September 2022 Civil Justice Reform Act

Introduction

The Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990 (CJRA) requires the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO), under 28 U.S.C. § 476, to prepare a semiannual report showing, by U.S. district judge and U.S. magistrate judge, all motions pending more than six months, all bench trials that have remained undecided more than six months, and all civil cases pending more than three years. In accordance with the policy of the Judicial Conference of the United States, this report also presents data on bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months (Rpt. of Proc. of JCUS, Mar. 10, 1998, at 11) and Social Security appeals pending more than six months (Rpt. of Proc. of JCUS, Sept. 15, 1998, at 63). The reporting requirements under the CJRA are designed to help reduce both costs and delays in civil litigation in the district courts. The information also may be used to evaluate demands on the district courts’ resources.

The CJRA report is prepared through the use of the Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system. As a result, pending motions, bench trials, three-year-old cases, bankruptcy appeals, and Social Security appeals are reported in a standardized and consistent fashion.

Appendix A provides data for each district judge and magistrate judge on motions pending, bench trials submitted, cases pending more than three years, bankruptcy appeals pending, and Social Security appeals pending. The CJRA requires the AO Director to establish uniform standards for determining when a motion, bench trial, case, or bankruptcy appeal is “pending”; Appendix B lists these definitions.

Along with the semiannual consolidated national report, the AO prepares a supplemental report, A Report on Motions Pending for More Than Six Months, Bench Trials Submitted for More Than Six Months, Civil Cases Pending Three Years or More, Bankruptcy Appeals Pending for More Than Six Months, and Social Security Appeals Pending for More Than Six Months, that provides detailed information regarding the individual cases, motions, bench trials, and appeals pending in the district courts. This document is available to the public through the district courts, the executive offices of the U.S. courts of appeals, and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

Report Findings

The information in this report presents what may best be described as a “snapshot” of motions pending more than six months, bench trials submitted more than six months, civil cases pending more than three years, bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months, and Social Security appeals pending more than six months on September 30, 2022. District judge and magistrate judge caseloads change constantly, so many of the matters pending on September 30, 2022, have since been decided or transferred to other judges. Therefore, persons using reports of this type should take into account the state of change in the district courts’ pending caseloads. Although the information provided in this report pertains to the pending civil caseload of district judges and magistrate judges, readers should take into consideration the overall case processing demands placed on the courts by both civil and criminal matters. An accurate assessment of the demands placed on the district courts also requires consideration of numerous factors, including vacant judgeships and the effects of all cases making up each court’s caseload.

Methodology

This national report is designed to place special emphasis on detailed analyses that are extracted from the national CM/ECF system. Each district court is required to analyze the reasons for delays in disposing of motions, bench trials, three-year-old cases, bankruptcy appeals, and Social Security appeals. Judges use status codes to provide reasons for delays in these matters (see Appendix C). The nature of suit codes for types of civil litigation appear in Appendix D. More specific information about cases pending, motions pending, bench trials submitted, bankruptcy appeals pending, and Social Security appeals pending on March 31, 2022, and September 30, 2022, appears in CJRA Tables 1-4.

Number of Motions Pending on September 30, 2022

Motions. The total number of motions pending more than six months for all district judges and magistrate judges decreased by 186 motions (down 2 percent) from 10,299 on March 31, 2022, to 10,113 on September 30, 2022. Ninety-five percent of all motions pending were before district judges, and 5 percent were before magistrate judges.

For this CJRA report, seven circuits reported decreases in pending motions, and five circuits reported increases. The largest reductions in pending motions occurred in the First Circuit (down 185 motions), Seventh Circuit (down 100 motions), and Sixth Circuit (down 96 motions). Within these circuits, the following districts reported the largest decreases in pending motions (in many types of civil cases): The District of Puerto Rico (down 181 motions), Eastern District of Michigan (down 90 motions), and Western District of Wisconsin (down 62 motions).

Primary Reasons for Delays in Pending Motions. District courts provided one or more status codes to indicate primary reasons for delays for each of the 10,113 pending motions reported for September 30, 2022. The status codes cited most often were awaiting materials (2,478 motions), opinion/decision in draft (2,351 motions), heavy criminal and civil caseload (1,939 motions), complexity of case (1,674 motions), voluminous briefs/transcripts to be read (981 motions), and demands of criminal docket (666 motions).

Primary Nature of Suit Codes in Pending Motions. The primary nature of suit codes provided most often by district courts for pending motions were other statutory actions (2,575 motions), civil rights (2,062 motions), contract (1,184 motions), prisoner petitions (1,096 motions), intellectual property rights (704 motions), and labor (468 motions).

Number of Bench Trials Submitted Pending on September 30, 2022

Bench Trials. The total number of bench trials pending more than six months for all district judges and magistrate judges increased by 12 to 82 on September 30, 2022. Eighty-nine percent of all bench trials submitted were before district judges, and 11 percent were before magistrate judges. Six of the 12 circuits reported growth in pending bench trials, in 4 circuits the totals remained unchanged, and 2 circuits reported decreases.

