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Federal Cases Decided on the Merits and Reversal Rates

Published On: January 4th, 2013 | Author: Perry Law, P.C. | Category: Arizona Civil Litigation Florida Idaho Washington

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Erik W. Scharf’s and Wayne R. Atkins’ article “What are my Chances? Federal Courts of Appeal by the Numbers” was recently published in The Florida Bar Journal Volume 87, No. 1 (January 2013) in which they examine by federal circuit the number of cases decided on the merits as well as the reversal rate of those cases. They found that for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2011 the following statistics:

Circuit	Percentage of Cases Decided on Merits	Reversal Rate
All	52.4%	8.6%
D.C.	45.9%	15.5%
First	57.6%	8.2%
Second	52.9%	6.0%
Third	56.7%	8.6%
Fourth	61.2%	5.6%
Fifth	49.8%	8.3%
Sixth	51.1%	9.5%
Seventh	45.9%	16.9%
Eighth	64.6%	4.8%
Ninth	50.0%	10.1%
Tenth	54.1%	5.0%
Eleventh	47.9%	8.9%

In short, just over 50% of all federal cases were decided on the merits, with less than 10% of those being reversed.

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