9th Cir. Certification Trends

M.C. Sungaila at Buchalter has done some great work analyzing 9th Circuit certification of questions to state supreme courts in Ninth Circuit Certification Trends (The Juris Lab).

For JURIS Law Lab, we have further examined the data underlying our original study, to determine (1) which Ninth Circuit judges have certified more cases to the state supreme court, and whether any meaningful pattern can be discerned from that data and (2) what stage in the proceeding the Ninth Circuit has most often certified an issue, and whether it did so on its own motion or at the request of a party.

As to the members of the court most likely to certify state law issues to the California Supreme Court: among over 47 certifications in the Ninth Circuit since 2002, the judges whose names most often appeared as members of panels seeking state high court input are Judges Fletcher (8), Gould (7), Ikuta (6), O’Scannlain (6), Paez (5), Graber (5), Callahan (4), and Silverman (4). Half of these judges previously served as a state court judge

The most notable finding from our study of Ninth Circuit certifications to the California Supreme Court, however, is that only 11 of the 47 cases had issues certified by party motion; the overwhelming number of certifications were done by the Circuit sua sponte, by members of the panel, and most often after oral argument or even at the rehearing stage.

Also of note in today's DJ: The DJ's Top 40 under 40 notes H&L's Eric Boorstin. And appellate lawyer Gary Watt's Arbitration Angle column has May arbitration awards violate public policy? Plus, Q&A with journalist, former 9th Circuit clerk Dahlia Lithwick.