NCJ Number
157771
Date Published
1996
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This report presents statistical findings from the first broad-based, systematic survey of the nature of civil litigation in State general jurisdiction trial courts.
Abstract
The sample for this study was designed and selected by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. It was a two-stage stratified sample with 45 of the 75 most populous counties selected at the first stage. The top 75 counties, accounting for approximately 37 percent of the U.S. population and half of all civil filings, were divided into four strata based on aggregate civil disposition data for 1990 obtained through telephone interviews with court staffs in the general jurisdiction trial courts. The sample consisted of tort, contract, and real property rights cases disposed between July 1, 1991, and June 30, 1992. The data collection produced two datasets. The first is a merged sample of approximately 30,000 tort, contract, and real property rights cases, and the second is a sample of approximately 6,500 jury trial cases disposed over the same time period. Data collected included information about litigants, case type, disposition type, processing time, case outcome, and award amounts for civil jury cases.