For the final phase of our review, we’re looking at the reversal rate at the Supreme Court in civil cases from the First District for the years 2010 through 2019.
We begin with the overall reversal rates for the First District, one area of civil law at a time. All of the contract, commercial law, environmental law and wills and estates cases were reversed. Four-fifths of the property law decisions from the First District were reversed. The reversal rate for insurance law cases was 75%. The rate for tax law cases was 71.4%. Seventy percent of domestic relations decisions were reversed. The reversal rate for civil procedure cases was 69.6%. Two-thirds of election law and workers compensation cases were reversed. The reversal rate for tort cases from the First District was 62.5%. The reversal rate for government and administrative law cases was 57.6%. The rate for constitutional law decisions was 53.3%. Half of the employment law decisions were reversed.
For property law cases, Divisions One, Four and Five of the First District had 100% reversal rates. The reversal rate for Division Two in property law was zero. Similarly, the reversal rate for Divisions Two, Three and Six for insurance law cases was 100%. The rate for Division Five was 66.7% and the reversal rate for Division Four was zero. Division Three of the First District had a 100% reversal rate in tax law cases. The reversal rate for Division One was 75% and the rate for Division Six was zero. Three Divisions – Two, Five and Six – had reversal rates of 100% in domestic relations cases. The reversal rates for Divisions One and Three were 50%. The reversal rates in Divisions Two and Three for civil procedure cases was 100%. The rate for Division Six was 80%. Half of the civil procedure cases from Divisions Four and Five were reversed. One quarter of civil procedure decisions from Division One were reversed.
The reversal rate for Division Two in tort cases was 83.3%. The rate for Division One was two-thirds. The reversal rate for Division Four was 62.5%, and the reversal rate for Division Three was 57.1%. Half of the tort decisions from Divisions Five and Six were reversed. Turning to government and administrative law cases, the reversal rate for Division Two was 83.3%. Two-thirds of decisions from Division Three were reversed. The reversal rate for Division Six was 62.5%, and for Divisions One and Five, the rate was 50%. The reversal rates for the First District on constitutional law cases were all over the place: 100% for Divisions Three, Five and Six, 20% for Division Four and zero for Division One.
Join us back here next time as we review the reversal rates for 2010-2019 from the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Districts.
Image courtesy of Flickr by Michel Curi (no changes).