Civil Filings for February 2023
Table 1. Civil Filings
Number Latest Month 26,851 Percent Change from previous month 23.3% Percent Change from 1 year ago -5.9% Percent Change from 5 years ago -0.4% The latest available data from the federal courts show that during February 2023 the government reported 26,851 new civil filings. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 23.3% over the previous month when the number of civil filings of this type totaled 21,779.
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 2023 civil filings of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, their number was down (-5.9%). Civil filings for February 2023 are lower than they were for the same period five years ago. Overall, the data show that civil filings of this type are down 0.4% from levels reported in February 2018.
Figure 1. Civil Filings Over the Last Five Years
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 during February 2023 was for "Torts - Personal Injury - Product Liability", accounting for 34.6% of civil filings.
As shown in Figure 2, additional categories with substantial numbers of civil filings were "Prisoner Petitions " (14.0%) , "Civil Rights" (11.8%), "Contract" (7.9%), "Torts - Personal Injury - Other" (6.4%).
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 during February 2023 was under the classification "Diversity", accounting for 48.6% of civil filings.
As shown in Figure 2, additional categories with substantial numbers of civil filings were "Federal Question" (38.0%) , "U.S. Government Defendant" (12.7%), "U.S. Government Plaintiff" (0.7%), "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 February 2023
Table 2. Specific Nature of Suit Types
Nature of Suit Count Rank 1 yr ago 5 yrs ago Health Care / Pharmaceutical Personal Injury Product Liability 5,114 1 4 1 More Personal Injury- Product Liability 4,156 2 1 17 More Civil Rights 1,487 3 2 2 More General Prisoner Petitions 1,188 4 6 3 More Other Civil Rights 1,187 5 3 4 More Insurance 1,091 6 5 11 More Other Personal Injury 1,001 7 12 6 More Other Immigration Actions 881 8 16 33 More Employment 874 9 9 5 More Other Contract 830 10 10 8 More
"Health Care / Pharmaceutical Personal Injury Product Liability" was the most frequent recorded nature of suit category. "Health Care / Pharmaceutical Personal Injury Product Liability" was ranked 4th a year ago, while it was the 1st most frequently invoked five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the nature of suit category "Personal Injury- Product Liability". "Personal Injury- Product Liability" was ranked 1st a year ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Civil Rights". "Civil Rights" was ranked 2nd a year ago, while it was the 2nd most frequently invoked five years ago.
Among these top nature of suit categories, the one showing the greatest increase in civil filings — up 346.2 percent — compared to one year ago was "Health Care / Pharmaceutical Personal Injury Product Liability". This was the same category that had the largest increase — 736.2 percent — 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 3.2 percent — was "Other Civil Rights". This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 8.2 percent — 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 February 2023 was 80.9 per every million persons in the United States. One year ago the relative number of filings was 56.8. Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of civil filings in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
Table 3. Top Ten Districts (per one million people)
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago Fla, N 1,127.7 2,169 1 1 10 More Fla, S 904.5 6,714 2 8 9 More D. C. 425.3 285 3 2 2 More La, E 188.1 314 4 4 1 More N. Y., S 182.6 953 5 3 5 More W Virg, S 116.3 100 6 17 6 More La, M 112.8 96 7 10 8 More N. Y., E 104.4 875 8 19 21 More Delaware 101.7 102 9 7 7 More W Virg, N 99.7 92 10 36 32 More
The Northern District of Florida — with 1,127.7 civil filings as compared with 80.9 civil filings per one million people in the United States — was the most active during February 2023. The Northern District of Florida was ranked 1st a year ago, while it was ranked 10th five years ago.
The Southern District of Florida ranked 2nd. The Southern District of Florida was ranked 8th a year ago, while it was ranked 9th five years ago.
The District of Washington, D.C. now ranks 3rd. The District of Washington, D.C. was ranked 2nd a year ago as well as five years ago.
Recent entries to the top 10 list were Southern District of West Virginia (Charleston), Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn) and Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling), now ranked 6th, 8th and 10th. These districts ranked 17th, 19th and 36th one year ago and 6th, 21st and 32nd five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of civil filings compared to one year ago — 841.7 percent — was Southern District of Florida. Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 949.1 percent — was Northern District of Florida .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of civil filings — 20.3 percent — was Delaware. But over the past five years, Eastern District of Louisiana showed the largest drop — 72.0 percent.
Report Generated: April 4, 2023
