Cleveland Law Library Weblog

The 6th Circuit Court is Now the Most Reversed Federal Court of Appeals

According to the December issue of the ABA Journal, the federal 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has passed the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals as the court most reversed by the United States Supreme Court. Since the Fall of 2005, the 6th Circuit has apparently been reversed 31 of 38 times, or 81.6% of the time. The 9th Circuit runs a close second with a reversal rate of 100 of 128 cases, or 78.1%. The reversal rate for the 6th Circuit's 2011-2012 term was 5 of 5, and the article says that habeas cases have been a big issue for the 6th Circuit over the years. Unfortunately, the 6th Circuit judges did not respond to an interview request by the deadline for the ABA Journal article.

The Judicial Conference of the U.S. is Expanding Access to Federal Appellate, District, and Bankruptcy Court Opinions on the FDsys Web Site

The Judicial Conference of the United States has recently decided to expand its current program of providing free, public access to opinions of federal appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts. Although 29 selected courts' opinions have already been posted to the FDsys site, the project will soon be implemented nationally and provide access to all federal appellate, district and bankruptcy courts' opinions. For local federal court practitioners, the FDsys site already contains opinions from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio from 2002-2012, as well as the years 1975, 1977 and 1983. One important caveat is that the collection of cases is not complete prior to 2004. However, the web site points out a good benefit: "[o]nce an opinion is located, all associated opinions within the same case can be accessed from the opinion More Information page." 

The Cleveland Law Library's Board Vice-President Carla Tricarichi Wins $14.7 million for Railroad Workers after 43-year Federal Court Battle

Th Cleveland Law Library's Board Vice-President Carla Tricarichi has won a $14.7 million dollar victory for railroad workers in a federal court case that took 43 years to wind its way through the system. As a Plain Dealer article explains, the suit, which may be one of the oldest ones in the country, was brought by the workers for seniority, pay and health-care benefits they claimed they lost when Pennsylvania Railroad merged with New York Central Railroad. According to the article, many of the workers are now deceased so there are a number of estates that will receive the proceeds if the judgment is ever paid and not appealed. Although the case started out in Cleveland under former Judge Thomas Lambros, it was moved to Philadelphia, where the judge rendered the $14.7 million decision against the underwriter for the defunct Penn Central.

The United States Court System Proposes New Model Rules on Social Media Use During Trial

In a recent news release, the U.S. Courts' system has announced the creation of a proposed, new, model jury instruction on the use of social media during trials in federal court. A Judicial Conference Committee created the proposed instruction in an attempt to curb jury misuse of social media tools to research cases and communicate about them while the cases are pending. The instruction not only contains guidelines on instructing the jury before, during, and at the end of trial, but it also addresses violations and the consequences jurors can face.

U.S. Department of Justice is Closing its Cleveland Anti-Trust Office

The U.S. Department of Justice is closing 4 of its antitrust offices, including the one in Cleveland at the Carl B. Stokes U.S. Courthouse. According to a news report, DOJ officials claim that this downsizing will save the Department $8 million dollars and enable the DOJ to "more effectively and efficiently manage larger investigations" The Cleveland office currently covers the following jurisdictions: Kentucky, Eastern District of Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia. Apparently, 21 workers in the Cleveland office will be affected, and their investigatory and enforcement work will be shifted to a regional office in Chicago, Illinois.

New Changes to Federal Criminal and Bankruptcy Rules Coming 12/1/12

According to a press release from our local federal district court, "the U.S. Supreme Court has approved and transmitted to Congress amendments to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure that will take effect on December 1, 2012 unless Congress takes action to reject, modify or defer them." Changes to the Federal Criminal Rules include:

• Criminal Rule 5 (specifies the place of the initial
  appearance for a defendant extradited to the U.S.)
• Criminal Rule 15 (authorizes the taking of
  depositions outside of the U.S. without the defendant being present in limited
  circumstances)
• Criminal Rule 37 (new rule articulating procedures
  for obtaining an indicative ruling)

Click here for information on these changes and changes to the Bankruptcy Rules.

All Federal Courts now Accept Electronic Filing

According to the US Courts News Website, all Federal Courts are now accepting electronic filing. The last court to join this effort is the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Documents can be filed using the "judiciary’s Case Management-Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system". To learn more about the CM/ECF system, click here.

Northern District of Ohio Federal Court Opinions Back to 2004 Are Now Available For Free from the Federal Government

Northern District of Ohio federal district court opinions back to 2004 are now available for free from the federal government. The ND of Ohio is now participating in a beta site that provides access to a lot of information from the Government Printing Office. The ND is one of 12 district courts, 2 appellate courts, and 5 bankruptcy courts participating in the project. You can either browse opinions by court and year or use a very sophisticated search engine to find cases by up to five criteria (orfields) including case number, nature of suit, party name or citation. Once you find 1 opinion in a case you are interested in, you can also obtain all other opinions and orders in the case for free as well. On hte Browse search, just click the link on the right side of the page for "More."

PACER Has Launched a Mobile Website for Access to District, Bankruptcy and Appellate Dockets

PACER has launched a mobile web version of its Case Locator that allows registered users to search federal district, bankruptcy and appellate court dockets. This new version of PACER works on Apple devices, such as iPads, and Android devices with version 2.2 and higher. The PACER October 2011 newsletter states that there is nothing to install in order to be able to use the mobile version.

U.S. District Court for the N.D. Ohio Revises Civil Cover Sheet to Create 7 New Categories and Eliminate 13 Others

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio has revised its Civil Cover Sheet to include 7 new categories:

• 367 TORTS - Personal Injury - Health Care/Pharmaceutical Personal Injury/Product Liability
• 375 False Claims Act
• 448 Civil Rights - Education
• 560 Prisoner Petitions - Civil Detainee - Conditions of Confinement
• 751 Labor - Family and Medical Leave Act
• 896 Other Statutes - Arbitration
• 899 Other Statutes - Administrative Procedure Act/Review or Appeal of Agency Decision

The Court has also eliminated the following 13 Nature of Suit codes:

• 444 Civil Rights - Welfare
• 610 Forfeiture/Penalty - Agriculture
• 620 Forfeiture/Penalty - Other Food & Drug
• 630 Forfeiture/Penalty - Liquor Laws
• 640 Forfeiture/Penalty - RR & Truck
• 650 Forfeiture/Penalty - Airline Regulations
• 660 Forfeiture/Penalty - Occupational Safety/Health
• 730 Labor - Labor/Mgmt Reporting and Disclosure Act
• 810 Other Statutes - Selective Service
• 875 Other Statutes - Customer Challenge 12 USC 3410
• 892 Economic Stabilization Act
• 894 Other Statutes - Energy Allocation Act
• 900 Other Statutes - Appeal of Fee Determination Under Equal Access to Justice Act

 Click here to download the new Civil Cover Sheet, which comes with instructions for completing it.