State Trends: Trial Courts Dispose of Most Cases Within 18 Months and Jury Trials Are Decreasing in Numbers.
Cal Biz Lit, one of our recommended fellow bloggers, posted the Judicial Council of California’s 2008 Court Statistics Report for the most recent fiscal year, 2006-2007. We share the nuggets of information that we gleaned from this report. (To Cal Biz Lit, we also say happy birthday for two years of blogging.)
Here are the statistical nuggets we found to be most interesting:
California Supreme Court
· Petitions for review, which consume a large amount of its time, had these “grant” percentages: Total civil—6%; Civil appeals—6%; Civil writs—7%.
· 19 Court of Appeal opinions were ordered depublished (contrasted with depublication in the 104-141 ranges in the 1987-1993 time frame.
California Court of Appeals
· For all appellate courts, the statewide mean time from appeal to filing of opinion for civil appeals (the value at which half of the cases fall above and half below) was 432 days in 2006-2007, compared to 431 in 2005-2006, with the First District, Division 4 being the shortest at 373 days and the Sixth District being the longest at 490 days.
· For all appellate courts, the statewide 90th percentile time from appeal to filing of opinion for civil appeals (value at which 10% of the cases fall above and 90% fall below) was 672 days in 2006-2007, compared to 680 days in 2005-2006, with the Second District, Division 5 reporting the shortest 90th percentile time for civil appeals at 591 days and the First District, Division 3 clocking in with the longest 90th percentile time at 802 days.
· The statewide percentage of majority opinions published came in at 9%, with the Second District, Division 5 publishing majority opinions at a 15% rate and the Fourth District, Division 2 being lowest at 2%.
Superior Courts
· Civil unlimited cases reached disposition at these paces in fiscal year 2006-2007: 68% were disposed of within 12 months, 85% within 18 months, and 92% within 24 months. Civil limited cases were disposed of at a faster pace, with 93% resolved within 12 months, 97% within 18 months, and 98% within 24 months. (A far cry from the nonassignment days that we bloggers remember so well in the 1980s.)
· For civil cases, jury trials are on the decline. In personal injury/property damage/wrongful death cases for 2006-2007, only 1.7% went to a jury disposition (compared to 2.7% during the 1997-2000 time frame); in other civil unlimited cases, .6% were jury dispositions (compared to 1.3% during the 1997-2000 time frame); and in civil limited cases, only .1% of cases went to a jury (compared to .2% for the 1997-2001 and 2005-2006 time frames).
BLOG BONUS COVERAGE—So how did our local Fourth District, Division 3 and Orange County Superior Court do? Here you go:
Fourth District, Division 3 Court of Appeal
· Mean time from appeal to filing of opinion in civil appeals—390 days (compared to the statewide 432);
· 90th percentile time from appeal to filing of opinion in civil appeals—623 days (compared to the statewide 672) [OBSERVATION—The appellate court deserves congratulations for cutting a backlog that took much longer based on appeals we handled 3-4 years ago];
· 13% majority publication rate (compared to the statewide 9%).
Orange County Superior Court
· Civil unlimited case dispositions: Within 12 months—60% (compared to statewide 68%); within 18 months—83% (compared to statewide 85%); within 24 months—91% (compared to statewide 92%);
· Civil limited case dispositions: Within 12 months—94% (compared to statewide 93%); within 18 months—98% (compared to statewide 97%); within 24 months—99% (compared to statewide 98%);
· Jury trial dispositions—personal injury/property damage/wrongful death (unlimited)–.009%; other unlimited civil–.007%; limited civil–.0005%. (However, the jury dispositions were based on incomplete data, meaning not for a full year, and on our rough calculations between two tables in the report).