Sample Case
Oklahoma Civil Justice Council Releases Judicial
Evaluation of the
Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals
OKLAHOMA CITY—The Oklahoma Civil Justice Council released its inaugural evaluation of the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals today. This is a follow-up report to its release of the Oklahoma Supreme Court evaluation in September.
As was the case with the Supreme Court evaluation, this evaluation analyzes cases that can have an impact on the economic development and institutional life of the state and that involve liability creation and its expansion or restraint. The evaluations were conducted by the Judicial Evaluation Institute of Washington, D.C. and Sequoyah Information Systems. Two Hundred and Thirty-One cases were selected in the initial Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals study. Each judge received a rating based on their individual position in each case.
"The Oklahoma Civil Justice Council has been created, in part, to examine the performance of Oklahoma’s appellate courts. It is vitally important for all Oklahomans to have information about how these cases—which often impact everyone in our state—are decided," said Fred Morgan, president of OCJC. READ MORE
Are EJR and JEI endorsing any of the members of the Oklahoma Supreme Court based on these ratings?
No. We hope to contribute to a more informed public discussion. In the past, citizens typically had little or no information on the records of their judges. Information they did have tended to be anecdotal and limited to a highly publicized case or two. This did not constitute a sound basis for assessing a judge's record. It also was unfair to the judges. Oklahoma citizens now will have reliable, empirical judicial ratings of their supreme court.
Is this a one-time project?
No, we plan to update this study biennially.
What do EJR and JEI mean when they suggest that the rapid spread of liability in recent decades has harmed American institutional life?
They mean that towns and schools and churches will be better able to ask, "How can we serve the people?" - if they don't have to ask first, "Will a lawsuit and a surprise ruling ruin us?" They mean that higher scoring judges have fostered a legal climate in which fewer of citizens' dollars have to be spent to protect against lawsuits, a society that lets voluntary associations and families concentrate more on their essential purposes and less on avoiding lawyers and litigation.
What do EJR and JEI believe are the practical implications of restraint in the area of civil liability?
A small business can plan its growth better when the body of law that governs its activities and responsibilities is steady, clear and predictable. Businesses of all sizes are more likely to locate and expand in Oklahoma if they know they will be in a legal climate where the courts can be relied on to give statutes the meaning that the legislature appears to have intended. Towns and colleges and not-for-profits will have lower litigation budgets.
Aren't fairness and impartiality the most important traits for a judge?
Without question, fairness and impartiality are the first qualities we should expect all our judges to strive for. Rating fairness - even defining fairness - is virtually impossible, however. Every judge would claim to be fair and impartial in every case, but still we have split decisions in which judges disagree.
Are EJR and JEI saying they want judges to give a higher priority to slowing down the spread of liability than to impartially and proper application of the law?
Absolutely not. Nor are we saying it is preferable for a judge to have a 100% rating. If a common sense, faithful reading of a statute or the common law says that a certain injured person should be compensated for that injury, or that one business or not-for-profit agency has somehow wronged another person or entity, we believe that is how a judge should decide the case. EJR and JEI want judges to follow the law and do justice. As indicated above, it is principally when judges do not agree that this evaluation studies and critiques their decisions.
What criteria were used to evaluate the judges on the Oklahoma Supreme Court?
EJR and JEI believe that an inordinate spread of civil liability has harmed American economic and institutional life. EJR and JEI have developed strict criteria for evaluating judges objectively from this point of view. The report includes cases spanning a period of years to provide the best understanding of a judge's philosophy in cases affecting the spread of liability in our society.
What do EJR and JEI mean by "liability"?
EJR and JEI do not mean simply manufacturers' and merchants' liability, or product liability. The "expansion of liability" means that all of us are more and more vulnerable to being sued for an ever greater array of causes.
Do EJR and JEI have a point of view?
Yes. EJR and JEI evaluate these judges from a particular substantive-policy point of view. The fundamental policy premise behind the evaluations is that the extremes of expansion of civil liability in the American courts over recent decades inhibit growth, discourage enterprise, and change for the worse the way we conduct our personal and professional lives. Judge-made law in the state courts has created much of this liability expansion and many of its destructive features.
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