Database
The Civil Justice Survey of State Courts, 1992 is the first broadly based, systematic examination of the nature of civil litigation in State general jurisdiction trial courts. In 1992, 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 cases in 45 jurisdictions chosen to represent the 75 most populous counties in the Nation. The universe of the 75 largest counties was chosen based on cost and practicality. The top 75 counties account for about 37 percent of the U.S. population and about half of all civil filings.Counties
Information about tort, contract and real property rights disposed and civil jury trial cases were collected from the following jurisdictions:
Maricopa County, AZ Pima County, AZ Alameda County, CA Contra Costa County, CA Fresno County, CA Los Angeles County, CA (includes only the central district of the Los Angeles County Superior Court) Orange County, CA San Bernadino County, CA San Francisco County, CA Santa Clara County, CA Ventura County, CA Fairfield Judicial District, CT Hartford/New Britain Judicial District, CT Dade County, FL Orange County, FL Palm Beach County, FL Fulton County, GA Honolulu County, HI Cook County, IL DuPage County, IL Marion County, IN Jefferson County, KY Essex County, MA Middlesex County, MA Norfolk County, MA Suffolk County, MA Worcester County, MA Oakland County, MI Wayne County, MI Hennepin County, MN St. Louis County, MO Bergen County, NJ Essex County, NJ Middlesex County, NJ New York County, NY Cuyahoga County, OH Franklin County, OH Allegheny County, PA Philadelphia County, PA Bexar County, TX Dallas County, TX Harris County, TX Fairfax County, VA King County, WA Milwaukee County, WI
Note on jurisdiction selection: Originally, 46 counties were chosen for the project. However, two counties (Montgomery and Prince Georges) in Maryland that were selected chose not to participate in the project. Fairfax County, Virginia was chosen as a replacement.STATE---COUNTY---COURT---(CITY)---SITE ABBREV
AZ Maricopa Co., Superior Ct. (Phoenix) PHO
AZ Pima Co., Superior Court (Tucson) TUC
CA Alameda Co., Superior Ct. (Oakland) OAK
CA Contra Costa Co., Superior Court (Martinez) CCO *
CA Fresno Co., Superior Court (Fresno) FRE
CA Los Angeles Co., Superior Court (Los Angeles) LAN
CA Orange Co., Superior Court (Santa Ana) SAN
CA San Bernardino Co., Superior Court (San Bernardino) SBE
CA San Francisco Co., Superior Court (San Francisco) SFR
CA Santa Clara Co., Superior Court (San Jose) SJO
CA Ventura Co., Superior Court (Ventura) VEN
CT Fairfield Co., Superior Ct. (Bridgeport) BRI
CT Hartford Co. Superior Court (Hartford) HAR
FL Dade Co., Circuit Ct. (Miami) MIA
FL Orange Co., Circuit Court (Orlando) ORL
FL Palm Beach Co., Circuit Court (West Palm) WPA
GA Fulton Co., Superior Ct. (Atlanta) ATL
HA Honolulu, Circuit Ct. (Honolulu) HON
IL Cook Co., Circuit Ct. (Chicago) CHI
IL DuPage Co., Circuit Court (Wheaton) WHE
IN Marion Co., Superior Ct. (Indianapolis) IND
KY Jefferson Co., Circuit Ct. (Louisville) LOU
MA Essex Co., Superior Ct. ESS *
MA Middlesex Co., Superior Court MID *
MA Norfolk Co., Superior Court NOR *
MA Suffolk Co., Superior Court SUF *
MA Worcester Co., Superior Court WOR *
MI Oakland Co., Circuit Ct. (Pontiac) PON
MI Wayne Co., Circuit Court (Detroit) DET
MN Hennepin Co., District Ct. (Minneapolis) MIN
MO St. Louis Co., Circuit Ct. (St. Louis) SLO
NJ Bergen Co., Superior Ct. (Hackensack) HAC
NJ Essex Co., Superior Court (Newark) NWK
NJ Middlesex Co., Superior Court (New Brunswick) NBR
NY New York Co., Supreme Ct. (New York) NYO
OH Cuyahoga Co., Ct. of Common Pleas (Cleveland) CLE
OH Franklin Co., Ct. of Common Pleas (Columbus) COL
PA Allegheny Co., Ct. of Common Pleas (Pittsburgh) PIT
PA Philadelphia Co., Ct. of Common Pleas (Philadelphia PHI
TX Bexar Co., District Ct. BEX *
TX Dallas Co., District Court (Dallas) DAL
TX Harris Co., District Court (Houston) HOU
VA Fairfax Co., Circuit Ct. (Fairfax) FAI
WA King Co., Superior Ct. (Seattle) SEA
WI Milwaukee Co., Circuit Ct. (Milwaukee) MIL
* Abbreviation based on name of COUNTY. All others based on name of City.
Data Collection Procedures
The data collection for the civil jury dataset was primarily carried by the National Center for State Courts with assistance from the National Association of Criminal Justice Planners and the U.S. Bureau of the Census. The sample consisted of tort, contract and real property rights cases disposed by jury trial between July 1, 1991 and June 30, 1992. For each sampled case, a standard coding form was manually completed by court staff on-site to record information about litigants, case type, processing time and award amounts.
Sampling Information
The sample for this dataset was designed and selected by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. It is a two-stage stratified sample with 45 of the 75 most populous counties selected at the first stage. The 75 counties were divided into four strata based on aggregate civil disposition data for 1990 obtained through telephone interviews with court staffs in the general jurisdiction trial courts. (See Attachment B for list of top 75 counties and 1990 civil dispositions). The stratum boundaries were:
Stratum Number of civil dispositions
1 55,000 or more
2 28,000 to 55,000
3 15,000 to 28,000
4 less than 15,000
In stratum 1 (14 counties with the largest number of civil case dispositions), each county was selected. Stratum 2 consisted of 15 counties, with 12 chosen. From Stratum 3, 10 of the 20 counties were selected. From Stratum 4, 9 of the 26 counties were included.
At the second stage, depending on the number of jury cases identified in each jurisdiction, either all or a sizable proportion of cases was selected. In 38 jurisdictions, all tort, contract, and real property rights cases disposed by jury verdict between July 1, 1991 and June 30, 1992 were selected. In the other 7 jurisdictions, a random sample of about 300 cases or half the jury trial cases (whichever yielded more cases) were included in the sample. The final sample consisted of 6,504 tort, contract, and real property jury trial cases. (See Attachment E for the total number of jury cases disposed in each jurisdiction and the number chosen for the sample).