U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Program Bureau of Justice Statistics Appeals from General Civil Trials in 46 Large Counties, 2001-2005: 2001 Supplemental Survey of Civil Appeals July 2006, NCJ 212979 Thomas H. Cohen, J.D., Ph.D. BJS Statistician ------------------------------------------------------------ Highlights * Among tort trial cases concluded in 2001, litigants filed appeals in approximately 33% of product liability and 18% of medical malpractice trials. Twenty-one percent of contract trials and 24% of real property trials were also appealed. * Forty-three percent of civil appeals were dismissed or withdrawn prior to disposition. Appeals filed by defendants were dismissed or withdrawn (47%) at higher rates compared to appeals filed by plaintiffs (38%). * Among appeals decided on the merits, two-thirds affirmed and a third reversed the trial court verdict. * Trial court verdicts or judgments that found for plaintiffs were reversed or modified on appeal at higher rates compared to trial court outcomes favoring defendants (42% vs. 21%). * Nearly three-fourths of civil appeals decided on the merits (73%) were resolved through the issuance of a signed majority/plurality opinion, while 28% were disposed of by an unsigned per curiam opinion. ------------------------------------------------------------ In 46 large counties in 2001, 8,311 civil cases were concluded by trial. Plaintiffs and defendants appealed 1,204 (about 15%) of these tort, contract, or real property cases. Of these 1,204 civil appeals, 43% were withdrawn, dismissed, or transferred from the appellate courts while the remaining 57% were decided on their merits. Of the civil appeals decided on the merits, the trial court verdict or judgment was affirmed in about two-thirds of the cases and reversed or modified in approximately a third. Most reversed or modified appeals were sent back to the trial court for a new trial or with additional instructions to modify the prejudgment award. Of civil appeals disposed by the intermediate appellate courts, 218 cases (19%) were subsequently appealed to courts of last resort. Of these 218 cases that were further appealed, 12% or 25 cases were granted additional review by courts of last resort. These findings are from the 2001 Supplemental Survey of Civil Appeals. This study tracked 1,204 general civil (tort, contract, or real property) trials concluded in 2001 in 46 large counties in which the trial verdict or judgment was appealed to an intermediate appellate court or court of last resort. These appeals were tracked through April of 2005. The 2001 Supplemental Survey of Civil Appeals is part of a series examining civil trial litigation in the Nation's most populous counties. Earlier reports focused on general civil cases concluded by bench or jury trial in the Nation's most populous counties in 2001. **Footnote 1: See Civil Trial Cases and Verdicts in Large Counties, 2001 http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/ctcvlc01.htm>, Medical Malpractice, Trials and Verdicts in Large Counties, 2001. , and Tort Trial Cases and Verdicts in Large Counties, 2001 . ** Civil appellate process Litigants filing appeals must allege that the trial court misapplied the State's substantive or evidentiary laws, made a procedural mistake, or erred in holding that the verdict or findings were supported by the evidence. **Footnote 2: See National Center for State Courts Topics on Appellate Courts: Structure, Jurisdiction, and Process at . ** Either plaintiffs or defendants can seek to reverse, modify, or challenge the trial court's decision by appealing the verdict or judgment. Plaintiffs might appeal if they lose at trial or are dissatisfied with the damage award. Defendants might appeal a trial court decision finding in favor of the plaintiff. In most States intermediate appellate courts represent the first level of appellate review. Intermediate appellate courts typically have mandatory jurisdiction over civil appeals, meaning that they are required by their State constitution or statutes to review any case appealed to them. These courts are primarily concerned with correcting errors at the trial court level. In some States, the intermediate appellate court's jurisdiction is geographically divided. For example, California has six intermediate appellate court districts, and each of these districts hears appeals from certain designated counties. Other States have only one intermediate appellate court to hear all appeals for that State. Courts of last resort represent the final level of State appellate review. Most courts of last resort have discretionary jurisdiction over civil appeals, meaning the court can choose whether to review an appeal from an intermediate appellate court. Cases reviewed by courts of last resort tend to involve legal or policy issues with broad implications for a State's legal system and citizens. **Footnote 3: Rottman et al. 2000. State Court Organization, 1998. National Center for State Courts. Williamsburg, Virginia. .