Civil Filings for July 2025
Table 1. Civil Filings
Number Latest Month 29,585 Percent Change from previous month -2.1% Percent Change from 1 year ago 17.9% Percent Change from 5 years ago -48.1% The latest available data from the federal courts show that during July 2025 the government reported 29,585 new civil filings. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 2.1% over the previous month when the number of civil filings of this type totaled 30,218.
The comparisons of the number of civil filings are based on case-by-case court records which were compiled and analyzed by TRAC (see Table 1).
When monthly 2025 civil filings of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, their number was up (17.9%). Civil filings for July 2025 are lower than they were for the same period five years ago. Overall, the data show that civil filings of this type are down 48.1% from levels reported in July 2020.
Figure 1. Civil Filings Over the Last Five Years
The long term trend in civil filings for these matters going back five years is shown more clearly in Figure 1. The vertical bars in Figure 1 represent the number of civil filings of this type recorded each month. The superimposed line on the bars plots the six-month moving average so that natural fluctuations are smoothed out. One-year and five-year change comparisons are based upon the moving averages.
Types of filings
Cases were classified by the federal courts into general types. The single largest number of civil filings of these matters during July 2025 was for "Torts - Personal Injury - Product Liability", accounting for 19.3% of civil filings.
As shown in Figure 2, additional categories with substantial numbers of civil filings were "Civil Rights " (17.0%) , "Prisoner Petitions" (15.5%), "Contract" (9.9%), "Torts - Personal Injury - Other" (7.2%).
Jurisdiction
Within limits set by Congress and the Constitution, the federal district courts have jurisdiction to hear cases falling under any one of several categories. The single largest number of civil filings of these matters during July 2025 was under the classification "Federal Question", accounting for 49.6% of civil filings.
As shown in Figure 2, additional categories with substantial numbers of civil filings were "Diversity" (36.1%) , "U.S. Government Defendant" (13.6%), "U.S. Government Plaintiff" (0.6%), "Local Question" (0.0%).
Rankings: Specific Nature of Suits
Court filings are also classified based upon the specific nature of the suit. Table 2 shows the top nature of suit categories recorded in the matters filed during July 2025
Table 2. Specific Nature of Suit Types
Nature of Suit Count Rank 1 yr ago 5 yrs ago Personal Injury- Product Liability 3,513 1 13 1 More Other Civil Rights 2,247 2 2 5 More Health Care / Pharmaceutical Personal Injury Product Liability 2,164 3 6 2 More Civil Rights 1,872 4 1 3 More Employment 1,358 5 4 14 More Insurance 1,344 6 8 7 More Other Contract 1,297 7 7 8 More General Prisoner Petitions 1,292 8 5 4 More Other Personal Injury 1,226 9 3 13 More Consumer Credit 940 10 12 11 More
"Personal Injury- Product Liability" was the most frequent recorded nature of suit category.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the nature of suit category "Other Civil Rights". "Other Civil Rights" was ranked 2nd a year ago, while it was the 5th most frequently invoked five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "Health Care / Pharmaceutical Personal Injury Product Liability". "Health Care / Pharmaceutical Personal Injury Product Liability" was ranked 6th a year ago, while it was the 2nd most frequently invoked five years ago.
Among these top nature of suit categories, the one showing the greatest increase in civil filings — up 429.1 percent — compared to one year ago was "Personal Injury- Product Liability". This was the same category that had the largest increase — 94.8 percent — when compared with five years ago.
Again among the top ten nature of suit categories, the one showing the sharpest decline in civil filings compared to one year ago — down 10.7 percent — was "Other Personal Injury". This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 89.5 percent — when compared with five years ago.
Top Ranked Judicial Districts
Relative to population, the volume of civil matters of this type filed in federal district courts during July 2025 was 88.3 per every million persons in the United States. One year ago the relative number of filings was 67.5. Understandably, there is great variation in the per capita number of civil filings in each of the nation's ninety-four federal judicial districts.
Table 3. Top Ten Districts (per one million people)
Judicial District Percapita Count Rank 1yr ago 5yrs ago D. C. 577.3 392 1 1 2 More S Car 552.3 2,968 2 15 44 More Fla, N 229.3 454 3 23 1 More Ill, N 194.0 1,785 4 5 25 More Penn, E 182.3 1,098 5 4 14 More N. J. 181.4 1,685 6 10 3 More N. Y., S 177.2 916 7 3 4 More Delaware 158.0 163 8 6 6 More La, E 123.2 202 9 8 5 More Fla, S 122.6 929 10 9 7 More
The District of Washington, D.C. — with 577.3 civil filings as compared with 88.3 civil filings per one million people in the United States — was the most active during July 2025. The District of Washington, D.C. was ranked 1st a year ago, while it was ranked 2nd five years ago.
The District of South Carolina ranked 2nd.
The Northern District of Florida now ranks 3rd.
Recent entries to the top 10 list were South Carolina and Northern District of Florida (Pensacola), now ranked 2nd and 3rd. These districts ranked 15th and 23rd one year ago and 44th and 1st five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of civil filings compared to one year ago — 543.8 percent — was South Carolina. This was the same district that had the largest increase — 832.5 percent — when compared with five years ago.
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of civil filings — 1.1 percent — was Southern District of New York. But over the past five years, Northern District of Florida showed the largest drop — 98.7 percent.
Report Generated: September 16, 2025
