Civil Justice Survey of State Courts: [United States] Series

Investigator(s): Bureau of Justice Statistics

These surveys provide a broad-based, systematic examination of the nature of general civil litigation (e.g., tort, contract, and real property cases) disposed in a sample of the nation's 75 most populous counties. Data collection was carried out by the National Center for State Courts with the assistance of WESTAT. Data collected includes information about the types of civil cases litigated at trial, types of plaintiffs and defendants, trial winners, amount of total damages awarded, amount of punitive damages awarded, and case processing time. In addition, information was collected on general civil cases concluded by bench or jury trial that were subsequently appealed to a state's intermediate appellate court or court of last resort. The appellate datasets examine information on the types of civil bench and jury trials appealed, the characteristics of litigants filing an appeal, the frequency in which appellate courts affirm, reverse, or modify trial court outcomes and cases further appealed from an intermediate appellate court to a state court of last resort.

Showing 1 to 6 of 6 entries.
Study Title/Investigator
Released/Updated
1.
Civil Justice Survey of State Courts, 1992 (ICPSR 6587)
United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Bureau of Justice Statistics
This survey is the first broad-based, systematic examination of the nature of civil litigation in state general jurisdiction trial courts. Data collection was carried out by the National Center for State Courts with assistance from the National Association of Criminal Justice Planners and the United States Bureau of the Census. The data collection produced two datasets. Part 1, Tort, Contract, and Real Property Rights Data, is a merged sample of approximately 30,000 tort, contract, and real property rights cases disposed during the 12-month period ending June 30, 1992. Part 2, Civil Jury Cases Data, is a sample of about 6,500 jury trial cases disposed over the same time period. Data collected include information about litigants, case type, disposition type, processing time, case outcome, and award amounts for civil jury cases.
2011-11-02
2.
Civil Justice Survey of State Courts, 1996 (ICPSR 2883)
United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Bureau of Justice Statistics
In 1996, the Bureau of Justice Statistics awarded a grant to the National Center for State Courts to gather detailed information on tort, contract, and real property rights trial cases in 45 jurisdictions chosen to represent the 75 most populous counties in the nation. The result is this survey, which is a systematic examination of civil trial cases disposed in state general jurisdiction courts. The study expands the 1992 civil jury study, CIVIL JUSTICE SURVEY OF STATE COURTS, 1992 (ICPSR 6587), by specifically sampling bench and jury trial cases. Information gathered includes the type of case, the presence of legal representation, the type of litigation, the amount of compensatory damages awarded, the amount of punitive damages awarded, and case processing time.
2011-11-02
3.
Civil Justice Survey of State Courts, 2001 (ICPSR 3957)
United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Bureau of Justice Statistics
This data collection examined general civil cases (torts, contracts, and real property) disposed of by bench or jury trial in the nation's 75 most populous counties in 2001. Information reported includes the type of case, types of plaintiffs and defendants, trial winners, amount of total damages awarded, amount of punitive damages awarded, and case processing time. This is the third in a series of data collections begun in 1992: CIVIL JUSTICE SURVEY OF STATE COURTS, 1992 (ICPSR 6587), and CIVIL JUSTICE SURVEY OF STATE COURTS, 1996 (ICPSR 2883).
2011-11-03
4.
Civil Justice Survey of State Courts, 2005  (ICPSR 23862)
United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Bureau of Justice Statistics
