Justice Delayed?: An Empirical Analysis of Civil Case Disposition Time

Abstract:     
This article addresses the need to understand better our civil justice system by exploring possible determinants of disposition time for civil cases that reach a jury trial. This study uses one year of civil jury case outcomes from 45 of the nation's 75 most populous counties and identifies locale as one important variable, along with certain case types, results, and party characteristics. An empirically moored understanding of the causes of case disposition time will assist public policy and reform efforts that seek to make civil justice speedier and, as a consequence, more inexpensive and just. Findings from this study call into question the efficacy of recent reform efforts that focus on variables not found to influence civil case disposition time and ignore other variables that exert systematic influence.

Keywords: civil justice, case disposition time, empirical

JEL Classification: K40, K41

Accepted Paper Series