Last week, we reviewed the Court’s yearly docket of workers compensation cases on the civil side, and on the criminal side, cases involving the elements of violent crimes. This week, we’re taking a closer look at how the Court has handled both kinds of cases. Overall, the Court has decided fifty-nine workers compensation cases since 1990. Defendants won 54.24% of those cases at the Appellate Court level. The Court reversed 62.5% of defendants’ wins, but only 48.15% of workers’ wins.

In Table 814, we show the yearly distribution of the twelve defendants’ wins which the Court affirmed. The Court affirmed once in 1990, once in 1991, twice each in 1994 and 1995, once in 2000 and 2003, twice in 2005, and once in 2006 and 2016.

The Court has reversed twenty defense wins in workers compensation cases since 1990. The Court reversed two per year in 1990, 1994 and 1996, one in 1997 and 1998, two in 1999 and 2002, one in 2003 and 2004, two in 2005 and one in 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2013.

The Court has affirmed workers’ wins fourteen times since 1990 – once in 1992, twice in 1998, once per year in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2006, three times in 2007, once in 2013 and twice in 2015.

The Court has reversed workers wins thirteen times – once in 1992, twice per year in 1993, 1994 and 1997, once in 1998, twice in 2000, once per year in 2002, 2008 and 2013.

Across the entire period, the Court has reversed in whole or in part in 57.63% of its workers compensation cases. The Court reversed in half of the sixteen cases it decided between 1990 and 1995. The Court reversed 75% of its cases between 1996 and 2000. The Court reversed in 58.33% of its workers compensation cases from 2001 to 2005. Between 2006 and 2010, the reversal rate was 44.44%. Since 2011, the Court has decided comparatively few workers compensation cases, reversing in half.

Join us back here later tonight as we turn our attention to the Court’s criminal decisions involving the elements of violent crimes.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Jim Simonson (no changes).