difference between the affirmance rates for civil and criminal cases.)
However, the real variance occurred among the District Courts of Appeal (in appellate parlance, the DCAs). We will keep to an examination of affirmance rates in civil cases.
- The Second District, Division 1 had the lowest overall affirmance rate, clocking in at 17% for 2004-2009 (compared to a 40% rate for 1996-2004).
- The honor for highest affirmance rate in the Second District went to Division 8, which had a 71% rate for 2004-2009 (which had no prior comparison rate because it was created in 2000).
- Overall, however, the winner of the highest affirmance rate went to our local Fourth District, Division 3 Court of Appeal, which had a 73% rate during 2004-2009 (as compared to a 22% rate in 1996-2004). Professor Uelman attributed this to significant turnover in the Santa Ana court between the two periods, positing that the new lineup has a closer affinity with the “Ron George” Supreme Court.
Also, the Sixth District had the next lowest affirmance rate of 18% for 2004-2009 (as compared to a 38% rate for 1996-2004). After the Fourth District, Division 3 and the Second District, Division 8, the third highest affirmance rate went to the First District, Division 5, which had a 64% affirmance rate during 2004-2009 (up from a 42% rate during 1996-2004).