** Types of general civil cases appealed from trial court In 2001, 8,311 general civil cases were concluded by trial in 46 large counties. In about 15% or 1,204 of these trials, the plaintiffs or defendants filed an appeal after jury verdict or bench judgment. Litigants filed appeals in 11% of tort trials, 21% of contract trials, and 24% of real property trials in State courts. Among tort trials approximately a third of product liability and professional malpractice trials generated an appeal. Eighteen percent of medical malpractice trials were appealed, while 5% of automobile accident trials resulted in an appeal. In contract cases about a third of employment discrimination and a quarter of tortious interference trials resulted in an appeal. Types of parties filing an appeal After a civil trial reaches a verdict or judgment, the plaintiffs or defendants can file an appeal alleging that the trial court misapplied the State's substantive or evidentiary laws, made a procedural mistake, or erred in holding that the verdict or findings were supported by the evidence. The party filing the appeal is the appellant or petitioner and the party responding to the appeal is the appellee or respondent. **Footnote 4: Sometimes both parties - plaintiffs and defendants - file notices of appeal. In this report, only the first appeal is counted, while the second, or cross-appeal, has been excluded from analysis. ** Among all 1,204 civil appeals filed between 2001 and 2005, plaintiffs and defendants filed appeals at nearly equal rates; the defendants were appellants in 52% of civil appeals, while the plaintiffs were appellants in the remaining 48%. Among tort trials appealed, plaintiffs (53%) were slightly more likely to be appellants than defendants (47%). Plaintiffs were appellants in 60% of medical malpractice appeals. Plaintiffs and defendants were equally likely to file an appeal in product liability trials. Defendants constituted the majority of appellants (58%) in the 513 contract cases appealed from trial. The trial court outcome is a substantial factor influencing whether the litigants seek to file an appeal. For example, defendants filed appeals in nearly four-fifths (79%) of trials appealed from a verdict or judgment finding for the plaintiff. Plaintiffs were appellants in 90% of civil appeals from trials that produced a defense verdict or judgment. Plaintiffs also filed appeals in 21% of civil appeals from trials that found for the plaintiff. Dissatisfaction with trial damage awards may induce a plaintiff who won at trial to file an appeal. Types of appellants Of the 558 civil appeals filed by plaintiffs, individuals constituted 79% and businesses accounted for about 20% of plaintiff appellants. Governments and hospitals represented less than 2% of plaintiffs who filed an appeal. Businesses constituted the majority (57%) of the 593 defendant appellants, while individuals accounted for approximately 29% of defendants who filed an appeal. Governments and hospitals represented the remaining 15% of defendant appellants. Disposition of civil cases appealed from trial court Appeals from trial court verdicts or judgments can produce a variety of outcomes. After an appeal is filed, the parties may decide not to continue to pursue the appeal or the case may be dismissed by the appellate court. In appeals not withdrawn or dismissed, the appellate court reviews the arguments of the parties as well as the trial court record, then renders a decision on the merits by ruling on whether to affirm, reverse, or modify the trial court decision. Trial court outcomes reversed or modified on appeal can also be remanded back to the trial court for further proceedings. In this report, those appeals that resulted in an affirmance, reversal, or modification of the trial court decision are considered to have been decided on the merits. Appeals not decided on the merits were dismissed or withdrawn from further appellate review. Fifty-seven percent of the 1,189 civil appeals disposed during the 2001-2005 study period were decided on the merits. **Footnote 5: A total of 1,189 civil appeals were disposed during the 2001-2005 study period. The remaining 15 appeals were still pending as of April 2005. ** The remaining 43% of appeals were either dismissed by the appellate court or withdrawn by the parties. Appeals filed by defendants were dismissed or withdrawn (47%) at higher rates compared to appeals filed by plaintiffs (38%). Of the 510 appeals not decided on the merits, approximately 60% were withdrawn by one or both parties (not shown in a table). A primary reason for withdrawing an appeal is that the parties have settled after the appeal is filed. The appellate court dismissed