Civil Filings for December 2014
Number Latest Month 23,356 Percent Change from previous month 17.4% Percent Change from 1 year ago -5.2% Percent Change from 5 years ago -6.7%
Table 1: Civil FilingsThe latest available data from the federal courts show that during December 2014 the government reported 23,356 new civil filings. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 17.4% over the previous month when the number of civil filings of this type totaled 19,892.
The comparisons of the number of civil filings are based on case-by-case court records which were compiled and analyzed by TRAC (see Table 1).
When monthly 2014 civil filings of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, their number was down (-5.2%). Civil filings for December 2014 are lower than they were for the same period five years ago. Overall, the data show that civil filings of this type are down 6.7% from levels reported in December 2009.
The long term trend in civil filings for these matters going back five years is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of civil filings of this type recorded each month. The superimposed line on the bars plots the six-month moving average so that natural fluctuations are smoothed out. One-year and five-year change comparisons are based upon the moving averages.
Types of filings
Cases were classified by the federal courts into general types. The single largest number of civil filings of these matters through December 2014 was for "Prisoner Petitions", accounting for 18.5% of civil filings.
As shown in Figure 2, additional categories with substantial numbers of civil filings were "Torts - Personal Injury - Product Liability " (15.7%) , "Civil Rights" (14.2%), "Contract" (8.8%), "Torts - Personal Injury - Other" (8.2%) .
Jurisdiction
Within limits set by Congress and the Constitution, the federal district courts have jurisdiction to hear cases falling under any one of several categories. The single largest number of civil filings of these matters through December 2014 was under the classification "Federal Question", accounting for 50.0% of civil filings.
As shown in Figure 2, additional categories with substantial numbers of civil filings were "Diversity" (31.3%) , "U.S. Government Defendant" (11.1%), "U.S. Government Plaintiff" (1.8%), "Local Question" (0.0%).
Rankings: Specific Nature of Suits
Court filings are also classified based upon the specific nature of the suit. Table 2 shows the top nature of suit categories recorded in the matters filed during December 2014
Nature of Suit Count Rank 1 yr ago 5 yrs ago Personal Injury- Product Liability 2,631 1 1 1 More General Prisoner Petitions 1,521 2 2 3 More Civil Rights 1,471 3 3 4 More Other Civil Rights 1,396 4 5 6 More Other Personal Injury 1,326 5 16 13 More Employment 1,206 6 8 5 More Health Care / Pharmaceutical Personal Injury Product Liability 972 7 9 - More Other Contract 930 8 7 7 More Consumer Credit 790 9 11 12 More Insurance 760 10 6 10 More
Table 2: Top district filed
"Personal Injury- Product Liability" was the most frequent recorded nature of suit category. "Personal Injury- Product Liability" was ranked 1st a year ago, while it was the 1st most frequently invoked five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the nature of suit category "General Prisoner Petitions". "General Prisoner Petitions" was ranked 2nd a year ago, while it was the 3rd most frequently invoked five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Civil Rights". "Civil Rights" was ranked 3rd a year ago, while it was the 4th most frequently invoked five years ago.
Among these top nature of suit categories, the one showing the greatest increase in civil filings—up 129.8 percent—compared to one year ago was "Other Personal Injury". This was the same category that had the largest increase—96.7%—when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten nature of suit categories, the one showing the sharpest decline in civil filings compared to one year ago—down 39.5 percent—was "Personal Injury- Product Liability". This was the same statute that had the largest decrease—25.4%—when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
Relative to population, the volume of civil matters of this type filed in federal district courts during December 2014 was 74.4 per every million persons in the United States. One year ago the relative number of filings was 74.8. Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of civil filings in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago W Virg, S 2,564.0 2,384 1 1 4 More D. C. 307.8 195 2 2 3 More N. Y., S 171.8 886 3 8 5 More Delaware 158.1 145 4 6 10 More Penn, E 150.2 870 5 4 2 More La, E 132.5 216 6 5 1 More Fla, S 122.2 847 7 10 12 More Nevada 110.7 305 8 20 13 More Texas, E 110.7 407 9 17 28 More Ill, N 108.2 1,009 10 14 21 More
Table 3: Top 10 districts (per one million people)
The Southern District of West Virginia—with 2,564.0 civil filings as compared with 74.4 civil filings per one million people in the United States—was the most active through December 2014. The Southern District of West Virginia was ranked 1st a year ago, while it was ranked 4th five years ago.
The District of Washington, D.C. ranked 2nd. The District of Washington, D.C. was ranked 2nd a year ago, while it was ranked 3rd five years ago.
The Southern District of New York now ranks 3rd. The Southern District of New York was ranked 8th a year ago, while it was ranked 5th five years ago.
Recent entries to the top 10 list were Northern District of Illinois (Chicago), Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) and Nevada, now ranked 10th, 9th and 8th. These districts ranked 14th, 17th and 20th one year ago and 21st, 28th and 13th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of civil filings compared to one year ago—41.9 percent—was Nevada. Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth—772.6 percent—was Southern District of West Virginia .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of civil filings—31.2 percent—was Southern District of West Virginia. But over the past five years, Eastern District of Louisiana showed the largest drop—83.3 percent.
Report Generated: January 21, 2015
