The global coronavirus pandemic has shut down most courthouses to all but emergency hearings, and an analysis shows litigators nationally and in South Florida are filing fewer new civil cases.

Using the federal court data that powers Law.com's Legal Radar, we set out to examine how business litigation is faring during this time of uncertainty. The analysis shows the pace of new filings has tapered nationally since the pandemic was declared and new cases are down compared to the same period last year.

In the chart below, use the down arrow to generate a dropdown menu to explore different federal districts.

New filings started to slow in mid-March, the data show. Over the four weeks ended April 12, new civil cases in U.S. district courts slumped more than 22 percent compared with the same four weeks last year. The count excludes repetitious mass tort cases and some noncommercial litigation, such as Social Security claims and immigration cases. Criminal cases also were not counted but are in decline because grand juries are not meeting, cutting off new indictments.

In South Florida, commercial case filings were down 27 percent in the latest week and two weeks before that. Earlier in the year before COVID-19 was a significant concern, weekly case filings were up 2 percent over the same weeks last year.

The biggest drop in high-volume areas of litigation in South Florida was in Americans with Disabilities Act access cases with the latest four-week filings dropping 60 percent to 66 this year from 163 last year. The largest percentage drop was in copyright cases, with only 2 filed compared to 10 last year.

The picture isn't the same in all districts or practice areas. Some courts — like the Southern District of New York, which has courthouses in heavily infected Manhattan — have been more acutely affected. While foreclosure lawsuits and ADA access cases are down sharply year-over-year, securities lawsuits have seen an uptick.

Everyone feels the impact of COVID-19, but it's hard to say that the pandemic is entirely to blame for the dip in new case filings. Many court watchers expect the current slump to be followed by a surge in litigation, including bankruptcy filings, worker class actions, consumer cases and insurance suits tied to the pandemic.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner Randy Mastro, co-chair of the firm's litigation practice, said the flood could come in two to three months.

"I don't want to say a tsunami, but do I think there will be a lot of litigation that comes out of all of this? Yes, without doubt there will be. Later this year, litigators will be busier than ever," he predicted.

The analysis will be updated to keep pace with the latest filings.

Infographic design by David Palmer.

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