Our next data set is the civil cases between 2000 and 2009 from the Third District.

Will County is by far the biggest county in the Third, with 43.25% of the population among the counties which contributed cases in this decade.  Peoria County accounted for 11.91%.  Rock Island was 9.42% and Tazewell was 8.64%.  LaSalle and Kankakee counties were only 500 people apart in the 2010 census – 7.27% for LaSalle, 7.24% for Kankakee.

Turning to the case distribution, Will came closest to contributing at least one civil case to the Supreme Court each year, finishing the decade with 14 cases.  Peoria County accounted for six cases.  Rock Island had six.  Tazewell had three, Knox and LaSalle County each had two.  Kankakee, Putnam, Henry, Grundy and McDonough County each produced one case.

Next up: the Fourth District.

Image courtesy of Flickr by spablab (no changes).

This week we’re reviewing the county-of-origin data for the civil docket for the years 2000 through 2009.

First, we compare the populations of the Second District counties which produced cases during the decade.

Du Page County had 30.58% of the population according to the 2010 census.  Lake County had 23.46%.  Kane County accounted for 17.19% and McHenry was 10.3%.  Winnebago had 9.85% of the District’s population and the remaining counties were all at three and change (Kendall) and below.

Not surprisingly, Du Page and Lake accounted for most of the cases too.  Du Page was the only county that produced cases in every year of the decade.  In all, Du Page accounted for 29 cases and Lake County 19 cases.  McHenry County had seven cases, Winnebago and Kane six each, Ogle and Kendall two each and Lee and Kane counties one apiece.

Next up – the Third District data.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Joseph Gage (no changes).

Finally, we come to the Fifth District, the largest District in terms of the total number of counties covered (18) and the next-to-smallest District by population, only a few thousand residents ahead of the Fourth District.  St. Clair and Madison counties dominate the Fifth.  Although they have over a half million residents between them, the 2000 population of the two counties only varied by a couple thousand people.  So Madison County accounts to 23.7% of the Fifth District population, and St. Clair is 23.44%.  Only one other County – Macon – is in double figures, with 10.5%.  The remaining counties are scattered from a high of 5.61% for Williamson County and downwards.

Surprisingly, neither St. Clair nor Madison county had civil cases in each year of the decade.  All told, St. Clair accounted for 22 civil cases during the nineties and Madison County had 15.  Jackson and Williamson counties accounted for six cases each.  Effingham County produced five cases; Frankin and Christian counties produced four each.  Marion County had three cases.  Three more counties accounted for two cases apiece and eight counties produced only one case apiece.

Next time we’ll turn our attention to the data for the next decade, 2000 through 2009.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Christina Rutz (no changes).

This time, we’re reviewing the geographic distribution of civil cases from the Fourth District during the 1990s.

The Fourth District has the largest number of counties of the three Districts we’ve reviewed so far – sixteen during this decade – but the lowest population, 440,000 less than the Third District and more than one and three quarters million less than the Second.  The population is also a bit more distributed.  Four counties have more than ten percent of the Fourth’s total population: Sangamon (18.53%), Champaign (17.62%), McLean (14.75%) and Macon counties (11.25%).  Vermilion County has 8.23% of the population, Adams has 6.7% and Coles County – where my family lived for four years during the Civil War – accounted for 5.22%.  After that, the remaining counties are all quite small.

In looking at the case distribution, we have to keep in mind that Sangamon County is the home of the state capital, which is bound to affect the caseloads.  For the decade, only Sangamon had cases in every year, producing 18 in all.  Champaign and McLean County accounted for 11 cases apiece.  After that, a steep drop-off to Macon County with five cases and Vermilion and Morgan counties with three.  Three more counties had two cases apiece and four counties produced one case apiece.

Next time: the Fifth District data.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Joseph Gage (no changes).

With this post, we’re reviewing the distribution of civil cases from the Third District for the years 1990 through 1999.  First, let’s look at the population distribution.

As of the 2000 census, the Third District was large geographically – encompassing fifteen counties – but small by population (only half the Second District).  Will County accounted for 34.38% of the Third District’s population.  Peoria had 12.55% and Rock Island was 10.22%, but all the other counties were below ten percent (led by Tazewell at 8.79%, LaSalle at 7.63% and Kankakee county at 7.11%).

We commented yesterday that there’s no particular reason to expect caseloads to track the population distribution all that closely, and the Third District numbers illustrate that.  Will County is a third of the Third’s population, but produced only five cases during the nineties.  Peoria County had 15 cases and LaSalle County had seven.  Rock Island accounted for four cases and Tazewell had three.

Tomorrow, we’ll review the data for the Fourth District.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Ron Frazier (no changes).

 

Today we begin a new series, looking at the geographic origins of the Supreme Court’s civil docket from the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Districts of the Appellate Court.  (If you’re wondering why we’re not addressing the First District, there’s only one county in the District, so it would make for a short post.)

Of course, there’s no particularly compelling reason why the Court’s civil cases from a particular District should be spread out geographically in a way comparable to the population.  Nevertheless, we begin by noting the population of the Second District according to the 2000 census.  DuPage County was the biggest in the District with 32.78% of the total population (of the District, not the state).  Lake County had another 23.36% of the population, Kane was at 14.65% and Winnebago had 10.1%.  McHenry had 9.43% of the population, and the rest of the counties were quite small.

