The number of civil rights-based employment cases filed in federal court against private companies more than tripled from 6,936 in 1990 to 21,540 in 1998, according to a study released by the U.S. Department of Justice. The study did not include cases resolved by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the administrative phase or cases brought in state court, so the number of civil rights-based cases filed during this period actually is even higher than reported in the study. About one-third of the employment cases filed in federal court made it to trial in 1998, and plaintiffs won 50 percent more often than in 1990. In 1998, plaintiffs won 35.5 percent of the cases brought to trial while in 1990 plaintiffs won 23.8 percent of the cases. This increase is significant because plaintiffs generally are more successful in jury trials than in bench trials decided by a judge.
Plaintiffs win about a third of jury trials annually compared to only a quarter of bench trials.
However, in many instances it was substantially more. Although many of these cases involved multiple plaintiffs or class actions, some were sexual harassment cases brought by an individual plaintiff. Nor do these figures include claims filed with administrative agencies and state courts or those that were resolved through arbitration, mediation or other methods. If you would like to receive legal reports and updates more quickly, by e-mail, click here and fill out the mailing list form. All rights reserved.