Lawsuit Boom? Here's Evidence to the Contrary

By BONNIE HAYES

March 10, 1997 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

The number of lawsuits being filed in Orange County has dropped significantly in recent years, Superior Court Judge Thomas N. Thrasher Sr. says, despite popular views to the contrary.

“It just isn’t true that every dog bite, every slip or fall becomes an instant lawsuit that will wind up in court and sit there for years and years,” said Thrasher, who compiled the latest filing statistics and presented them to other county judges last week.

He offers this proof: Since 1994, the number of personal injury cases, which include negligence and product liability and have historically been the largest category of civil cases, has dropped by 1,000 a year.

Overall civil filings have decreased more than 50% since 1989, and the average time to resolve civil cases is down considerably too, with most getting to trial in about 18 months, compared to the three- to five-year waits common in the 1980s.

Though there are several theories about the decline, one likely reason is a statewide fast-track system that took effect seven years ago, many lawyers and judges say.

The Trial Court Delay Reduction Act, passed by the Legislature in 1990, has speeded the process because judges, rather than lawyers, now set the pace. Under the old system, various phases of a case could be argued before different judges, so attorneys could delay proceedings or change venues without penalty.

Now the courts have rules that set strict deadlines for attorneys, and judges can sanction lawyers who slow the process. Settling civil cases should take no longer than 24 months, according to state guidelines, a system that has forced attorneys to be more selective in the cases they agree to take, Thrasher said.

“There’s no room for dawdling anymore,” he said. Lawyers “have to be ready to go and prepared to move quickly. It makes them go to court with better cases, stronger cases, and use alternatives to settling other ones.”

Costa Mesa lawyer Andrew J. Guilford, who lobbied for the fast-track system, said reducing the number of cases was never a motive for the change. The purpose, he said, was to keep the system running smoothly.

“Just as justice delayed is justice denied, justice rushed shouldn’t be access denied,” Guilford said.

Guilford and others also credit an increase in arbitration for the decline in civil court cases. An increasing number of businesses, they say, are adding mandatory arbitration clauses to contracts.

Charles Sheppard, a professor at Western State University College of Law in Fullerton, said dispute resolution is faster and less expensive than a trial, allowing many cases to be settled out of court.

“There’s this perception that we are highly litigious and that things are just getting worse,” Sheppard said. “But there continue to be many, many disputes that are solved amicably without ever setting foot in a courtroom.”

Sheppard sees another trend too: The civil cases that do come to trial under the new system are more substantive and less frivolous than many of those in the past, and that is raising people’s standards for filing lawsuits.

“Society is becoming more sophisticated, more educated about the system,” Sheppard said.

Other experts say that the trend, which can be seen statewide, also may reflect an increased skepticism among jurors in civil cases, who because of highly publicized frivolous lawsuits in the past may be less sympathetic now to plaintiffs. They say that has discouraged lawyers from taking cases that are marginal.

Still others, like Franz Miller, president of the Orange County Bar Assn., say that the need for court action has simply decreased. Past litigation has resulted in a “safer society,” he said, with fewer defective products and more concern about treating one another fairly.

“People are taking better care not to do civil wrongs to their peers,” Miller said. “It makes sense that filings would decrease.”

Attorneys said they are glad to see evidence contradicting the public perception that people are lawsuit-happy and that lawyers take cases that are not substantive.

“There is no litigation explosion. It’s just not there,” said David Crandall, president of the Orange County Trial Lawyers Assn.

“This perception that there’s this huge wave of personal injury cases choking up the system and putting companies out of business is completely false. And finally we have evidence to show that.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Docket Decline

More than 15,000 cases are filed with Orange County Superior Court each year. Slightly more than half involve personal injury, negligence or product liability. The rest involve defamation, libel and eminent domain issues. In the past five years the number of filings has decreased, while a higher percentage of cases is resolved in two years or less.

Personal Injury Cases

1992 10,338

1996 7,551

Other Civil Cases

1992 7,794

1996 7,047

Good Disposition

The length of time it took cases to clear the Superior Court system declined significantly between 1992 and 1996:

Case in System

1992

6 months: 24%

12 months: 56%