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There is no litigation explosion generally. And the litigation
that accounts for caseload increases when increases have occurred
is not litigation brought by plaintiffs using contingent fees.
Personal injury lawsuits do not "clog" the courts.
The real increase in litigation has been from businesses suing
businesses, not consumers seeking compensation through personal
injury litigation.
Businesses suing businesses in contract disputes comprised
nearly half of all federal court cases filed between 1985 and
1991.
Milo Geyelin, "Suits by Firms Exceed Those by Individuals,"
Wall Street Journal, December 3, 1993, at B1.
Not only do businesses suing businesses comprise the majority
of cases filed in court, but this category also experiences the
greatest increase in the number of suits filed year after year.
Contract filings in federal courts increased by 232 percent
between 1960 and 1988, and by 1988 were the largest category
of civil cases in the federal courts.
Marc Galanter and Joel Rogers, Institute for Legal Studies,
University of Wisconsin, "A Transformation of American
Business Disputing? Some Preliminary Observations," working
paper #DPRP 10-3 (April 1991).
In state courts, contract disputes accounted for 14 percent
of all cases filed in 1991, second only to domestic relations
cases, which accounted for 33 percent of the cases filed.
"Composition of Civil Caseload Filings: General Jurisdiction
Trial Courts," National Center for State Courts (1993),
The Conference of Chief Justices Statement on S. 687, The Product
Liability Fairness Act of 1993, Submitted to the United States
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Consumer
Subcommittee, September 23, 1993, at 5.
While contract cases utilize hourly billing, most tort cases
utilize the contingent fee. According to statistics, there certainly
is not an explosion of personal injury cases in state courts.
According to the National Center for State Courts, in 1992
only 9 percent of the new cases filed in state courts were tort
cases of any kind.1
1Based on data from 27 states representing 61% of total U.S.
population.
"Composition of Civil Caseload Filings: General Jurisdiction
Trial Courts," National Center for State Courts (1993),
The Conference of Chief Justices Statement on S. 687, The Product
Liability Fairness Act of 1993, Submitted to the United States
Senate Committee on the Judiciary Courts and Administrative
Practice Subcommittee, March 15, 1994, at 5.
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