Caseload Trends 2008

Although the overall number of filings in the Court remained about the same, discretionary applications filed increased by over 20% from 2007. A partial reason for this change was an act by the legislature which determined that terminations of parental rights must be appealed by discretionary application while custody appeals can now be filed as direct appeals.

Contract and dispossessory direct appeals comprised a larger percentage of civil direct appeals than in 2007 increasing from 29.8% of civil direct appeals to 34.4%.

The number of opinions published increased from 1231 in 2007 to 1322 in 2008 which is about 7 opinions per judge.