the remaining 41% of the 510 appeals not decided on the merits. Nearly 70% of these dismissed appeals were removed from the appellate courts because of procedural errors. Other dismissed appeals were not reviewed because the appellate court lacked jurisdiction (16%) to hear the case (not shown in a table). Review of trial court outcomes on appeal Of the 679 appeals decided on the merits, the appellate court affirmed the trial court outcome in about two-thirds and reversed in a third. Appeals from trial court decisions favoring plaintiffs (42%) were more likely to be reversed or modified than appeals from trial court outcomes finding for defendants (21%). Reversals in civil cases appealed from trial court An appellate court can reverse a trial court verdict or judgment completely or partially or make other modifications to the trial court outcome. Trial court decisions that are reversed on appeal are typically sent back to the trial court for further proceedings. In some appeals, however, the appellate court can remand the case without any reversal or other modification. This typically occurs when cases are remanded to the trial court for a recalculation of court fees or costs. These remanded appeals have been combined with appeals that modified the trial court verdict or judgment for this report. In about half of the 222 appeals in which the trial court verdict or judgment was reversed or modified, the appellate court reversed in full. The appellate court partially reversed the trial court verdict or judgment in 36% of these appeals and modified the trial court outcome in the remaining 13% of reversed appeals. For defense verdicts or judgments reversed on appeal, the appellate court reversed 65% in whole and 27% in part. In comparison, plaintiffs who won at trial and had their case subsequently reversed on appeal were nearly as likely to receive a whole (45%) or partial (40%) reversal. Reversed or modified appeals remanded for further proceedings Seventy percent of the 222 reversed or modified appeals were remanded back to the trial court for further proceedings (not shown in a table). Of the 154 remanded appeals for which data were available, about 42% were sent back for a new trial, while 23% were remanded for the purposes of an adjustment to the prejudgment award, prejudgment interest, or other court costs. Impact of trial damage awards on appellate reversal rates Trials with large damage awards, in general, produced higher reversal rates compared to trials with relatively modest damage awards. For example, nearly half (48%) of appeals from trials with damage awards of over $1 million were reversed or modified by the appellate courts. In comparison, the reversal rates for appeals from trials that produced damage awards ranging from $1 to $100,000 was 35%. Oral arguments on appeal Many appellate courts allow the litigating parties to engage in oral argument. In appellate courts, oral argument takes place before a panel of judges and involves a question and answer process focusing on the issues raised on appeal. Oral arguments occurred in 44% of the 1,189 civil appeals disposed during the 2001-2005 study period (not shown in a table). Approximately 80% of appeals decided on the merits had oral arguments. Type of decision in civil cases appealed from trial court Appellate courts utilize different approaches to resolve cases including issuing signed majority/plurality opinions or unsigned per curiam decisions. The resolution of a case through a majority/plurality opinion means that an individual justice wrote a majority opinion or several justices wrote separate plurality opinions describing the rationale for the appellate court's decision. Unsigned per curiam refers to cases in which the appellate court issued a written decision that is not signed by the individual justices. Generally, per curiam opinions are shorter than majority/plurality opinions, do not identify the judges(s) who crafted the opinion, and are not viewed as setting precedence. The use of per curiam opinions also varies by appellate court. Some appellate courts use per curiam opinions extensively while others utilize them sparingly. Appellate courts also issue orders that refer to short memos, usually unpublished, dismissing or withdrawing the appeal. A total of 250 orders were issued by the appellate courts and approximately 70% of them were applied to dismissed or withdrawn appeals (not shown in a table). The appellate courts rendered a decision resulting in a signed majority/plurality opinion or an unsigned per curiam decision in 604 of the 679 appeals decided on the merits. The remaining 75 appeals decided on the merits resulted in decisions that were categorized as written orders. These written orders could not be classified into the signed or unsigned opinion categories and have been excluded from subsequent analysis. About