Costs of the Civil Justice System - Court Expenditures for Various Types of Civil Cases

• NCJ Number: 93421
• Author(s): J S Kakalik; R L Ross
• Date Published: 1983
• Length: 154 pages
• Corporate Author: Rand Corporation
• Sale Source: Rand Corporation; National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Processing the average civil case filed in three State courts and in United States District Court in fiscal year 1982 cost the government about $200 and $1,500 respectively.

Abstract

In all, over $2.2 billion per year was spent for processing civil cases. The estimated average annual expenditure per judge package ranged from $261,000 to $383,000 in three States -- California, Florida, and Washington -- and was $752,000 for the U.S. District Court. A judge package consisted of the judge's salary and fringe benefits, the salaries and benefits of all supporting personnel, purchased services and their supplies, court facilities and their operation, and indirect expenditures made by other government agencies in support of the court system. A civil case file in a State court required an hour of judge time to process, while a case filed in U.S. District Court required 2.5 hours. Trials accounted for the greatest proportion of case-related judge time and expenditure, ranging from one-third to two-thirds of the total per case. The expenditure per case varied dramatically depending on when a case was disposed. Footnotes, data tables, and appendixes presenting additional data are included.