Covid-19 US Court Case Backlog: Data Signals and Portfolio Implications

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted many facets of life. As the pandemic spread, government responses included temporary closures of state and federal courts. Eventually, most courts pivoted to virtual settings. In-person jury trials did not fully resume until late 2021. Despite this, court closings did not stop new case filings. As a result, new case filings exacerbated case backlogs that existed prior to COVID-19.

Before the pandemic, when courts were operating at full capacity, they were already managing an existing backlog of cases. After courts shut down, case backlogs continued to grow as courts were unable to effectively facilitate case dispositions. A further strain to civil judicial resources included the reassignment of judges to criminal cases based on 6th amendment “right to speedy trial” provisions. Some courts offered virtual proceedings to help resolve cases. However, there was a broad perception that the plaintiffsʼ bar elected not to try to resolve medium to large value claims, opting instead to wait for a jury trial to potentially secure a large verdict. To assess the impact of court closings, we need to look at what happened to case filings during the pandemic. In this Trend Spotlight, we dive deeper into the statistics that demonstrate fluctuation of cases and the implications on portfolios.