Civil Filings for January 2015
Number Latest Month 22,451 Percent Change from previous month -3.9% Percent Change from 1 year ago -8.8% Percent Change from 5 years ago -4.5%
Table 1: Civil FilingsThe latest available data from the federal courts show that during January 2015 the government reported 22,451 new civil filings. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 3.9% over the previous month when the number of civil filings of this type totaled 23,353.
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 2015 civil filings of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, their number was down (-8.8%). Civil filings for January 2015 are lower than they were for the same period five years ago. Overall, the data show that civil filings of this type are down 4.5% from levels reported in January 2010.
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 January 2015 was for "Prisoner Petitions", accounting for 17.9% of civil filings.
As shown in Figure 2, additional categories with substantial numbers of civil filings were "Civil Rights " (13.0%) , "Torts - Personal Injury - Product Liability" (12.4%), "Torts - Personal Injury - Other" (8.9%), "Contract" (8.8%) .
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 January 2015 was under the classification "Federal Question", accounting for 46.6% of civil filings.
As shown in Figure 2, additional categories with substantial numbers of civil filings were "Diversity" (35.0%) , "U.S. Government Defendant" (11.2%), "U.S. Government Plaintiff" (1.7%).
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 January 2015
Nature of Suit Count Rank 1 yr ago 5 yrs ago Personal Injury- Product Liability 1,709 1 1 6 More General Prisoner Petitions 1,498 2 4 1 More Other Personal Injury 1,469 3 15 14 More Other Civil Rights 1,351 4 5 4 More Civil Rights 1,278 5 3 3 More Health Care / Pharmaceutical Personal Injury Product Liability 1,036 6 7 - More Employment 914 7 9 7 More Torts to Land 856 8 68 63 More Other Contract 847 9 8 5 More Consumer Credit 792 10 10 11 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 6th most frequently invoked five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the nature of suit category "General Prisoner Petitions". "General Prisoner Petitions" was ranked 4th a year ago, while it was the 1st 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 3790.9 percent—compared to one year ago was "Torts to Land". This was the same category that had the largest increase—4180.0%—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 77.4 percent—was "Personal Injury- Product Liability". This was the same statute that had the largest decrease—20.3%—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 January 2015 was 71.5 per every million persons in the United States. One year ago the relative number of filings was 89.2. 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 1,429.4 1,329 1 1 6 More Kansas 421.1 1,215 2 70 56 More D. C. 240.0 152 3 2 2 More Penn, E 208.4 1,207 4 5 1 More N. Y., S 153.8 793 5 8 4 More Delaware 151.6 139 6 7 9 More La, E 149.1 243 7 10 5 More Ill, N 119.1 1,111 8 18 12 More Ark, E 113.1 185 9 14 10 More Fla, S 107.0 742 10 9 7 More
Table 3: Top 10 districts (per one million people)
The Southern District of West Virginia—with 1,429.4 civil filings as compared with 71.5 civil filings per one million people in the United States—was the most active through January 2015. The Southern District of West Virginia was ranked 1st a year ago, while it was ranked 6th five years ago.
The District of Kansas ranked 2nd.
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 Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock), Northern District of Illinois (Chicago) and Kansas, now ranked 9th, 8th and 2nd. These districts ranked 14th, 18th and 70th one year ago and 10th, 12th and 56th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of civil filings compared to one year ago—956.5 percent—was Kansas. Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth—1206.7 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—79.8 percent—was Southern District of West Virginia. But over the past five years, Eastern District of Pennsylvania showed the largest drop—37.6 percent.
Report Generated: March 18, 2015
