Although parties file lawsuits to get to get their day in court, less than 10% of all civil lawsuits filed in the United States ever make it to trial.   In Florida, less than 2% of the cases ever make it to trial.  Most lawsuits are either settled or abandoned by the parties, or they are dismissed by the judge.

# lawsuits jury trials  bench trials   total trials    Civil Cases- Florida1       656,929      1,375        7,252       8,627 1.31% Civil Cases- US District Courts2        252,016      2,529        1,422       3,951 1.57% Civil Cases- US State Courts3    1,827,892   138,920      10,967    149,887 8.20%

Go to List of Mediation Topics           1 Florida State Courts http://www.flcourts.org/gen_public/stats/factsheet.shtml 2Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts http://www.uscourts.gov/library/statisticsalreports.html 3 National Center for State Courts http://www.ncsconline.org/D_Research/csp/2003_Files/2003_Main_Page.html

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