September 2023 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, 2023. District judge and magistrate judge caseloads change constantly, so many of the matters pending on September 30, 2023, 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, 2023, and September 30, 2023, appears in CJRA Tables 1-4.

Number of Motions Pending on September 30, 2023

Motions. The total number of motions pending more than six months for all district judges and magistrate judges increased by 22 motions (up less than 1 percent) from 9,523 on March 31, 2023, to 9,545 on September 30, 2023. Ninety-five percent of all motions pending were before district judges, and five percent were before magistrate judges.

For this CJRA report, six circuits reported increases in pending motions, and six circuits reported decreases. The largest rises in pending motions occurred in the Seventh Circuit (up 173 motions), District of Columbia (up 27 motions), and Sixth Circuit (up 19 motions). Within these circuits, the following districts reported the largest increases in pending motions (in many types of civil cases): The Southern District of Ohio (up 115 motions), Northern District of Illinois (up 103 motions), and District of Columbia (up 27 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 9,545 pending motions reported for September 30, 2023. The status codes cited most often were awaiting materials (2,161 motions), heavy criminal and civil caseload (2,137 motions), opinion/decision in draft (2,034 motions), complexity of case (1,653 motions), voluminous briefs/transcripts to be read (1,154 motions), and demands of criminal docket (830 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 (2,261 motions), civil rights (2,143 motions), contract (1,215 motions), prisoner petitions (879 motions), intellectual property rights (652 motions), and labor (574 motions).

Number of Bench Trials Submitted Pending on September 30, 2023

Bench Trials. The total number of bench trials pending more than six months for all district judges and magistrate judges decreased by 7 to 71 on September 30, 2023. Ninety-three percent of all bench trials submitted were before district judges, and 7 percent were before magistrate judges. Seven of the 12 circuits reported reductions in pending bench trials, in 2 circuits the totals remained unchanged, and 3 circuits reported growth.

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 71 pending bench trials reported for September 30, 2023. The status codes cited most often were opinion/decision in draft (43 trials), voluminous briefs/transcripts to be read (20 trials), complexity of case (14 trials), heavy criminal and civil caseload (10 trials), and parties given additional time to file supplemental briefs (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 contract (15 trials), civil rights (13 trials), labor (9 trials), intellectual property rights (5 trials), prisoner petitions, other statutory actions, and medical malpractice (4 trials).

Number of Bankruptcy Appeals Pending on September 30, 2023

Bankruptcy Appeals. Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months decreased 4 percent from 107 on March 31, 2023, to 103 on September 30, 2023. All of these pending bankruptcy appeals were reported by district judges. Reductions occurred in 4 of the 12 circuits, 4 circuits had increases, and the totals for 4 circuits remained unchanged. Five circuits accounted for 82 percent of all pending bankruptcy appeals: the Ninth Circuit (26 appeals), Third Circuit (17 appeals), Seventh Circuit (15 appeals), Fifth Circuit (14 appeals), and Second 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 103 pending bankruptcy appeals reported for September 30, 2023. The status codes cited most often were opinion/decision in draft (30 appeals), heavy criminal and civil caseload (27 appeals), voluminous briefs/transcripts to be read (13 appeals), awaiting materials (12 appeals), complexity of case (12 appeals), and assigned to new judge (7 appeals).

Number of Social Security Appeals Pending on September 30, 2023

Social Security Appeals. Social Security appeals pending more than six months dropped 14 percent from 1,473 on March 31, 2023, to 1,269 on September 30, 2023. District judges reported 57 percent of these appeals; magistrate judges reported 43 percent. Six of the 12 circuits reported decreases, 4 reported increases, and 2 reported that their totals remained unchanged. The largest reductions in pending Social Security appeals occurred in the Second Circuit (down 94 appeals), Seventh Circuit (down 69 appeals), Ninth Circuit (down 31 appeals), Third Circuit (down 9 appeals), Sixth Circuit (down 7 appeals), and Fourth Circuit (down 4 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 1,269 pending Social Security appeals reported for September 30, 2023. The status codes cited most often were voluminous briefs/transcripts to be read (438 appeals), heavy criminal and civil caseload (338 appeals), opinion/decision in draft (140 cases), recently received from the calendar of another judge (137 appeals), assigned to new judge (130 appeals), referred to magistrate judge (60 appeals), and demands of criminal docket (58 appeals).

Primary Nature of Suit Codes in Pending Social Security Appeals. Sixty-two percent of pending Social Security appeals (791 appeals) involved disability insurance, 28 percent (355 appeals) addressed supplemental security income, and 9 percent (119 appeals) were related to retirement and survivors’ benefits.

Number of Civil Cases Pending on September 30, 2023

Civil Cases. The number of civil cases pending more than three years increased 8 percent (5,589 cases) from 65,836 on March 31, 2023, to 71,425 on September 30, 2023. District judges reported 99 percent of all pending three-year-old cases, and magistrate judges reported 1 percent. Three-year-old cases grew in 7 of the 12 circuits and declined in 5 circuits. The largest growth occurred in the Third Circuit, which had 5,908 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 Ninth Circuit, which had 820 more pending cases, most of them part of multidistrict litigation in which plaintiffs accused JUUL, Labs Inc. of failing to provide accurate information about the addictiveness of its products and of unlawfully marketing them to minors.

Primary Reasons for Delays in Pending Civil Cases. District courts provided one or more status codes to indicate reasons for delays for all 71,425 civil cases reported for September 30, 2023. The status codes cited most often were multidistrict litigation (59,936 cases), complexity of case (2,985 cases), awaiting materials (2,059 cases), extensive discovery involved (1,583 cases), trial scheduled (1,477 cases), referred to magistrate judge (1,471 cases), heavy criminal and civil caseload (1,320 cases), settlement pending (1,267 cases), and opinion/decision in draft (993 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 (49,612 cases), personal injury/product liability (5,233 cases), prisoner petitions (2,764 cases), civil rights (2,506 cases), other personal injury (2,128 cases), Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) (1,856 cases), contract (1,556 cases), and labor (810 cases).