three-fourths (73%) of the 604 appeals decided on the merits were resolved through the issuance of a signed majority/plurality opinion, while the remaining 28% were decided by an unsigned per curiam opinion. Appeals reversing trial court outcomes resulted in signed opinions (78%) more often than appeals affirming trial court outcomes (70%). ------------------------------------------------------------ Examples of trial verdicts or judgments involving damage awards over $1 million reversed on appeal The decision by an appellate court to reverse a trial court's verdict or judgment can have different impacts on case outcomes. The following cases provide examples of the effects of appellate reversals on trial verdicts or judgments involving damage awards over $1 million: * A seller of a company (plaintiff) brought a fraud action lawsuit against the company's buyers (defendants) claiming they committed statutory fraud, common law fraud, and securities fraud. The case went to a jury trial which found in favor of the plaintiff and awarded $4.7 million in damages. The defendant appealed asserting that the legal and factual evidence did not support the jury's findings of fraud and damages. The appellate court agreed with the defendant's contentions, reversed the trial court verdict in full, and held that the plaintiff could not take any of the $4.7 million verdict (Source 125 S.W.3d 113). * A plaintiff sued multiple defendants alleging they had engaged in malicious prosecution. The jury found for the plaintiff and awarded damages of $8.9 million. Two defendants appealed the trial court verdict. The appellate court dismissed one appeal, but granted review for the other finding that the trial court had issued improper jury instructions. The appellate court reversed the trial court verdict for this one defendant and remanded the case back for a new trial on liability and damages. The other defendants remained liable to the plaintiff for their portion of the $8.9 million award (Source 2003 WL 22080233; Cal.App.4 Dist, Opinion not published). * A plaintiff sued a defendant over injuries sustained while working on a sea vessel that left the plaintiff a quadriplegic. The jury found for the plaintiff and awarded $5.8 million in damages. The defendant appealed asserting that the trial court erred by refusing to admit evidence that the plaintiff would receive an annuity of $10,000 per month in injury compensation. The appellate court found that the annuity payment evidence should have been admitted and remanded the case back to the trial court with instructions to reduce $540,520 from the final judgment (Source 832 So.2d. 829). ----------------------------------------------------------- Appeals producing published opinions Once an opinion is published, it becomes precedent that can be cited by attorneys or other courts; rulings for unpublished opinions, in comparison, apply only to those cases for which they were written. **Footnote 6: R. Schauffler, R. LaFountain, N. Kauder, & S. Strickland, Examining the Work of State Courts, 2004: A National Perspective from the Court Statistics Project (National Center for State Courts 2005). ** A third of the 604 appeals decided on the merits produced a published opinion. Whether the trial court verdict or judgment was upheld on appeal influenced the decision to publish an opinion. Nearly half of appeals (46%) that reversed or modified the trial court decision resulted in a published opinion. In comparison, published opinions were generated in a quarter (26%) of appeals affirming the trial court decision. Dissenting opinions When an opinion is published, sometimes not all the judges are in agreement with the majority's legal rationale or holding. In such cases, justices have discretion to write a dissenting opinion. Judges wrote dissents in about 7% of published opinions (not shown in figure). Nearly 10% of published opinions that completely reversed a trial court's verdict or judgment resulted in a dissent (figure 1). Dissents were somewhat less common among published opinions that reversed a trial court holding in part (7%) or affirmed a trial court decision (5%). Alternative dispute resolution in appellate courts Some States have turned to mediation programs to encourage case settlement at the appellate level. In appellate court mediation programs, a third party mediator attempts to encourage the parties to settle prior to case resolution by the court. Thirty-five percent of civil cases appealed from the trial courts of States participating in alternative dispute resolution programs were referred to appellate court mediation. About a third (34%) of the 259 referred appeals were resolved through mediation programs. Case processing time in civil appeals Among all civil appeals, the average case processing time from filing of the appeal to final disposition was 11 months, with half of