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Straight talk about torts: when it comes to tort 'reform,' cutting through the fog can be difficult. That's why we've gone to the source: statisticians and researchers who keep a running tally of who's going to court, why, and what happens when they get there.

Article Excerpt
Runaway litigation, exploding tort costs, courts clogged with civil cases, huge jury awards, and endless trials: Pushed repeatedly by tort "reform" advocates, these terms have gained a foothold in popular discourse, with many Americans--among them, potential jurors--believing that our society is overly litigious and that there are too many tort cases going 10 trial.

But reality doesn't bear out these conceptions. Data from numerous sources shows that, across the country, lawsuit filings are down. So are tort trials, damages awards, and other signs of the alleged "litigation crisis."

An analysis of the facts and figures shows some intriguing findings, including interesting differences between federal and state litigation. Federal tort litigation peaked in 1985 (probably due to asbestos cases) but has since declined. AT the state level, tort litigation has dropped 10 percent over the last decade. (1)

Damages awards have dropped in state courts, by as much as 56 percent, except for medical malpractice cases--but they constitute only a small part of tort filings; and trials are almost a relic of the past. (In fiscal year 2002-2003, only 2 percent of all federal tort cases went to trial, and only 5.2 percent of state cases did. (2))

Furthermore, contrary to the belief that juries are overly sympathetic to plaintiffs and too easily swayed by emotion, the facts show what most trial lawyers already know: that juries are skeptical of plaintiffs' claims. This skepticism is reflected in both fewer plaintiff verdicts and lower award amounts.

In 2001, the last year for which numbers are available, state courts handled just over 100 million cases. (3) Of those, 17.1 million are civil, of which 67 percent were tort claims. (4) To put that number in perspective, state courts also convicted more than 1.5 million criminal defendants in 2002. Conviction, sentencing, and imprisonment have all increased despite a lower rate of violent crime. (5)

According the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), it's criminal trials (not civil trials) that are responsible for court overcrowding: "Large and rising case volume often leads to a crowded docket and a swelling of a court's pending caseload. A related concern is the slowing of civil case processing, often the result of reassigning judges to the...

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