Years of public relations efforts by certain special interest groups mean that when lay people talk about other people being “litigious” they are usually referring to tort cases and worker's compensation cases. The evidence reveals that the number of tort cases is also dropping. In 2005-06 the number of torts cases that were filed in Circuit Court totaled 11,691. In 2007-08, the number had dropped over 5% to 11,073 (the number includes medical malpractice cases, which are broken out separately in 2007-08 data).
Worker's compensation case filings continue to fall. Chancery and Circuit filings for worker's compensation actions were 8302 in 2005-06; in 2007-08 the total number of cases filed was only 7491, a drop of over 10%.
In addition, the number of civil trials continues to drop. There were only 439 civil jury trials in circuit court in Tennessee in 2005-06, but in 2007-08 the total dropped to 351, a 20% decline.
These numbers are not statistical flukes. Our 2007-08 Annual Statistics Report reveals that Circuit Court filings in that fiscal year were actually less than they were in 2001-02 (62,791 vs. 62,204). Chancery filings are down dramatically during that period, 69,257 to 63,256. I do not have access to more detailed information from the 2001-02 report but suspect that tort and compensation filings have decreased since the 2001-02 Report was issued.
This data concerning the number of civil court filings must be evaluated against Tennessee's ever-increasing population. According to the United States Census Bureau, Tennessee had 6,215,000 people as of July, 2008. This is a 9% increase in population since April 1, 2000, when the population was 5,689,000. One would expect that as the population increases the number of lawsuits would also increase. The opposite has occurred in Tennessee in the last seven years. Thus, simple math tells us that the per capita number of lawsuits is decreasing at a rate that exceeds the decline in actual filings.
In summary, the statistics demonstrate that Tennesseans are not filing an increasing number of civil lawsuits. I think it fair to say that there is more complex litigation than ever before, a fact that surprises no one given the changes in our society. It is fair to say that criminal cases are increasing at a rate that out-paces the increase in population, but that fact is not a comment on the litigiousness of our society. However, it is not fair to say that Tennessee is becoming increasingly litigious when the only objective measure of “litigiousness” is the number of civil lawsuit filings and that number is decreasing in both real and per capita terms.
I fully realize that this is a minor point and the world will not come to an end if the introductory phrase in proposed Section 1.03 stays in the Rule. I also know that this phrase is included in the current version of the Rule and assume that in the rush to get a new rule in place before the new Commission starts its work not every word of the current rule was re-visited. However, it seems to me that (a) facts are facts; (b) the phrase as stated is factually incorrect; (c) leaving the phrase in the Rule adds absolutely nothing to the Rule; and (d) our courts should promote an accurate understanding of our judicial system, not perpetuate myths promoted by those that say our system does not work and who seek to gain an advantage by changing laws that make it even more difficult for ordinary people to file lawsuits.
Thank you for consideration of this request.
