An Empirical Examination of Motions on the Merits

This Article evaluates the Motions on the Merits procedure. Section II outlines the history of commissioners in this country. Section III describes Washington Court of Appeals Division III: its caseload trends, procedures in ordinary appeals, the commissioners' duties, and the MMT history and current procedures. Section IV quantitatively evaluates MMT procedures, exploring their impact on volume of cases decided, delay, backlog, and reversal rates.

Section V presents the attorneys' opinions of the MMTs, and Section VI summarizes the results.