March 2020 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 March 31, 2020. District judge and magistrate judge caseloads change constantly, so many of the matters pending on March 31, 2020, 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 September 30, 2019, and March 31, 2020, appears in CJRA Tables 1-4.

Number of Motions Pending on March 31, 2020

Motions. The total number of motions pending more than six months for all district judges and magistrate judges dropped by 811 motions from 5,366 on September 30, 2019, to 4,555 on March 31, 2020. Ninety-one percent of all motions pending were before district judges, and nine percent were before magistrate judges.

For this CJRA report, nine circuits reported decreases in pending motions, and three circuits reported increases. The largest reductions in pending motions occurred in the Eleventh Circuit (down 215 motions), Third Circuit (down 212 motions), and Sixth Circuit (down 172 motions). Within these circuits, the following districts reported the largest declines in pending motions (in many types of civil cases): The Northern District of Georgia (down 203 motions), District of the Virgin Islands (down 159 motions), and Western District of Tennessee (down 53 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 4,555 pending motions reported for March 31, 2020. The status codes cited most often were opinion/decision in draft (1,197 motions), complexity of case (731 motions), voluminous briefs/transcripts to be read (610 motions), heavy criminal and civil caseload (597 motions), referred to magistrate judge (335 motions), and awaiting materials (286 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 civil rights (1,135 motions), prisoner petitions (813 motions), contract (663 motions), labor (311 motions), other statutory actions (288 motions), and intellectual property rights (226 motions).

Number of Bench Trials Submitted Pending on March 31, 2020

Bench Trials. The total number of bench trials pending more than six months for all district judges and magistrate judges increased by 7 to 61 on March 31, 2020. Eighty-nine percent of all bench trials submitted were before district judges, and 11 percent were before magistrate judges. Four of the 12 circuits reported growth in pending bench trials, 5 circuits had decreases in pending bench trials, and the totals for 3 circuits remained unchanged.

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 61 pending bench trials reported for March 31, 2020. The status codes cited most often were opinion/decision in draft (30 trials), complexity of case (16 trials), voluminous briefs/transcripts to be read (15 trials), heavy criminal and civil caseload (12 trials), and parties given additional time to file supplemental briefs (4 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 (10 trials), labor (7 trials), intellectual property rights (5 trials), and environmental matters (5 trials).

Number of Bankruptcy Appeals Pending on March 31, 2020

Bankruptcy Appeals. Bankruptcy appeals pending more than six months increased 167 percent from 129 on September 30, 2019, to 344 on March 31, 2020. All pending bankruptcy appeals were reported by district judges. Growth occurred in 3 of the 12 circuits, 8 circuits had decreases, and the total for 1 circuit remained unchanged. Five circuits accounted for 97 percent of all pending bankruptcy appeals: the Second Circuit (255 appeals), Ninth Circuit (43 appeals), Third Circuit (13 appeals), Seventh Circuit (13 appeals), and Fifth Circuit (9 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 344 pending bankruptcy appeals reported for March 31, 2020. The status codes cited most often were voluminous briefs/transcripts to be read (254 appeals), awaiting materials (26 appeals), opinion/decision in draft (20 appeals), case consolidated (19 appeals), complexity of case (15 appeals), and heavy criminal and civil caseload (10 appeals).

Number of Social Security Appeals Pending on March 31, 2020

Social Security Appeals. Social Security appeals pending more than six months fell 29 percent from 760 on September 30, 2019, to 542 on March 31, 2020. District judges reported 71 percent of these appeals; magistrate judges reported 29 percent. Ten of the 12 circuits reported decreases, 1 had an increase, and 1 reported that its total remained unchanged. The largest reductions in pending Social Security appeals occurred in the Second Circuit (down 60 appeals), Seventh Circuit (down 45 appeals), Third Circuit (down 30 appeals), Fourth Circuit (down 24 appeals), and Ninth Circuit (down 23 appeals).

Primary Reasons for Delays in Pending Social Security Appeals. District courts provided one or more status codes to indicate reasons for delays for each of the 542 pending Social Security appeals reported for March 31, 2020. The status codes cited most often were voluminous briefs/transcripts to be read (129 appeals), opinion/decision in draft (109 appeals), recently received from the calendar of another judge (91 appeals), heavy criminal and civil caseload (51 cases), referred to magistrate judge (39 appeals), demands of criminal docket (36 appeals), and awaiting materials (30 appeals).

Primary Nature of Suit Codes in Pending Social Security Appeals. Sixty percent of pending Social Security appeals (327 appeals) involved disability insurance, 34 percent (186 appeals) addressed supplemental security income, and 5 percent (25 appeals) were related to retirement and survivors’ benefits.

Number of Civil Cases Pending on March 31, 2020

Civil Cases. The number of civil cases pending more than three years decreased 16 percent (down 5,478 cases) from 34,997 on September 30, 2019, to 29,519 on March 31, 2020. District judges reported 99 percent of all pending three-year-old cases, and magistrate judges reported the remaining 1 percent. Three-year-old cases declined in 9 of the 12 circuits and grew in 3 circuits. The largest reduction occurred in the Fourth Circuit, which had 1,935 fewer pending cases, mostly due to the termination of multidistrict litigation involving pelvic support system products. The second-largest reduction occurred in the Fifth Circuit, which had 1,767 fewer pending cases, followed by the Eighth Circuit, which had 995 fewer pending cases.

Primary Reasons for Delays in Pending Civil Cases. District courts provided one or more status codes to indicate reasons for delays for each of the 29,519 civil cases reported for March 31, 2020. The status codes cited most often were multidistrict litigation (21,519 cases), complexity of case (2,063 cases), awaiting materials (1,161 cases), extensive discovery involved (1,026 cases), opinion/decision in draft (960 cases), referred to magistrate judge (789 cases), settlement pending (758 cases), trial scheduled (747 cases), and heavy criminal and civil caseload (723 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 (15,992 cases), personal injury/product liability (2,887 cases), prisoner petitions (2,364 petitions), civil rights (1,533 cases), contract (1,044 cases), antitrust (749 cases), other statutory actions (744 cases), and other personal injury (742 cases).