By Lea S. Gifford
Carol J. DeFrances, Ph.D.,
and Marika F. X. Litras, Ph.D.
BJS Statisticians
In 1996 State courts of general jurisdic-
tion in the Nation’s 75 largest counties
disposed of approximately 15,638 tort,
contract, and real property rights cases
by jury or bench trial. Contract cases
accounted for about a third of all trial
cases disposed.
This report provides an in-depth exami-
nation of contract cases decided by a
jury or judge in the Nation’s 75 largest
counties. For purposes of this report,
contract disputes involve fraud,
employment discrimination or dispute,
tortious interference1, or allegations of
unfulfilled agreements between buyers
and sellers, lenders and borrowers, or
landlords and tenants.
This report is the second in a series
based on data collected from the Civil
Justice Survey of State Courts, 1996.
The first report of the series, Civil Trial
Cases and Verdicts in Large Counties,
1996 (NCJ 173426), provided a
general overview of tort, contract, and
real property cases decided by jury or
bench trial. The sample of civil cases
excluded cases that did not go to trial,
trials in Federal courts, trials in State
courts of limited jurisdiction, and trials
in counties outside the 75 largest.
U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Bureau of Justice Statistics
Bulletin
Civil Justice Survey of State Courts, 1996
Contract Trials and Verdicts
in Large Counties, 1996
April 2000, NCJ 179451
In 1996 an estimated 4,850
contract cases were disposed of by
trial in State courts in the Nation’s 75
largest counties. Sixty-one percent of
contract cases were decided by a
judge and 36% by a jury.
The most common type of contract
trial case involved an individual suing
a business (34%), followed by a
nonindividual (an organization) suing
a business (26%). In 18% of the
contract cases an individual sued
another individual.
Plaintiffs were seeking payment
owed to them (seller plaintiff) in over
half of the contract lawsuits brought
by construction companies (71%),
bank