U.S. District Courts -- Civil Cases Commenced and Pending statistics


	Cases commenced					Cases commenced				Cases pending					Cases pending
Type of case
	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998


Cases total ¹	217,879	207,690	226,895	228,562	235,996	239,013	272,661	265,151	261,262	242,346	244,570	237,040	215,574	217,963	224,378	243,703	259,536	269,119

Contract actions ¹	46,039	42,396	51,246	38,240	31,988	31,619	33,413	38,858	44,205	43,490	42,497	41,588	40,525	29,697	27,337	26,999	31,613	32,403
Recovery of overpayments ²	10,878	7,932	17,475	7,255	2,591	2,099	3,583	8,070	15,188	5,177	4,686	4,663	5,995	1,227	1,041	2,301	3,881	6,129
Real property actions	9,505	9,795	10,143	8,436	7,468	7,282	6,276	5,761	5,655	8,853	8,743	7,657	7,743	5,855	5,073	4,486	3,951	3,971

Tort actions ..	43,759	37,287	36,469	40,939	48,067	44,511	67,029	52,710	52,218	72,933	77,998	69,734	45,148	47,186	52,334	65,823	72,250	84,073
Personal injury .	40,593	34,007	33,147	37,409	44,734	41,102	63,222	48,266	48,356	69,033	74,141	65,792	41,324	43,638	48,789	62,087	68,154	80,114
Personal injury product
liability ¹	18,679	12,399	10,769	16,545	23,977	17,631	38,170	23,294	28,325	41,933	47,288	39,264	15,208	20,694	24,166	34,096	36,621	50,838
Asbestos.	13,687	7,142	4,673	4,900	7,111	6,821	6,760	8,184	9,718	33,182	38,849	31,218	7,154	3,704	3,524	2,037	2,438	1,576
Other personal injury	21,914	21,608	22,378	20,864	20,757	23,471	25,052	24,972	20,031	25,148	26,853	26,528	26,116	22,944	24,623	27,991	3,533	29,276
Personal property damage	3,166	3,280	3,322	3,530	3,333	3,409	3,807	4,444	3,862	3,900	3,857	3,942	3,824	3,548	3,545	3,736	4,096	3,959

Actions under statutes ¹	118,465	118,085	128,921	140,811	148,344	155,495	165,922	167,807	159,172	113,254	114,853	117,538	121,964	135,020	139,487	144,094	151,655	148,630
Civil rights ¹	18,793	19,337	23,419	26,483	31,521	35,566	40,476	43,166	42,750	24,059	23,791	24,009	26,477	33,271	37,512	42,545	46,096	46,718
Employment .	8,413	8,144	10,275	12,221	15,256	18,225	22,150	23,707	23,804	8,459	11,490	11,156	12,530	17,359	20,375	24,212	26,669	27,097
Bankruptcy suits	5,056	5,013	5,243	6,192	5,675	5,138	4,737	4,217	3,905	4,062	3,941	4,083	4,203	4,705	4,541	3,938	3,648	2,921
Commerce (ICC rates, etc.)	2,401	1,556	2,475	1,475	1,228	613	1,622	483	528	1,460	1,441	1,189	1,238	693	446	760	504	510
Environmental matters	958	1,075	1,252	1,077	1,059	1,136	1,158	973	1,007	1,558	1,538	1,719	1,943	1,864	1,823	1,869	1,630	1,602
Prisoner petitions ..	42,630	42,476	46,452	52,454	56,283	62,597	69,352	64,262	55,120	36,325	35,793	37,259	39,512	45,417	47,382	50,353	50,392	44,905
Forfeiture and penalty	6,193	5,581	5,492	4,832	3,548	2,670	2,255	2,301	2,431	4,946	4,886	4,967	4,850	3,359	2,399	1,989	1,905	1,959
Labor laws ..	13,841	14,684	15,800	16,174	15,800	15,030	15,068	15,320	15,039	12,252	12,112	12,778	13,026	12,346	11,829	11,742	12,199	11,807
Protected property rights ³	5,700	5,231	5,670	6,202	7,051	6,990	6,800	7,511	7,660	5,497	5,448	5,296	5,281	5,963	5,998	6,273	6,765	7,037
Securities commodities and
exchanges..	2,629	2,245	1,998	1,875	1,742	1,870	1,741	1,737	2,166	4,636	4,636	4,555	3,983	3,130	2,969	2,872	2,591	2,998
Social Security laws	7,439	7,695	8,415	11,602	11,142	10,168	8,517	13,047	13,955	8,068	8,068	8,154	8,304	12,302	11,310	9,153	12,978	14,844
Tax suits ..	2,604	2,639	2,305	2,267	2,275	2,144	2,078	2,294	1,733	2,850	2,850	2,713	2,255	1,884	1,692	1,646	1,668	1,507
Freedom of information	407	363	439	425	566	481	465	400	436	451	451	465	498	502	500	496	435	416

