Starting with the busiest state appellate court – Appellate Division, Second Department
First up are affirmance, reversal, and modification rates for civil cases in the busiest state appellate court, the Appellate Division, Second Department, which handles appeals from the counties of Queens, Kings, Richmond, and several other down-state counties. From 2022 to 2024, affirmances and dismissals after argument have stayed between 65% and 67%, reversals and modifications have been between 31% and 32%, and other dispositions after argument have been 2% of the total. Most appeals in the Second Department are disposed before oral argument – whether by settlement, withdrawal, or dismissal – with the totals being 3,347 in 2022, 3,751 in 2023, and 3,988 in 2024. The total number of dispositions, whether before or after argument, have tacked up slightly from 2022 to 2024, up about 7%.
Following with the Appellate Division, First Department
The Appellate Division, First Department, handling appeals from the counties of New York and Bronx, reports remarkably similar results. From 2022 to 2024 appeals after argument have resulted in affirmance or dismissal 66% to 68% of the time. Reversal or modification has been the outcome between 31% and 32% of the time, and other outcomes ranged from 1% to 2%. Total dispositions whether before or after argument have substantially increased, about 16% from 2022 to 2024. This trend is largely explained by access to the courts being restored after the sudden deprivation of that right in 2020.
Criminal appeals in the Appellate Division, First and Second Departments
The statistics of criminal appeals in the First and Second Departments present some interesting differences from those of civil appeals. First, the rates of affirmance and dismissal are significantly higher – between 75% and 81% in the First Department and 75% and 77% in the Second Department. That means reversals and modifications are lower: between 17% and 24% in the First Department and 18% and 20% in the Second Department. Defendants appealing their convictions or sentences fair more poorly on appeal than their civil counterparts. Second, total dispositions in the Second Department are significantly down from 2022 to 2024, down 17%. First Department dispositions have increased by 7% during that period. Third and finally, although the total population of the geographic area within the Second Department’s jurisdiction is 2 million more than that of the First Department’s (about 10 million versus 8 million), both courts disposed of about the same number of criminal appeals over the three-year period – 2,343 in the First Department and 2,338 in the Second Department.
A Closer look at the New York Court of Appeals statistics
Outcomes in New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, vary more than those of the Appellate Division. However, the Court of Appeals disposes of about 1% as many appeals as the Second Department, and more variation is expected among smaller sample sizes. Between 2022 and 2024, where the court disposed of an average of about 100 appeals each year, affirmance or dismissal was the result between 41% to 56% of the time, 37% to 48% of the time it was reversal or modification, and other outcomes resulted in 4% to 11% of appeals. The court also publishes statistics of appeal outcomes based on the way by which the appeal reached the Court of Appeals. It is hard to discern trends from these figures, where appeals as a result of 2 dissents in the Appellant Division were affirmed or dismissed from 58% to 78% of the time, those coming by way of permission of the Court of Appeals were affirmed or dismissed from 50% to 61% of the time, ones from permission granted by the Appellate Division were affirmed or dismissed in 20% to 56% of cases, and those few arising from constitutional issues saw affirmance or dismissal in 25% to 89% of cases. The variation is largely explained by small sample sizes, and it may be that more meaningful trends could be discerned over longer than the three-year period under review.
General outcomes and trends across all state appellate courts
A look further into the past bears out the theme of stability of outcomes in New York’s Appellate Division. For example, in 2005, of a total 1,827 civil dispositions after argument, the First Department affirmed or dismissed 65% of the time and reversed or modified in 30% of cases. In 2001, for 1,965 such dispositions, 65% were affirmed or dismissed and 29% were reversed or modified. In 2005, the Second Department disposed of 3,599 civil appeals after argument, with 64% affirmed or dismissed and 33% reversed or modified. In 2001, the Second Department disposed of 3,529 appeals after argument, and the outcome ratios were the same as in 2005.
In addition to being notably stable in the percentages of certain outcomes, New York’s Appellate Division may surprise observers with the sheer volume of their caseloads, the Second Department being by far the busiest. There, in 2024 alone, 8,293 motions were decided – about 30 per business day. That court also conducted 1,874 oral arguments, averaging about 7 each business day. Even at that galloping pace, the court’s ability to process appeals is limited by the large volume of filings it must consider; over the past three years, parties filed an average of 2,700 records annually. By comparison, the First Department decided about 5,300 motions in 2024, heard about 1,275 oral arguments, and received 1,712 new records.
What is shown by these statistics – all available at the website of the New York Unified Court System – is a remarkable, year-to-year consistency in New York’s state appellate courts. And while each appeal rises or falls on its own merits, knowing the general outcomes and trends in the appellate courts is one more resource at the disposal of the advocate, enhancing his or her understanding of the courts that may control the outcome of their client’s case.
Please contact me with any questions regarding preparing and filing any appeal. Counsel Press provides a full spectrum of appellate services. Our New York office focuses on rule-compliant appellate filings in the New York State Court of Appeals, New York State Appellate Division (First-Fourth Departments), New York State Appellate Term (First-Second Departments) and the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Through our local offices, we offer in-depth knowledge of rules and procedures in all state and federal appellate courts nationwide.
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1The Reports of the Chief Administrator of the Courts discussed in this blog cover the years 2011 through 2013, with a brief look back to Reports of 2001 and 2005. These reports can be accessed here.
Tagged: Appellate Practice, New York State Appellate Division First Department, New York State Appellate Division Second Department, New York State Court of Appeals
