Civil Filings for March 2019

Table 1. Civil Filings
Number Latest Month 27,472
Percent Change from previous month 23.2%
Percent Change from 1 year ago 3.3%
Percent Change from 5 years ago -2.9%

The latest available data from the federal courts show that during March 2019 the government reported 27,472 new civil filings. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 23.2% over the previous month when the number of civil filings of this type totaled 22,304.

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 2019 civil filings of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, their number was up (3.3%). Civil filings for March 2019 are lower than they were for the same period five years ago. Overall, the data show that civil filings of this type are down 2.9% from levels reported in March 2014.


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 March 2019 was for "Torts - Personal Injury - Product Liability", accounting for 27.1% of civil filings.

As shown in Figure 2, additional categories with substantial numbers of civil filings were "Prisoner Petitions " (16.5%) , "Civil Rights" (12.5%), "Torts - Personal Injury - Other" (8.5%), "Contract" (7.4%).

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 March 2019 was under the classification "Diversity", accounting for 41.3% of civil filings.

As shown in Figure 2, additional categories with substantial numbers of civil filings were "Federal Question" (40.9%) , "U.S. Government Defendant" (10.7%), "U.S. Government Plaintiff" (1.0%).

Pie chart of nosgrp

Figure 2. Civil Filings by General Types
Pie chart of jurisdiction

Figure 3. Jurisdiction
for civil filings

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 March 2019

Table 2. Top District filed
Nature of Suit Count Rank 1 yr ago 5 yrs ago  
Health Care / Pharmaceutical Personal Injury Product Liability 5,915 1 1 2 More
Civil Rights 1,608 2 2 3 More
Other Personal Injury 1,541 3 12 17 More
General Prisoner Petitions 1,468 4 3 4 More
Personal Injury- Product Liability 1,435 5 17 1 More
Other Civil Rights 1,176 6 4 5 More
Amer w/Disabilities - Other 1,045 7 7 19 More
Other Contract 912 8 5 6 More
Consumer Credit 881 9 6 12 More
Employment 870 10 8 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 1st a year ago, while it was the 2nd most frequently invoked five years ago.

  • Ranked 2nd in frequency was the nature of suit category "Civil Rights". "Civil Rights" was ranked 2nd a year ago, while it was the 3rd most frequently invoked five years ago.

  • Ranked 3rd was "Other Personal Injury".

Among these top nature of suit categories, the one showing the greatest increase in civil filings — up 166.7  percent — compared to one year ago was "Personal Injury- Product Liability". This was the same category that had the largest increase — 229.3 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 8.9  percent — was "Consumer Credit". This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 55.6 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 March 2019 was 84.4 per every million persons in the United States. One year ago the relative number of filings was 74.3. 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  
La, E 2,281.5 3,851 1 1 10 More
D. C. 492.8 342 2 2 2 More
N. J. 293.8 2,646 3 3 22 More
Delaware 198.6 191 4 7 6 More
W Virg, N 197.6 183 5 22 44 More
N. Y., S 181.4 961 6 6 5 More
Ind, S 128.4 523 7 11 41 More
Fla, S 128.0 952 8 12 12 More
Mo, E 126.0 369 9 39 15 More
Arizona 117.2 822 10 37 51 More

  • The Eastern District of Louisiana — with 2,281.5 civil filings as compared with 84.4 civil filings per one million people in the United States — was the most active during March 2019. The Eastern District of Louisiana was ranked 1st a year ago, while it was ranked 10th five years ago.

  • The District of Washington, D.C. ranked 2nd. The District of Washington, D.C. was ranked 2nd a year ago as well as five years ago.

  • The District of New Jersey now ranks 3rd. The District of New Jersey was ranked 3rd a year ago.

Recent entries to the top 10 list were Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis), Southern District of Florida (Miami), Northern District of West Virginia (Wheeling), Arizona and Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis), now ranked 7th, 8th, 5th, 10th and 9th. These districts ranked 11th, 12th, 22nd, 37th and 39th one year ago and 41st, 12th, 44th, 51st and 15th five years ago.

The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of civil filings compared to one year ago — 211.8 percent — was Eastern District of Louisiana. This was the same district that had the largest increase — 1728.9 percent — when compared with five years ago.

In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of civil filings — 9.2 percent — was Southern District of New York.

Report Generated: April 29, 2019
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Copyright 2019, TRAC Reports, Inc.