Civil Trial Cases and Verdicts in Large Counties, 1996

• NCJ Number: 173426
• Author(s): Carol J. Defrances Ph.D; Marika F. X. Litras Ph.D
• Date Published: September 1999
• Length: 25 pages
• Agencies: BJS
• Publication Type: Statistics

Annotation

This document reports some of the findings from a 1996 study of civil trials involving tort, contract, and real property cases in State courts in the Nation’s 75 largest counties.

Abstract

Presents findings on tort, contract, and real property cases disposed by jury or bench trial in 1996 in the Nation's 75 largest counties. Information reported includes the type of case, types of plaintiffs and defendants, trial winners, amount of total damages awarded, amount of punitive damages awarded and case processing time. Overall, plaintiffs won in 52% of trial cases and were awarded an estimated $3 billion in compensatory and punitive damages. This report updates Civil Jury Cases and Verdicts in Large Counties: Civil Justice Survey of State Courts, 1992.