The Civil Justice Survey of State Courts (CJSSC), 2005 is a systematic examination of general civil (that is, tort, contract, and real property) cases disposed of by bench or jury trial in a national sample of state courts of general jurisdiction in 2005. This study expands on the 1992, 1996, and 2001 CJSSC by collecting a nationally representative sample of bench and jury trials concluded in 156 urban, suburban, and rural counties. Prior iterations of the CJSSC focused on general civil cases concluded by bench or jury trial in a sample of the nation's 75 most populous counties. The 2005 CJSSC was designed and carried out by the National Center for State Courts. Westat designed the national sampling framework for this survey. The data collection produced two datasets. The first contains information on general civil (tort, contract, and real property) cases disposed of by bench or jury trial in a national sample of counties in 2005. Detailed case level information was obtained on these trials, including types of civil cases litigated at trial, characteristics of litigants involved in trials, who wins in trials, compensatory award amounts, punitive damages, case processing times, and post-trial litigation. The other data file contains aggregate information on the number of general civil trial and nontrial dispositions that occurred in 2005 in CJSCC counties that had the capacity to provide these data. This is the fourth in a series of data collections begun in 1992 [CIVIL JUSTICE SURVEY OF STATE COURTS, 1992 (ICPSR 6587), CIVIL JUSTICE SURVEY OF STATE COURTS, 1996 (ICPSR 2883), and CIVIL JUSTICE SURVEY OF STATE COURTS, 2001 (ICPSR 3957)].
2011-11-02
5.
Civil Justice Survey of Trials on Appeal, 2005 (ICPSR 32501)
United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Bureau of Justice Statistics
The Bureau of Justice Statistics' (BJS) Civil Justice Survey of Trials on Appeal (CJSTA) was based on 26,950 general civil (i.e., tort, contract, and real property) cases that were disposed by bench or jury trial in 156 counties participating in the 2005 Civil Justice Survey of State Courts (ICPSR 23862). Subsequently, 3,970 of those cases were appealed to 84 appellate courts in 35 states. This data collection examines civil bench and jury trials concluded in state trial courts in 2005 that were appealed to an intermediate appellate court or court of last resort. It is the first report based on data collected in the Bureau of Justice Statistics' (BJS) Civil Justice Survey of Trials on Appeal (CJSTA). The CJSTA included information from court records on civil trials concluded in 2005 and tracked the subsequent appeals from 2005 through March 2010. Information collected included the types of civil cases appealed, appeals dismissed or withdrawn before being decided on the merits, and appeals resulting in the trial court decision being reversed or affirmed. The time from the filing of an appeal to final appellate court disposition was also measured.
2012-01-10
6.
Supplemental Survey of Civil Appeals, 2001 (ICPSR 4539)
United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Bureau of Justice Statistics
The 2001 Supplemental Survey of Civil Appeals is a follow-up to the CIVIL JUSTICE SURVEY OF STATE COURTS, 2001 (ICPSR 3957) which examined 8,311 general civil cases (e.g., tort, contract, and real property) concluded by bench or jury trial in a sample of 46 of the nation's 75 most populous counties in 2001. These cases were then weighted to represent the 11,908 general civil trials concluded in the nation's 75 most populous counties. Data from the 2001 Civil Trial Survey were used to produce several Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reports describing the characteristics of civil litigation in state courts. The 2001 Supplemental Survey of Civil Appeals tracks every general civil case concluded by bench or jury trial in 2001 in the 46 surveyed counties that were subsequently appealed to an intermediate appellate court or court of last resort. In the 2001 Civil Justice Survey of State Courts information was collected for every general civil trial concluded in 43 of the 46 selected counties. In these counties, the 2001 Supplemental Survey of Civil Appeals collected information on all general trials that produced an appeal. In the three remaining counties, (Cook County, Philadelphia County, and Bergen County), the appeals survey obtained information for both those general civil trials concluded in 2001 that were subsequently appealed and, in addition, collected information for those general civil appeals that were not captured at the trial court level. The 2001 Supplemental Survey of Civil Appeals tracks data on general civil appeals that originated from 46 of the nation's 75 most populous counties. Unlike the 2001 Civil Justice Survey of State Courts, cases were not weighted to represent appeals in the nation's 75 most populous counties. The appeals were followed until they were withdrawn, dismissed, or decided on the merits in the appellate courts. All appeals were tracked until April 30, 2005. Appeals not disposed on that date are identified as pending. Overall four appellate datasets were produced from this survey.
2011-11-02