Council Releases Court Statistics Report

for release

Contact: Leanne Kozak, 916-263-2838

 

November 7, 2012

Judicial Council Releases Annual Court Statistics Report

Trial Court Caseload Totals Nearly 9.5 Million Filings

Judicial Council seal

SAN FRANCISCO—Statewide filings in the California superior courts totaled nearly 9.5 million cases, resulting in a decrease in filings from last fiscal year but still a 12 percent increase over the past decade, according to the Judicial Council's 2012 Court Statistics Report (CSR).

The CSR provides detailed statewide caseload data for fiscal year 2010–2011 and 10-year trend data on a wide range of court business in the Supreme Court of California, the Courts of Appeal, and the superior courts in the state's 58 counties. Comprehensive county-level data for the most recent fiscal year are published in the online version of the report, along with a summary of the major filings trends, on the California Courts website.

Article VI, section 6 of the California Constitution requires the Judicial Council to survey the condition of business in the state courts and to report and make recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature.

A snapshot of the court caseload data in the CSR follows.

Supreme Court*

• The Supreme Court issued 98 written opinions in fiscal year 2010–2011.
• Filings totaled 10,145, and dispositions totaled 10,063.
• Automatic appeals arising out of judgments of death totaled 42 cases, and the court disposed of 29 such appeals by written opinion.
• The Supreme Court ordered 11 Court of Appeal opinions depublished in this fiscal year.

Courts of Appeal

• Total contested matters for the Courts of Appeal totaled 23,021, made up of 13,950 records of appeal and 9,071 original proceedings.
• Dispositions in the Courts of Appeal totaled 24,967. Of these dispositions, 15,805 were appeals, and 9,162 were original proceedings.
• Dispositions of appeals by written opinion totaled 10,329, appeals disposed of without written opinion totaled 3,509, and appeals disposed of without a record filed totaled 1,967. Dispositions of original proceedings by written opinion totaled 581, and original proceedings disposed of without written opinion totaled 8,581.
• Statewide, 9 percent of Court of Appeal majority opinions were published.

Superior Courts

Superior court case filings across all case categories totaled 9,425,508, and dispositions totaled 8,595,440. Within these aggregate numbers, the following totals were recorded:

• Civil filings totaled 1,085,189 and civil dispositions numbered 1,154,503.
• Criminal filings totaled 7,706,941 and criminal dispositions numbered 6,871,139.
• Juvenile filings totaled 112,234 and juvenile dispositions numbered 96,929.
• Family law filings totaled 446,927 and family law dispositions numbered 411,254.
• Filings and Dispositions for all other case types—probate, mental health, appeals, criminal habeas corpus—numbered 74,217 and 61,615, respectively.
• A total of 10,110 jury trials and 557,448 court trials were recorded across all case types.

* Since 1996, the California Supreme Court has issued workload statistics using a reporting period of September 1 through August 31 of the following year. This time frame best corresponds to the filing of the Supreme Court's opinions. To view the court's September 1, 2010–August 31, 2011 annual statistics, please see http://www.courts.ca.gov/15366.htm.

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