Civil Filings for October 2024
Table 1. Civil Filings
Number Latest Month 23,950 Percent Change from previous month 12.6% Percent Change from 1 year ago -37.7% Percent Change from 5 years ago -7.3% The latest available data from the federal courts show that during October 2024 the government reported 23,950 new civil filings. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is up 12.6% over the previous month when the number of civil filings of this type totaled 21,262.
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 2024 civil filings of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, their number was down (-37.7%). Civil filings for October 2024 are lower than they were for the same period five years ago. Overall, the data show that civil filings of this type are down 7.3% from levels reported in October 2019.
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 October 2024 was for "Prisoner Petitions", accounting for 17.7% of civil filings.
As shown in Figure 2, additional categories with substantial numbers of civil filings were "Civil Rights " (17.7%) , "Torts - Personal Injury - Product Liability" (11.4%), "Contract" (10.9%), "Torts - Personal Injury - Other" (8.7%).
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 October 2024 was under the classification "Federal Question", accounting for 52.7% of civil filings.
As shown in Figure 2, additional categories with substantial numbers of civil filings were "Diversity" (30.2%) , "U.S. Government Defendant" (16.0%), "U.S. Government Plaintiff" (1.0%), "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 October 2024
Table 2. Specific Nature of Suit Types
Nature of Suit Count Rank 1 yr ago 5 yrs ago Civil Rights 1,683 1 3 2 More Other Civil Rights 1,656 2 4 5 More Personal Injury- Product Liability 1,461 3 1 1 More Other Contract 1,265 4 10 10 More Employment 1,218 5 6 7 More Health Care / Pharmaceutical Personal Injury Product Liability 1,212 6 5 3 More Other Personal Injury 1,187 7 8 6 More General Prisoner Petitions 1,147 8 7 4 More Insurance 1,091 9 2 9 More Other Immigration Actions 1,063 10 9 25 More
"Civil Rights" was the most frequent recorded nature of suit category. "Civil Rights" was ranked 3rd a year ago, while it was the 2nd most frequently invoked five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the nature of suit category "Other Civil Rights". "Other Civil Rights" was ranked 4th a year ago, while it was the 5th most frequently invoked five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Personal Injury- Product Liability". "Personal Injury- Product Liability" was ranked 1st a year ago, while it was the 1st most frequently invoked five years ago.
Among these top nature of suit categories, the one showing the greatest increase in civil filings — up 29.6 percent — compared to one year ago was "Other Contract". This was the same category that had the largest increase — 394.4 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 93.8 percent — was "Personal Injury- Product Liability". This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 25.2 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 October 2024 was 71.5 per every million persons in the United States. One year ago the relative number of filings was 137.1. 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 D. C. 440.4 299 1 3 1 More Ill, N 226.3 2,082 2 8 25 More N. Y., S 178.4 922 3 4 6 More Vermont 160.6 104 4 5 79 More S Car 149.8 805 5 10 41 More Delaware 126.0 130 6 7 4 More Fla, S 121.0 917 7 11 9 More Penn, E 117.7 709 8 13 11 More W Virg, S 112.6 95 9 31 17 More La, M 105.4 90 10 6 16 More
The District of Washington, D.C. — with 440.4 civil filings as compared with 71.5 civil filings per one million people in the United States — was the most active during October 2024. The District of Washington, D.C. was ranked 3rd a year ago, while it was ranked 1st five years ago.
The Northern District of Illinois ranked 2nd. The Northern District of Illinois was ranked 8th a year ago.
The Southern District of New York now ranks 3rd. The Southern District of New York was ranked 4th a year ago, while it was ranked 6th five years ago.
Recent entries to the top 10 list were Southern District of Florida (Miami), Eastern District of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) and Southern District of West Virginia (Charleston), now ranked 7th, 8th and 9th. These districts ranked 11th, 13th and 31st one year ago and 9th, 11th and 17th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of civil filings compared to one year ago — 82.7 percent — was Southern District of West Virginia. Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 349.0 percent — was Vermont .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of civil filings — 37.1 percent — was Middle District of Louisiana. But over the past five years, Delaware showed the largest drop — 47.3 percent.
Report Generated: November 19, 2024