the appeals taking a minimum of 10 months to dispose. Appeals reversing or modifying the trial court verdict or judgment took an average of about 17 months to dispose, while appeals affirming the trial court decision were resolved within an average of 15 months. The average case processing time for appeals that were dismissed, withdrawn, or transferred was 6 months. Subsequent appeals to courts of last resort Most of the 46 counties in this survey were located in States that had two levels of appellate review. ** Footnote 7: The exceptions are Honolulu, Hawaii and Fairfax, Virginia. In these States, civil cases are appealed directly from the trial court to the court of last resort. ** The first level involves review by an intermediate appellate court. In these States, parties dissatisfied with the intermediate appellate court's holding can appeal further to the State's court of last resort. Courts of last resort represent the final stages of appellate review. These courts have discretion to accept or reject appeals and the appeals they choose to hear tend to involve complex legal issues and have broad policy and legal implications. ** Footnote 8: See Rottman et. al. 2000. State Court Organization, 1998. National Center for State Courts. Williamsburg, Virginia. ** Approximately 19% of civil appeals disposed of by the intermediate appellate courts were subsequently appealed to courts of last resort for a total of 218 cases. The rate in which cases were further appealed varied by how they were handled at the intermediate appellate court level. About 43% of appeals that reversed or modified a trial court's verdict or judgment were further appealed to the court of last resort. Twenty-six percent of appeals affirming the trial court outcome were subsequently appealed to the court of last resort and about 1% of appeals that were dismissed, withdrawn, or transferred were further appealed. Courts of last resort granted review in 12% of the 218 appeals from intermediate appellate courts. Eighteen percent of appeals from decisions to reverse or modify a trial court outcome were granted further review, and 6% of appeals from cases affirming a trial court decision were subsequently reviewed by courts of last resort. ------------------------------------------------------------ Characteristics of appeals granted additional review by courts of last resort in 46 large counties, 2001-2005 Thirty primary appeals were disposed in the intermediate appellate courts in which the courts of last resort subsequently decided to grant additional review. In 25 of these appeals the petitioner requested, and the courts of last resort granted, additional review. For the five additional appeals, the courts of last resort took jurisdictional control over the case prior to the parties requesting additional review. Amicus briefs - meaning briefs filed by someone who is not a party to the litigation, but who believes that the court's decision may affect its interest - were filed in 30% of civil appeals granted additional review by courts of last resort. Of the 30 appeals granted additional review in courts of last resort – * 9 were pending at the end of the study period. * 2 were dismissed or transferred. * 19 were decided on the merits. Among the 19 appeals decided on the merits in courts of last resort – * trial court outcomes were reversed or modified in 10 appeals, 4 of which were completely reversed, 5 partially reversed, and 1 modified. * 95% resulted in a signed majority/plurality opinion * 5% were decided through an unsigned per curiam opinion. * all 19 produced a published decision and judges dissented in 42% of these published decisions. The average case processing time from the filing of an appeal with a court of last resort to the disposition of that appeal was 15 months. --------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 2001 Supplemental Survey of Civil Appeals: Intermediate Appellate and Court of Last Resort Opinion Survey In addition to the data presented in this report, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) coded 646 written opinions, unsigned per curiam opinions, or published orders produced by the intermediate appellate courts in this survey of civil appeals (Intermediate Appellate Court Opinion Survey). This dataset offers a rich set of contextual variables on civil opinions produced at the intermediate appellate court level. Many opinions involve multiple legal issues and a maximum of eight issues for each appeal have been coded in this dataset. Some of the data fields include the number of legal issues handled on appeal, the alleged trial court errors addressed on appeal, and the underlying legal issues raised in these written opinions. The dataset also focuses on how the appellate courts resolved each legal issue raised, the standard of review utilized to decide these legal issues, and the