Civil Filings for April 2016
Table 1. Civil Filings
Number Latest Month 22,541 Percent Change from previous month -5.1% Percent Change from 1 year ago -5.1% Percent Change from 5 years ago -6.3% The latest available data from the federal courts show that during April 2016 the government reported 22,541 new civil filings. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 5.1% over the previous month when the number of civil filings of this type totaled 23,747.
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 2016 civil filings of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, their number was down (-5.1%). Civil filings for April 2016 are lower than they were for the same period five years ago. Overall, the data show that civil filings of this type are down 6.3% from levels reported in April 2011.
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 April 2016 was for "Prisoner Petitions", accounting for 20.5% of civil filings.
As shown in Figure 2, additional categories with substantial numbers of civil filings were "Civil Rights " (13.9%) , "Torts - Personal Injury - Product Liability" (12.2%), "Contract" (9.3%), "Social Security" (7.2%).
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 during April 2016 was under the classification "Federal Question", accounting for 49.4% of civil filings.
As shown in Figure 2, additional categories with substantial numbers of civil filings were "Diversity" (27.5%) , "U.S. Government Defendant" (15.3%), "U.S. Government Plaintiff" (1.4%), "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 April 2016
Table 2. Top District filed
Nature of Suit Count Rank 1 yr ago 5 yrs ago Civil Rights 1,440 1 3 5 More General Prisoner Petitions 1,389 2 2 1 More Health Care / Pharmaceutical Personal Injury Product Liability 1,360 3 5 - More Personal Injury- Product Liability 1,304 4 1 2 More Other Civil Rights 1,285 5 4 3 More Motions to Vacate Sentence 1,063 6 20 19 More Other Contract 987 7 11 6 More Employment 935 8 8 7 More Other Statutory Actions 926 9 12 9 More SSID Title XVI 842 10 15 11 More
"Civil Rights" was the most frequent recorded nature of suit category. "Civil Rights" was ranked 3rd a year ago, while it was the 5th 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 1st most frequently invoked five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Health Care / Pharmaceutical Personal Injury Product Liability". "Health Care / Pharmaceutical Personal Injury Product Liability" was ranked 5th a year ago.
Among these top nature of suit categories, the one showing the greatest increase in civil filings — up 158.0 percent — compared to one year ago was "Motions to Vacate Sentence". This was the same category that had the largest increase — 102.5 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 33.2 percent — was "Personal Injury- Product Liability". This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 26.4 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 April 2016 was 70.7 per every million persons in the United States. One year ago the relative number of filings was 78.1. 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 W Virg, S 1,072.0 986 1 1 12 More La, E 710.4 1,179 2 5 4 More D. C. 329.3 217 3 3 3 More N. Y., S 162.7 849 4 6 5 More Fla, S 124.7 890 5 8 7 More Penn, E 115.6 674 6 7 2 More Delaware 114.4 107 7 28 6 More Nevada 109.5 311 8 16 10 More Texas, E 104.9 397 9 17 28 More Ill, N 103.3 967 10 10 19 More
The Southern District of West Virginia — with 1,072.0 civil filings as compared with 70.7 civil filings per one million people in the United States — was the most active during April 2016. The Southern District of West Virginia was ranked 1st a year ago.
The Eastern District of Louisiana ranked 2nd. The Eastern District of Louisiana was ranked 5th a year ago, while it was ranked 4th five years ago.
The District of Washington, D.C. now ranks 3rd. The District of Washington, D.C. was ranked 3rd a year ago as well as five years ago.
Recent entries to the top 10 list were Nevada, Eastern District of Texas (Tyler) and Delaware, now ranked 8th, 9th and 7th. These districts ranked 16th, 17th and 28th one year ago and 10th, 28th and 6th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of civil filings compared to one year ago — 233.1 percent — was Eastern District of Louisiana. Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 996.9 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 — 38.6 percent — was Southern District of West Virginia. But over the past five years, Eastern District of Pennsylvania showed the largest drop — 66.6 percent.
Report Generated: May 17, 2016
