Burger Blames ‘Mass Neurosis’ for Busy Courts

Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, saying many lawsuits are “an exercise in futility” and a product of “some form of mass neurosis,” today suggested that a large number of court cases could be better solved by arbitration.

Burger, who has fought a long battle to cut congestion in the courts, told a meeting of the American Arbitration Assn. and the Minnesota Bar Assn. that the number of civil cases filed each year in U.S. district courts has risen from roughly 30,000 at the end of World War II to more than 261,000 in 1984. The circuit courts of appeals had about 3,000 appeals filed in 1944 but in 1984 the figure was 31,000.

A Better Way

“One thing an appellate judge learns very quickly is that a large part of all the litigation in the courts is an exercise in futility and frustration,” he said. “A large proportion of civil disputes in the courts could be disposed of more satisfactorily in some other way.”

Burger said people now sue over such issues as failing grades in college or loss of welfare benefits.

“There is some form of mass neurosis that leads many people to think courts were created to solve all the problems of mankind,” he said.

“We must move toward taking a large volume of private conflicts out of the courts and into the channels of arbitration, mediation and conciliation.”

The use of arbitration has worked for decades for organized labor and it has many advantages over a conventional trial, Burger said.

Arbitration Method

In arbitration, parties can select an arbitrator rather than have a judge appointed to hear a lawsuit, he said. Arbitrators can be specialists in the area in dispute, the matter can be kept private and it can be resolved on its own time-table rather than on a court calendar.