Published October 28, 2026 | Version 1.0.0

How long federal civil cases take: outcomes, class actions and pro se share by district, nature of suit and year

Authors/Creators

  • 1. Probative Growth

Description

Federal civil cases from the Federal Judicial Center's Integrated Database (IDB), counted by district, nature-of-suit group and fiscal year: cases filed, the share alleging a class action, the share with a pro se plaintiff, cases terminated, the median days from filing to disposition, the trial share, the median days to trial, and how terminated cases ended (settled, voluntarily dismissed, dismissed, default or consent, motion, trial, other, moved out). One record per district and group for the latest three fiscal years, each with its yearly series, plus a national record per nature-of-suit code. Only aggregates are published: no case-level row, party, docket number or judge. Filings re-add to the U.S. Courts' own totals within half a percent.

1875 records (status: P 1875). Canonical page: https://probativegrowth.com/research/how-long-federal-civil-cases-take/. API: https://probativegrowth.com/data/v1/idb-civil/index.json. Published by Probative Growth (probativegrowth.com), a marketing agency for US law firms; not a law firm. Not legal advice. These are counts, medians and shares from the Federal Judicial Center's court records, kept for marketing planning. A court's typical time to disposition says nothing about how any one case will go.

Notes

Version 1.0.0 (2026-10-28). Not legal advice. Funding: none.

Files

idb-civil.csv

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