CHANGE FROM
PREVIOUS YEAR

Cases total ¹	-15650	-10189	19205	1667	7434	3017	33648	-7510	-3889	-87	2224	-7530	-21466	2389	6415	19325	15833	9583

Contract actions ¹	-15936	-3643	8850	-13006	-6252	-369	1794	5445	5347	-5510	-993	-909	-1063	-10828	-2360	-338	4614	790
Recovery of overpayments ²	-5589	-2946	9543	-10220	-4664	-492	1484	4487	7118	-1242	-491	-23	1332	-4768	-186	1260	1580	2248
Real property actions	-1712	290	348	-1707	-968	-186	-1006	-515	-106	89	-110	-1086	86	-1888	-782	-587	-535	20

Tort actions ..	1669	-6472	-818	4470	7128	-3556	22518	-14319	-492	4542	5065	-8264	-24586	2038	5148	13489	6427	11823
Personal injury .	2232	-6586	-860	4262	7325	-3632	22120	-14956	90	4928	5108	-8349	-24468	2314	5151	13298	6067	11960
Personal injury product
liability ¹	5271	-6280	-1630	5776	7432	-6346	20539	-14876	5031	7096	5355	-8024	-24056	5486	3472	9930	2525	14217
Asbestos.	5457	-6545	-2469	227	2211	-290	-61	1424	1534	7763	5667	-7631	-24064	-3450	-180	-1487	401	-862
Other personal injury	-3039	-306	770	-1514	-107	2714	1581	-80	-4941	-4120	1705	-325	-412	-3172	1679	3368	-24458	25743
Personal property damage	-563	114	42	208	-197	76	398	637	-582	-386	-43	85	-118	-276	-3	191	360	-137

Actions under statutes ¹	334	-380	10836	11890	7533	7151	10427	1885	-8635	-1961	1599	2685	4426	13056	4467	4607	7561	-3025
Civil rights ¹	-585	544	4082	3064	5038	4045	4910	2690	-416	-115	-268	218	2468	6794	4241	5033	3551	622
Employment .	-587	-269	2131	1946	3035	2969	3925	1557	97	-3356	3031	-334	1374	4829	3016	3837	2457	428
Bankruptcy suits	-172	-43	230	949	-517	-537	-401	-520	-312	285	-121	142	120	502	-164	-603	-290	-727
Commerce (ICC rates, etc.)	1062	-845	919	-1000	-247	-615	1009	-1139	45	511	-19	-252	49	-545	-247	314	-256	6
Environmental matters	20	117	177	-175	-18	77	22	-185	34	163	-20	181	224	-79	-41	46	-239	-28
Prisoner petitions ..	1149	-154	3976	6002	3829	6314	6755	-5090	-9142	2471	-532	1466	2253	5905	1965	2971	39	-5487
Forfeiture and penalty	1273	-612	-89	-660	-1284	-878	-415	46	130	771	-60	81	-117	-1491	-960	-410	-84	54
Labor laws ..	513	843	1116	374	-374	-770	38	252	-281	412	-140	666	248	-680	-517	-87	457	-392
Protected property rights ³	-277	-469	439	532	849	-61	-190	711	149	-98	-49	-152	-15	682	35	275	492	272
Securities commodities and
exchanges..	21	-384	-247	-123	-133	128	-129	-4	429	75	0	-81	-572	-853	-161	-97	-281	407
Social Security laws	-2767	256	720	3187	-460	-974	-1651	4530	908	-2711	0	86	150	3998	-992	-2157	3825	1866
Tax suits ..	202	35	-334	-38	8	-131	-66	216	-561	-18	0	-137	-458	-371	-192	-46	22	-161
Freedom of information	100	-44	76	-14	141	-85	-16	-65	36	66	0	14	33	4	-2	-4	-61	-19

| NA Not available.
1 Includes other types not shown separately.
2 Includes enforcement of judgments in student loan cases, and overpayments of veterans benefits.
3 Includes copyright, patent, and trademark rights.

Source: Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Statistical Tables of the Federal Judiciary, annual.

http://www.uscourts.gov/

* District Courts

Most federal cases are initially tried and decided in the U.S. district courts, the federal courts of general trial jurisdiction. There are 94 district courts in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the territories of Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. A district may itself be divided into divisions and may have several places where the court hears cases. Each district court also has a bankruptcy unit.

For more information, see the Directory of U.S. District Courts.

District Court Judges

With the exception of the three territorial courts, all district court judges are appointed for life by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. Congress authorizes judgeships for each district based in large part on the caseload. In each district, the judge who has served on the court the longest and who is under 65 years of age is designated as the chief judge. The chief judge has administrative duties in addition to a caseload. There are 649 district court judges. See also courts of appeals judges.

Magistrate judges also handle a variety of matters including civil consent cases, misdemeanor trials, preliminary hearings, and pre-trial motions.

*

http://www.allcountries.org/uscensus/358_u_s_district_courts_civil_cases.html

These tables are based on figures supplied by the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce and are subject to revision by the Census Bureau.

Copyright © 2006 Photius Coutsoukis and Information Technology Associates, all rights reserved.