Turning to the case numbers, DuPage was the only county which had civil cases on the Supreme Court’s docket every year of the nineties.  Lake was close behind, being zeroed out only in 1993.  The Court decided 31 civil cases which originated in DuPage County and twenty from Lake County.  Kane was next, but accounted for only eight cases.  McHenry and Winnebago had five cases, DeKalb and Ogle counties had two each, and Boone, Stephenson and Lee only produced one case apiece.

Join us back here next time as we review the numbers for the Third District.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Michael (no changes).

Today, we’re completing our trip through the reversal rates for the Districts of the Appellate Court, divided by areas of civil law.  For this final post, we’re looking at the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Districts for the years 2010 through 2019.

The overall reversal rate for these districts was 100% in employment law, property law, contract, arbitration and surety law cases.  Three-quarters of tax decisions were reversed.  The rate was two-thirds in workers compensation and secured transactions cases and 62.5% in constitutional law decisions.  The reversal rate for tort cases was 61.1%.  Half of all decisions were reversed in wills and estates, civil procedure, insurance, commercial law and election law.  The reversal rate for government and administrative cases and domestic relations cases was 33.3%.  The reversal rate for environmental law was 0%.

The Fourth and Fifth Districts had 100% reversal rates in constitutional law.  The rate for the Second District was 50% and the rate for the Third District was zero.  The reversal rate for tort cases from the Fifth District was 100%.  The rate for the Third District was 80%.  The rate for the Fourth was 66.7%.  Only 16.7% of tort decisions from the Second District were reversed.  Reversal rates for civil procedure cases were all over the map – 100% for the Third District, 75% for the Second, 50% for the Fifth District and zero for the Fourth.  For insurance law cases, the Third District reversal rate was 100%.  The rate for the Fourth and Fifth Districts was 50%, and the rate for the Second District was zero.  For government and administrative law cases, reversal rates were uniformly low: 44.4% in the Fourth District, 33.3% for the Second, 25% for the Third and 20% for the Fifth.  For domestic relations cases, the reversal rate for Second District cases was 50%.  The rate for the Third District was 33.3% and the rate for Fourth District cases was 20%.

Join us back here next time as we begin working on a new topic.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Matt Turner (no changes).

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).

This time, we’re reviewing the reversal rates in civil cases, divided by the area of law, for the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Districts of the Appellate Court between 2000 and 2009.

Overall, 77.8% of employment law cases were reversed by the Supreme Court.  The reversal rate for commercial law cases was 71.4%.  Two-thirds of property and election law cases were reversed.  The reversal rate was two-thirds for property and election law cases, 64.7% for government and election law, 62.5% for domestic relations, 60.4% for tort cases and 60% for workers compensation cases.  The reversal rate for civil procedure was 56.7%.  For insurance law cases, it was 53.3% and for contract and arbitration cases, the reversal rate was 50%.  Four subjects had reversal rates under one-half – wills and estates, constitutional law and tax law (each at 40%) and environmental law, for which the reversal rate was only 25%.

Not surprisingly, the highest individual reversal rate for tort cases was the Fifth District, at 83.3%.  Only 40% of Third District decisions were reversed.  The reversal rate for government and administrative law was 100% in the Third District, 80% in the Second, but only 42.9% in the Fifth.  The Fourth District’s reversal rate was 83.3% for domestic relations cases; for the Second, it was only 20%, and for the Fifth District, 0%.  For insurance law cases, reversal rates ranged from 100% for the Fifth District to only 20% for Third District cases.  The Third and Fifth Districts had 100% reversal rates for constitutional law cases, while the rate in the Second and Fourth Districts was only 25%.  Workers compensation ranged from 100% in the Third District to 25% in the Third and 0% in the Second.

Join us back here next time as we review the data for the years 2010 through 2019.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Teemu008 (no changes).

Today, we’re continuing our review of civil reversal rates of the Districts and Divisions of the Appellate Court, divided by areas of civil law for the years 2000 through 2009.

Overall, the Supreme Court reversed 100% of the decisions from the First District in wills and estates law and arbitration.  Four-fifths of domestic relations decisions were reversed.  Three-quarters of cases involving property law were reversed, and 72.7% of tort cases were.  The reversal rate was 60.2% in tax cases, 50% in employment law, 44.4% in constitutional law cases, one-third in government and administrative law and commercial law, and 25% in contract law and election law.  The rate in insurance law was lowest: 11.2%.  None of the decisions in workers compensation or secured transactions were reversed.

Reviewing the individual divisions for outliers, everyone was very tightly clustered in tort cases except Division Five of the First District, which had a tort reversal rate of 100%.  Government and administrative law reversal rates ran from 50% in Division Two to zero in Division Four.  Divisions One, Two and Three had reversal rates of 100% in domestic relations cases – the reversal rate in Division Four for the decade was zero.  Civil procedure rates were all over the place – 100% in Divisions One and Three, 75% in Division Four, half in Divisions Five and Six and only 25% in Division Two.  All the constitutional law cases in Division Six were reversed.  The rate in Division Five was two-thirds.  The rate for Division Four was 50%.  All the constitutional law cases in Divisions Two and Three were affirmed.  In tax law, the reversal rate for Division Four was 100%, but the rate was zero for Divisions One, Two, Five and Six.

Join us back here next time as we review the reversal rates for the first decade of this century in the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Districts of the Appellate Court.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Daniel X. O’Neil (no changes).