Civil Filings for November 2024
Nature of Suit (grouped): Social Security
Table 1. Civil Filings
Number Latest Month 1,212 Percent Change from previous month -6.4% Percent Change from 1 year ago -2.5% Percent Change from 5 years ago -22.3% The latest available data from the federal courts show that during November 2024 the government reported 1,212 new civil filings for these matters. Those cases had the nature of suit classified by the court system under "Social Security". According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this number is down 6.4% over the previous month when the number of civil filings of this type totaled 1,295.
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 2024 civil filings of this type are compared with those of the same period in the previous year, their number was down (-2.5%). Civil filings for November 2024 are lower than they were for the same period five years ago. Overall, the data show that civil filings of this type are down 22.3% from levels reported in November 2019.
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.
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 November 2024 was under the classification "U.S. Government Defendant", accounting for 99.8% of civil filings.
The second largest number of matters was civil filings under the jurisdiction category of "U.S. Government Plaintiff" (0.2%) .
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 November 2024
"DIWC/DIWW (405(g))" was the most frequent recorded nature of suit category. "DIWC/DIWW (405(g))" was ranked 1st a year ago, while it was the 1st most frequently invoked five years ago.
Ranked 2nd in frequency was the nature of suit category "SSID Title XVI". "SSID Title XVI" was ranked 2nd a year ago, while it was the 2nd most frequently invoked five years ago.
Ranked 3rd was "RSI (405(g))". "RSI (405(g))" was ranked 3rd a year ago, while it was the 3rd most frequently invoked five years ago.
Among these top nature of suit categories, the one showing the greatest increase in civil filings — up 20.0 percent — compared to one year ago was "HIA (1395ff)". This was the same category that had the largest increase — . 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 3.5 percent — was "SSID Title XVI". This was the same statute that had the largest decrease — 16.7 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 November 2024 was 3.6 per every million persons in the United States. One year ago the relative number of filings was 3.6. 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 N. Y., W 20.7 58 1 1 2 More Wash, E 19.4 33 2 3 1 More Okla, E 18.8 14 3 2 3 More Ark, W 9.8 14 4 12 16 More N Mexico 9.5 20 5 9 10 More Penn, M 7.7 25 6 17 24 More Ill, S 7.4 9 7 5 39 More Wash, W 7.4 45 8 7 5 More D. C. 7.4 5 9 16 53 More Okla, W 6.8 15 10 54 20 More
The Western District of New York — with 20.7 civil filings as compared with 3.6 civil filings per one million people in the United States — was the most active during November 2024. The Western District of New York was ranked 1st a year ago, while it was ranked 2nd five years ago.
The Eastern District of Washington ranked 2nd. The Eastern District of Washington was ranked 3rd a year ago, while it was ranked 1st five years ago.
The Eastern District of Oklahoma now ranks 3rd. The Eastern District of Oklahoma was ranked 2nd a year ago, while it was ranked 3rd five years ago.
Recent entries to the top 10 list were Western District of Arkansas (Fort Smith), Washington, D.C. (Washington), Middle District of Pennsylvania (Scranton) and Western District of Oklahoma (Oklahoma City), now ranked 4th, 9th, 6th and 10th. These districts ranked 12th, 16th, 17th and 54th one year ago and 16th, 53rd, 24th and 20th five years ago.
The federal judicial district which showed the greatest growth in the rate of civil filings compared to one year ago — 150.0 percent — was Western District of Oklahoma. Compared to five years ago, the district with the largest growth — 147.0 percent — was Washington, D.C. .
In the last year, the judicial District Court recording the largest drop in the rate of civil filings — 25.0 percent — was Southern District of Illinois. But over the past five years, Western District of Washington showed the largest drop — 51.0 percent.
Report Generated: January 6, 2025
