An interesting paper has been making the rounds discussing how appellate courts react to caseload pressure. After September 11, 2001, the Second and Ninth Circuits had a large influx of immigration appeals that affect the other circuits, and the paper uses this as a “natural experiment.” In his paper, Mr. Shay Lavie characterizes the Second Circuit … Continue Reading
Just over a year ago, we examined the propensity of the Sixth Circuit to uphold district courts’ decisions to grant summary judgment for employers in cases tagged as “Labor & Employment” cases. As can be seen in our 2014 review, the Sixth Circuit upheld 60% of summary judgment decisions in favor of the employer. We … Continue Reading
Because of the significant size of the jury verdicts or, more likely, the settlements of class actions, questions of class certification carry significant weight. However, it is not just monetary consideration that makes class actions so important. One element of aggregate litigation that is most frequently discussed is the due process considerations that need to … Continue Reading
We have previously looked at the rates at which the Sixth Circuit reverses the various district courts (see here and here), noting that the average and overall reversal rate fluctuates between 16% and 18%. Our clients are always interested in the reversal rates and we are frequently asked to ballpark the odds of winning a particular … Continue Reading
We have previously reviewed Sixth Circuit decisions to uncover trends in class actions, as well as in employment and Daubert cases. For this post, we generally reviewed the Sixth Circuit’s intellectual property cases from the last two years. We found that most of the cases before the court were copyright and trademark cases, with just … Continue Reading
A recent review of appeals of employment cases in the Sixth Circuit revealed the Court is more likely to uphold rather than overturn grants of summary judgment in favor of defendant-employers. In a solid 60% of appeals in these cases, the Circuit upheld summary judgment for the employer. The survey involved an analysis of Sixth … Continue Reading
The Sixth Circuit has had lots of bad press over the past few years for its long string of reversals by the Supreme Court, mostly in habeas cases. Over the past term, the Supreme Court has granted certiorari in 11 cases from the Sixth Circuit and reversed in all but 2. While that sounds bad, … Continue Reading
Two of the most important issues for deciding when to appeal are often the chances of success and how long will it take to get a decision. This post briefly addresses the newly released statistics for 2012. Because it is an important part of the decision whether to appeal, we have often covered reversal rates … Continue Reading
As the first Monday in October is right around the corner, it is appropriate to take another look at how the Sixth Circuit has fared recently at the U.S. Supreme Court. A recent article in BNA provides an interesting starting point for that discussion. The article takes a novel view to considering how much the … Continue Reading
We have previously reported about the Sixth Circuit’s recent “losing streak” at the U.S. Supreme Court as well as subsequent continued reversals by the Court. The broader issue of reversal rates by the U.S. Supreme Court was the subject of a recent article by the Los Angeles Times. While the article focused on the Ninth … Continue Reading
The Supreme Court recently handed down its decision in Freeman v. United States, which reversed an unpublished decision by the Sixth Circuit regarding the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The case involved a retroactive guideline change that addressed the disparity in penalties between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. Mr. Freeman sought to obtain a sentence reduction based … Continue Reading
Comparing the court to a sports team, the Cincinnati Enquirer announced the “U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on 0-15 losing streak,” reporting that the Supreme Court has now reversed fifteen cases in a row from the Sixth Circuit. The article calls this a “poor showing,” but cannot find any pattern in the cases. In … Continue Reading
