Number of Civil Trials in Tennessee for the Year Ending June 30, 2020.

The number of trials in Tennessee state court appears to have declined again in 2020.

What follows is the number of jury and non-jury trials in Tennessee state courts for the indicated fiscal years (July 1 – June 30):

Year      Chancery                   Chancery                     Circuit                    Circuit               Total

                Non-Jury                          Jury                        Non-Jury                     Jury 

2020            8206                                 23                                  3712                         152                   12,093

2019             9970                                 35                                  4542                         191                    14,738

2018             9916                                 48                                  4852                        180                    14,996

2017             9573                                 49                                   5698                        186                    15,506

Now, compare those numbers with those for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2007

2007           10,726                               28                                   8173                       393                    19,320

There is one important factor that can’t be evaluated by looking at the raw numbers.  Our courtrooms were largely closed between mid-March and June 30, 2020 because of COVID-19 and there were few if any jury trials during that period.  Likewise, many non-jury trials had to be re-scheduled.

Assuming that there is roughly the same number of trials in every quarter (and I have no idea if there is any legitimate basis for this assumption) the number of trials in the FY ending June 30, 2020 would have been very similar  (maybe even a little higher) than the number for the FY ending June 30, 2019.