It’s fun to explore how lawsuit crazy different states are.

So let’s have at it.

We’ll be pondering he Court Statistics Project – they collect data on what goes on in the courts of the United States.

http://www.ncsconline.org/D_Research/csp/CSP_Main_Page.html

Okay, so in 2004, which is the latest year that they have listed, there were 54.7 million new traffic court cases.

And 16.9 million new civil cases.

That’s a bunch!

Civil cases are up modestly over the past ten years.

What’s quite interesting is that some states are more litigious than others. We can measure this as a percentage, like the ratio of new cases to every 100,000 population in that state.

Maryland comes in at #1. Maryland had a staggering 17,647 cases out of 100,000, almost 18% of the population represented by at least one civil action. Keep in mind that this includes traffic tickets, small claims actions, routine matters like violations of restraining orders, and stuff like auto accident litigation.

Next in line is Washington DC. Not really a state, but still…14.602 new civil cases per 100,000 population.

And number 3 is Virginia, with 13,376 new cases per 100,000 population.

I doubt it’s a coincidence that the top states for civil litigation are all in the U.S. capitol area…Hmmmm….

And what about California? Does it surprise you that California is litigious? Well, it only had a paltry 2,888 new civil cases per 100,000 population. That’s almost one case out of every 33 people. Not nearly in Maryland’s league.

And let’s look at torts. Torts are civil actions that someone takes against someone else for injury, negligence or misconduct.

Some states have passed tort reform measures. Tort reform often limits the punitive damages that the plaintiff can receive, and may have other limits and caps as well. New Jersey had 786 tort cases filed per 100,000 population, which was the highest. New York was the distant second, with 385. They didn’t rank California for some reason but I’d be curious.

By far, most tort cases are automobile accident litigation. Slip and falls probably account for a  healthy amount, too, but aren’t tracked very accurately. Then, the rest is a mix of product liability, medical malpractice and other stuff.

If you want to find out about how to benefit financially from the litigation explosion, I’d suggest you subscribe to our email list.

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