Fewer than 13 percent of trial court decisions are appealed

Evidence

In the United States, after trial courts render their decisions, dissatisfied litigants are entitled to a single appeal, but fewer than 13 percent of state and federal trial court decisions are appealed. The appellate court’s main job is error correction—that is, ensuring that the law was correctly interpreted and applied at trial. After a first-level appellate court—such as a federal court of appeals or a state intermediate court of appeals—rules on their cases, litigants may appeal those decisions as well. However, the second-level appellate court typically has some discretion over whether it will hear the case. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1461

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the prior chapter notes on trials/evidence and the earlier point about trial court fact-finding errors being unremediable on appeal — the low appeal rate implies most errors never get corrected. — connects to: Only a tiny fraction of grievances ever become lawsuits — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2186; Large jury verdicts are routinely reduced or overturned on appeal — Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action, 2735
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source

Broader Connections

• Large jury verdicts are routinely reduced or overturned on appeal #corroborates (0.75) — Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action, 2735