Primary Reasons for Delays in Pending Bench Trials. District courts provided one or more status codes to indicate the primary reasons for delays for each of the 82 pending bench trials reported for September 30, 2022. The status codes cited most often were opinion/decision in draft (50 trials), complexity of case (16 trials), heavy criminal and civil caseload (14 trials), voluminous briefs/transcripts to be read (13 trials), and awaiting materials (5 trials).

Primary Nature of Suit Codes in Pending Bench Trials. The primary nature of suit codes provided most often for pending bench trials were civil rights (18 trials), contract (15 trials), intellectual property rights (5 trials), labor (5 trials), prisoner petitions (5 trials), and real property (5 trials).

Number of Bankruptcy Appeals Pending on September 30, 2022

Bankruptcy Appeals. Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months decreased 75 percent from 580 on March 31, 2022, to 145 on September 30, 2022. All pending bankruptcy appeals were reported by district judges. Reductions occurred in 7 of the 12 circuits, 3 circuits had increases, and the totals for 2 circuits remained unchanged. Four circuits accounted for 77 percent of all pending bankruptcy appeals: the Second Circuit (42 appeals), Ninth Circuit (33 appeals), Third Circuit (25 appeals), and Seventh Circuit (12 appeals).

Primary Reasons for Delays in Pending Bankruptcy Appeals. District courts provided one or more status codes to indicate reasons for delays for each of the 145 pending bankruptcy appeals reported for September 30, 2022. The status codes cited most often awaiting materials (41 appeals), opinion/decision in draft (30 appeals), heavy criminal and civil caseload (29 appeals), voluminous briefs/transcripts to be read (12 appeals), complexity of case (7 appeals), and recently received from the calendar of another judge (7 appeals).

Number of Social Security Appeals Pending on September 30, 2022

Social Security Appeals. Social Security appeals pending more than six months grew 41 percent from 1,359 on March 31, 2022, to 1,912 on September 30, 2022. District judges reported 61 percent of these appeals; magistrate judges reported 39 percent. Six of the 12 circuits reported increases, 5 had decreases, and 1 reported that their totals remained unchanged. The largest growth in pending Social Security appeals occurred in the Seventh Circuit (up 364 appeals), Second Circuit (up 236 appeals), Eleventh Circuit (up 15 appeals), Fifth Circuit (up 12 appeals), First Circuit (up 3 appeals), and Eighth Circuit (up 2 appeals).

Primary Reasons for Delays in Pending Social Security Appeals. District courts provided one or more status codes to indicate reasons for delays for all 1,912 pending Social Security appeals reported for September 30, 2022. The status codes cited most often were voluminous briefs/transcripts to be read (543 appeals), heavy criminal and civil caseload (443 appeals), assigned to new judge (340 cases), opinion/decision in draft (237 appeals), demands of criminal docket (140 appeals), recently received from the calendar of another judge (132 appeals), and referred to magistrate judge (97 appeals).

Primary Nature of Suit Codes in Pending Social Security Appeals. Sixty-six percent of pending Social Security appeals (1,260 appeals) involved disability insurance, 26 percent (492 appeals) addressed supplemental security income, and 8 percent (151 appeals) were related to retirement and survivors’ benefits.

Number of Civil Cases Pending on September 30, 2022

Civil Cases. The number of civil cases pending more than three years increased 9 percent (up 5,467 cases) from 59,348 on March 31, 2022, to 64,815 on September 30, 2022. District judges reported 99 percent of all pending three-year-old cases, and magistrate judges reported 1 percent. Three-year-old cases grew in 9 of the 12 circuits and declined in 3 circuits. The largest growth occurred in the Third Circuit, which had 4,410 more pending cases, most of them part of multidistrict litigation consisting of healthcare/pharmaceutical lawsuits addressing Johnson & Johnson talcum powder products. The second-largest growth occurred in the Eleventh Circuit, which had 1,959 more pending cases, most of them part of multidistrict litigation asserting that 3M Company sold Combat Arms earplugs to the U.S. military without disclosing defects that reduced hearing protection.

Primary Reasons for Delays in Pending Civil Cases. District courts provided one or more status codes to indicate reasons for delays for all 64,815 civil cases reported for September 30, 2022. The status codes cited most often were multidistrict litigation (53,358 cases), settlement pending (3,396 cases), complexity of case (3,092 cases), trial scheduled (2,125 cases), awaiting materials (1,662 cases), extensive discovery involved (1,526 cases), referred to magistrate judge (1,421 cases), heavy criminal and civil caseload (1,071 cases), and opinion/decision in draft (1,056 cases).

Primary Nature of Suit Codes in Pending Civil Cases. The primary nature of suit codes given most often by district courts for pending civil cases were health care/pharmaceutical (43,717 cases), personal injury/product liability (4,938 petitions), prisoner petitions (2,908 cases), civil rights (2,600 cases), other personal injury (2,068 cases), RICO (1,622 cases), contract (1,551 cases), and labor (825 cases).