The best available evidence indicates that most Americans who have been injured by the negligence of others do not file a tort suit. In other words, the pattern is one of under-claiming, not over-claiming.

Tho mas Eaton &
Susette Talarico

Is the system working?

Georgia Civil Justice Foundation checked the numbers, and here’s what we found.

Thomas A. Eaton and Susette M. Talarico of the University of Georgia studied tort cases (damages or injuries that result from a misdeed) in the early 1990s and again at the end of the decade. Their careful study (here in PDF form) concludes:

• Tort claims are a small percentage of total civil lawsuits
• The numbers of new cases did not increase
• The majority of cases relate to auto accidents
• Most never get to court; less than five percent go to trial
• Half of the cases are settled within one year; 80 percent within two years
• The plaintiff wins a bit more than half the time in jury trials, and slightly more than that in trials without juries
• Compensatory damage awards are modest, and punitive damages are rare.

Download PDF Version of this Report (4 MB)