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That’s just it SCOTUS is 9 Justices ruling on issues of law...Law...not fact, and yet they regularly find themselves split. But it’s beyond the point because r

That’s just it SCOTUS is 9 Justices ruling on issues of law...Law...not fact, and yet they regularly find themselves split. But it’s beyond the point because rulings aren’t the point, the point is it’s impossible for any lawyer to tell a client how a case will go, because no one knows how a finding of fact will go. Pick 12 random people, have them watch a verifiable video of events and you will still have a split on the finding of fact. But let’s assume there is a case with no issue of fact...you still can’t tell a client how the case will go/what it will cost...again maybe it’s a default judgment, maybe it’s a case with significant discovery, maybe it will get referred to mediation and settle...the same case, the same facts, the same law, can have different outcomes and when trying to factor in costs the outcomes are infinite.

dragonwriter 8y ago
> That’s just it SCOTUS is 9 Justices ruling on issues of law...Law...not fact The Constitution disagrees. > yet they regularly find themselves split. The Supreme Court both passively and actively selects for cases that are on the edge. If it's not unusually uncertain, it's less likely to get even get to trial, less likely after that to be appealed from the trial court, less likely to have a petition for cert. filed after it's heard in the appeals court, and, in any case, near certain to have that petition denied even if it is filed. The Supreme Court selects for the most uncertain tiny fraction of a percent of all legal cases in the US. And, still, by a wide margin, the most common vote on cases decided on the merits is 9-0. Sure, 5-4 is the next most common and the 5-4 decisions get way more media coverage just by being 5-4 decisions, but 9-0 is still the most common.
- will_brown 8y ago
  Note sure where you are taking this thread, you are right 9-0 is the most common vote, but the majority of all cases are still split, either way the point is...do you think you can readily tell clients the outcome and legal fees of a case given case? I think the answers will be no...it depends. Can you tell them it will result in a default judgment? Can you tell them how costly just the discovery process will be? Can you tell them if the trial court will be the end or if there will be an appeal? Can you tell them if they obtain a judgment if the will have to pursue collection of the judgement through yet more litigation?

dragonwriter 8y ago

> That’s just it SCOTUS is 9 Justices ruling on issues of law...Law...not fact The Constitution disagrees. > yet they regularly find themselves split. The Supreme Court both passively and actively selects for cases that are on the edge. If it's not unusually uncertain, it's less likely to get even get to trial, less likely after that to be appealed from the trial court, less likely to have a petition for cert. filed after it's heard in the appeals court, and, in any case, near certain to have that petition denied even if it is filed. The Supreme Court selects for the most uncertain tiny fraction of a percent of all legal cases in the US. And, still, by a wide margin, the most common vote on cases decided on the merits is 9-0. Sure, 5-4 is the next most common and the 5-4 decisions get way more media coverage just by being 5-4 decisions, but 9-0 is still the most common.

will_brown 8y ago
Note sure where you are taking this thread, you are right 9-0 is the most common vote, but the majority of all cases are still split, either way the point is...do you think you can readily tell clients the outcome and legal fees of a case given case? I think the answers will be no...it depends. Can you tell them it will result in a default judgment? Can you tell them how costly just the discovery process will be? Can you tell them if the trial court will be the end or if there will be an appeal? Can you tell them if they obtain a judgment if the will have to pursue collection of the judgement through yet more litigation?