Fast Track is Working, Jury Trials are Few for 2007-2008 FY, and Class Actions Have Increased Between 2000-2006.
The “2009 Court Statistics Report” is available for reading from the Judicial Council of California, containing interesting statistics for all levels of the California judiciary for the fiscal year 2007-2008 time frame. It is available for reading at www.courtinfo.ca.gov/reference/3_stats.htm.
Here are the highlights, divided by court level.
California Supreme Court:
- For civil appeal and civil writ matters, it granted 5% of petitions for review.
- It ordered 14 Court of Appeal decisions depublished (compared to a high of 141 in 1988-1989).
Courts of Appeal:
- Of 11,191 dispositions of appeals by written opinions, 9,470 were affirmed, 1,099 were reversed, and 311 were dismissed.
- Statewide, 9% of Court of Appeal majority opinions were published.
- The statewide median time from appeal to filing of opinion for civil appeals was 448 days.
- With respect to civil appeals, 68% were affirmed, 11% were affirmed with modification(s), 18% were reversed, and 3% were dismissed.
Superior Courts:
- For unlimited civil matter dispositions, 70% were disposed of within 12 months, 86% within 18 months, and 93% within 24 months.
- For limited civil matter dispositions, 94% were disposed of within 12 months, 97% within 18 months, and 98% within 24 months.
- With respect to trials for all civil matters, only .1% involved juries, while 14.8% involved court (bench) trials.
In a separate study for the 2000-2006 time frame, the Judicial Council disclosed that class action filings increased 63.3% while total filings dropped 17.8%. Employment cases were the most frequently filed class actions, representing 29.3% of the total. They also were the matters most frequently certified as class actions.