primary statutory authority that served as a basis for addressing these issues. The NCSC also coded 21 written opinions, unsigned per curiam opinions, or published orders produced by the courts of last resort in this survey of civil appeals (Court of Last Resort Opinion Survey). This dataset contains fields similar to the intermediate appellate court opinion survey. Some of the variable fields include number of issues addressed on appeal, types of issues handled on appeal, standard of review applied on appeal, and the resolution of each issue raised on appeal. Several appendices on the Internet provide information on the types of data coded from these published opinions. The intermediate appellate court and court of last resort opinion surveys are available at the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data, maintained by the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan (http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/NACJD/index.html), 1-800-999- 0960. ------------------------------------------------------------ Methodology Definitions of disposition types Jury trial: A trial held before and decided by a group of laypersons selected according to the law presided over by a judge culminating in a verdict for the plaintiff(s) and/or defendant(s). Bench trial (nonjury trial): A trial held in the absence of a jury and decided by a judge culminating in a judgment for the plaintiff(s) and/or defendant(s). Intermediate appellate court: Intermediate appellate courts represent the first level of appellate review. Intermediate appellate courts typically have mandatory jurisdiction over civil appeals, meaning that they are required by their State constitution or statutes to review any case appealed to them. Courts of last resort: Courts of last resort represent the final level of State appellate review. Most courts of last resort have discretionary jurisdiction over civil appeals, allowing them to choose whether to review an appeal from an intermediate appellate court. Affirmed appeal: Appellate court upheld the entire trial court verdict or judgment. Reversed appeal: Appellate court reversed the trial court verdict or judgment in whole or in part. Modified appeal: Appellate court modified the trial court's resolution of an issue without remanding the case back to the trial court. Remanded appeal: The appellate court sent the case back to the trial court for additional proceedings. Dismissed appeal: The appellate court dismissed the case because the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case, a procedural error prevented review of the issues raised, the appeal was improvidently granted, or no valid issue was raised on appeal. Withdrawn appeal: Appeal was withdrawn by either or both parties. Transferred appeal: Appeal was transferred to another court. Typically a transfer means that the appeal was sent from the intermediate appellate court to the court of last resort or transferred to another jurisdiction. Signed majority/plurality opinion: A member of the appellate court wrote a majority opinion with detailed reasons for the decision, or members of the court wrote separate opinions that constitute a plurality. Unsigned (per curiam) opinion: The appellate court issued a written decision not signed by any justice. Order: The court issued an order dismissing or resolving the appeal. Sample of appeals This report is a follow up to the 2001 Civil Justice Survey of State Courts which examined 8,311 general civil cases (e.g., tort, contract, and real property) concluded by bench or jury trial in a sample of 46 of the Nation's 75 most populous counties in 2001. These cases were then weighted to represent the 11,908 general civil trials concluded in the Nation's 75 most populous counties. Data from the 2001 Civil Trial Survey were used to produce several BJS reports describing the characteristics of civil litigation in State courts. These and other reports on civil justice can be accessed at . The 2001 Supplemental Survey of Civil Appeals study plan was to track every general civil case concluded by bench or jury trial in 2001 in the 46 surveyed counties that were subsequently appealed to an intermediate appellate court or court of last resort. In the 2001 Civil Justice Survey of State Courts, information was collected for every general civil trial concluded in 43 of the 46 selected counties. In these counties, the 2001 Supplemental Survey of Civil Appeals collected information on all general trials that produced an appeal. In two of the remaining three counties, (Cook and Philadelphia), a sample of general civil trials was collected in the 2001 survey. In Bergen county some civil case files were unavailable for coding purposes. In these counties, the appeals survey was able to obtain information for both those general civil trials concluded in 2001 that were subsequently