Litigation Costs in Civil Cases: Multivariate Analysis: Report to the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Civil Rules.

摘要

This report presents the results of multivariate analysis of factors associated with litigation costs reported in a national, case-based survey of attorneys of record in federal civil cases terminated in the fourth quarter of 2008. Separate models were estimated for plaintiff and defendant attorney respondents. Both models explain a large proportion of the variation in litigation costs. Factors associated with higher litigation costs, even after controlling for other factors, for both plaintiff and defendant attorneys, included: higher monetary stakes in the underlying litigation; longer processing times (time from filing to disposition); trial dispositions (bench and jury); electronic discovery requests from both sides of the case; disputes over electronic discovery; greater case complexity; summary judgment practice; concern over the nonmonetary stakes in the underlying litigation; and representation by larger law firms. A few factors explained variation in the plaintiff attorney model but not in the defendant attorney model, including the number of expert depositions conducted and hourly billing. Similarly, some factors, including the number of types of discovery reported and contentiousness between the parties, explained variation in the defendant attorney model but not in the plaintiff attorney model.