Today, approximately 1 percent of all civil cases brought in federal court are resolved by trial; the resolution rate of jury trials is approximately 0.7 percent. The decline in judgments is not a new phenomenon. On the contrary, there has been a “one-century” decline in the proportion of cases that ended with trial and a decline of more than “twenty-five years” in the absolute number of civil lawsuits. 12 When the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were first enacted in 1938, approximately 20 percent of all civil cases were resolved by trial, 13. In 1962, lawsuits still accounted for approximately 12 percent of all civil provisions in federal courts,14 But 40 years later, the judicial resolution rate in civil cases had fallen to less than 2 percent, even as the total number of civil cases provisions grew dramatically.
Today, approximately 1 percent of all civil cases brought before federal courts are resolved in trial; the resolution rate of jury trials is approximately 0.7 percent, and the rate of non-jury sentences is even lower, 15 The absolute number of civil lawsuits in district courts is lower today than at any time in the last 55 years (period for which exhaustive data is available)). Therefore, it is not surprising that astute commentators believe that civil lawsuits in federal courts are “on the verge of extinction.” According to the most recently available statistics, about 95 percent of pending lawsuits end in a pre-trial settlement. This means that only one out of every 20 personal injury cases is resolved in a court of law by a judge or jury. It also means that planning a pre-trial settlement is a crucial component of any sound legal strategy.
In fact, many experienced personal injury plaintiffs use most of the pre-trial preparation period to build a case that will incite their opponents to settle for a favorable sum. If you prefer to resolve your case before trial, be sure to let your lawyer know about your wish in a timely manner. For data on the activity of appellate courts, see series B of tables. According to a new report from the United States Bar Association, in any given year, 98% of criminal cases in federal courts end with a plea agreement, a practice that prioritizes efficiency over fairness and innocence.
Table 2D shows the most common types of litigation in federal district courts and the frequency with which each type of case involves a plaintiff or defendant pro se. Pro plaintiffs file a disproportionately high percentage of employment discrimination and civil rights cases. On the contrary, pro se plaintiffs rarely file other types of cases, such as liability cases for defective products, contracts, asbestos, and insurance. 86 Table 2D also shows that the only types of cases that frequently involve pro se defendants are property cases, which are primarily foreclosure proceedings, 87 Perhaps the most important conclusion from Table 2D is that a substantial proportion of many types of cases are brought by pro se plaintiffs.
While there is significant variance—pro litigants file 32 percent of civil rights cases, but a more modest 8 percent of cases involving the government and 2 percent of insurance and product liability cases—pro litigants prevail in many types of cases. Any reform aimed at a single type of lawsuit cannot fully address the scope of problems faced by pro se litigants. In contrast, pro litigants' win rates deviate only a couple of percentage points from the overall average of pro se litigants' win rates, even in districts that have implemented three, four, or more of the policies considered in this commentary. Crucially, this implies that providing adequate access to an attorney can substantially improve case outcomes for a significant percentage. of litigants per se.