appealed and in addition, was able to collect information for those general civil appeals that were not captured at the trial court level. The 2001 Supplemental Survey of Civil Appeals presents data on general civil appeals that originated from 46 of the Nation's 75 most populous counties. Unlike the 2001 Civil Justice Survey of State Courts, cases were not weighted to represent appeals in the Nation's 75 most populous counties. The appeals were followed until they were withdrawn, dismissed, or decided on the merits in the appellate courts. All appeals were tracked until April 30, 2005. Appeals not disposed on that date are identified as pending. Many appeals that were withdrawn or dismissed may settle, thereby rendering the ultimate outcomes for these cases unknown. The outcomes for appeals that resulted in a reversal or modification were also difficult to determine. Many reversed appeals were remanded back to the trial court for a new trial. Determining the eventual outcomes for those cases that were sent back for a new trial and how they compared to the original trial court's verdicts or judgments was not within this study's scope. Of the 8,311 general civil cases concluded by trial in 46 large counties in 2001, plaintiffs and defendants filed 1,419 appeals. A total of 215 of these cases were secondary appeals such as cross-appeals in which either the plaintiff or defendant filed notice of appeal after the initial appeal was filed. These 215 secondary appeals were excluded from further analysis. Most of the 1,204 primary appeals were filed directly from the trial to the intermediate appellate courts; however, in two States (Hawaii and Virginia), civil appeals bypass the intermediate appellate court and are filed directly with the court of last resort. In Hawaii civil appeals go directly to the court of last resort, which has discretion to send the case to the intermediate appellate court. In this study, seven civil trials were appealed and remained in the Hawaii court of last resort. In Virginia civil cases are appealed directly from the trial court to the court of last resort. Virginia does not allow civil appeals as a matter of right. In this study 22 civil cases were appealed directly from the Virginia trial court to the court of last resort. Since the intermediate appellate courts are bypassed in Hawaii and Virginia, the 29 appeals to courts of last resort in these two States share the characteristics of trial cases appealed from verdict or judgment for further review at the intermediate appellate level. Appeals in Hawaii and Virginia, therefore, have been combined with the remaining 1,175 cases appealed from the trial to the intermediate appellate courts with jurisdiction over the surveyed counties. Appeals subsequently reviewed by courts of last resort after initially being reviewed by intermediate appellate courts are examined in the "Characteristics of appeals granted additional review by courts of last resort" text box of this report. Data coding For each appeal, a standard coding form was manually completed by on-site court staff and personnel from the National Center for State Courts to record detailed case processing information about that appeal. The standard coding form is available in the appellate database codebook. ------------------------------------------------------------- This report and others fromthe Bureau of Justice Statistics are available through the Internet The data from the 2001 Supplemental Survey of Civil Appeals are available at the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data, maintained by the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan, 1-800-999-0960. The archive may also be accessed at -------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- Office of Justice Programs Partnerships for Safer Communities --------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------- The Bureau of Justice Statistics is the statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. Jeffrey Sedgwick is the director. BJS Special Reports address a specific topic in depth from one or more datasets that cover many topics. Thomas H. Cohen wrote this report under the supervision of Steven K. Smith. Mark Motivans provided statistical review. Erica Smith provided technical review and comments. Data collection was supervised by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). Paula Hannaford-Agor was the project director. Paula Hannaford-Agor and Nicole Waters of the NCSC provided comments. Nicole Waters also provided data assistance. Katrina Baum, Joanna Bradford, Kristen Hughes, and Vicky Tsaparas also provided substantive editorial comments. Tina Dorsey and Marianne Zawitz produced and edited the report. Jayne Robinson prepared the report for final printing. ------------------------------------------------------------- 6/27/06 pm July 2006, NCJ 212979