Civil Filings for January 2017

Table 1. Civil Filings
Number Latest Month 21,379
Percent Change from previous month -2.3%
Percent Change from 1 year ago 3.2%
Percent Change from 5 years ago -5.0%

The latest available data from the federal courts show that during January 2017 the government reported 21,379 new civil filings. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 2.3% over the previous month when the number of civil filings of this type totaled 21,880.

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 2017 civil filings of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, their number was up (3.2%). Civil filings for January 2017 are lower than they were for the same period five years ago. Overall, the data show that civil filings of this type are down 5.0% from levels reported in January 2012.

Bar and line plot of fymon

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 January 2017 was for "Prisoner Petitions", accounting for 21.6% of civil filings.

As shown in Figure 2, additional categories with substantial numbers of civil filings were "Civil Rights " (14.5%) , "Torts - Personal Injury - Product Liability" (12.8%), "Contract" (8.4%), "Torts - Personal Injury - Other" (6.9%).

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 January 2017 was under the classification "Federal Question", accounting for 51.5% of civil filings.

As shown in Figure 2, additional categories with substantial numbers of civil filings were "Diversity" (26.7%) , "U.S. Government Defendant" (13.3%), "U.S. Government Plaintiff" (1.7%), "Local Question" (0.0%).

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 January 2017

Table 2. Top District filed
Nature of Suit Count Rank 1 yr ago 5 yrs ago  
Civil Rights 1,647 1 3 2 More
General Prisoner Petitions 1,487 2 4 1 More
Personal Injury- Product Liability 1,422 3 1 3 More
Health Care / Pharmaceutical Personal Injury Product Liability 1,283 4 2 48 More
Other Civil Rights 1,216 5 5 4 More
Employment 900 6 6 5 More
Consumer Credit 900 6 9 8 More
Other Contract 866 8 7 6 More
Prison Condition 843 9 17 13 More
Other Personal Injury 822 10 16 15 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 "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 "Personal Injury- Product Liability". "Personal Injury- Product Liability" was ranked 1st a year ago, while it was the 3rd most frequently invoked five years ago.

Among these top nature of suit categories, the one showing the greatest increase in civil filings — up 45.8  percent — compared to one year ago was "Prison Condition". This was the same category that had the largest increase — 2320.8 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 28.3  percent — was "Health Care / Pharmaceutical 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 January 2017 was 66.5 per every million persons in the United States. One year ago the relative number of filings was 64.4. 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 1,220.6 1,114 1 1 2 More
La, E 504.4 844 2 2 7 More
D. C. 319.8 215 3 3 1 More
N. Y., S 152.8 802 4 5 4 More
Nevada 128.0 370 5 11 16 More
Mo, E 117.8 346 6 45 27 More
Fla, S 117.0 847 7 6 11 More
La, W 107.1 232 8 17 5 More
Fla, N 106.8 195 9 13 17 More
Delaware 104.7 99 10 18 6 More

  • The Southern District of West Virginia — with 1,220.6 civil filings as compared with 66.5 civil filings per one million people in the United States — was the most active during January 2017. The Southern District of West Virginia was ranked 1st a year ago, while it was ranked 2nd five years ago.

  • The Eastern District of Louisiana ranked 2nd. The Eastern District of Louisiana was ranked 2nd a year ago, while it was ranked 7th five years ago.

  • The District of Washington, D.C. now ranks 3rd. The District of Washington, D.C. was ranked 3rd a year ago, while it was ranked 1st five years ago.

Recent entries to the top 10 list were Nevada, Northern District of Florida (Pensacola), Western District of Louisiana (Shreveport), Delaware and Eastern District of Missouri (St. Louis), now ranked 5th, 9th, 8th, 10th and 6th. These districts ranked 11th, 13th, 17th, 18th and 45th one year ago and 16th, 17th, 5th, 6th and 27th five years ago.

The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of civil filings compared to one year ago — 135.4 percent — was Eastern District of Missouri. Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 404.3 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 — 3.6 percent — was Southern District of West Virginia. But over the past five years, Delaware showed the largest drop — 30.4 percent.

Report Generated: February 17, 2017
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