Personal Injury and “Tort” Cases Are Declining
in Colorado and the U.S.

Colorado

In FY 1991 Colorado District Courts handled

·            6,054 personal injury case filings

·            6,295 “tort” case filings.

In FY 2003 – despite enormous population growth – District Courts handled

·            5,779 personal injury case filings

·            5,986 “tort” case filings.

Further details are available on the Colorado Judicial Branch website :

United States

Colorado is not alone in seeing fewer of these types of cases being filed.  The National Center for State Courts Court Statistics Project reported a 4% decrease in “tort” filings in 35 states with data available for the last decade – a time period in which the population of these states grew 17%.

In the 17 states with data on “tort” and “contract” filings, “tort” filings fell 5% during the decade while “contract” filings grew 22%.

Further details are available at the NCSC CSP website :

If courts are drowning in contract cases (typically filed concerning some legal violation by a business), why are so-called court reformers focusing their efforts only on what they call tort “reform”?