APPELLATE TERMINATIONS/PENDING, 1970-1987
CIVIL TERMINATIONS/PENDING, 1970-1987
(ICPSR 8429)
Principal Investigator
Federal Judicial Center
Fifth ICPSR Edition
March 1993
Inter-university Consortium for
Political and Social Research
P.O. Box 1248
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106
Bibliographic citation, acknowledgment of assistance
and data disclaimer
All manuscripts utilizing data made available through
the Consortium should acknowledge that fact as well as
identify the original collector of the data. In order to
get such source acknowledgment listed in social science
bibliographic utilities, it is necessary to present them
in the form of a footnote or a reference. The bibliographic
citation for this data collection is:
Federal Judicial Center. Federal Court Cases,
Integrated Data Base, 1970 - 1987.
Fifth ICPSR ed. Conducted by the Federal
Judicial Center. Ann Arbor, MI:Inter-university
Consortium for Political and Social Research,
1993.
The ICPSR Council urges all users of the ICPSR data
facilities to follow some adaptation of this statement
with the parentheses indicating item s to be filled in
appropriately or deleted by the individual user.
The data (and tabulations) utilized in this
(publication) were made available (in part) by
the Inter-university Consortium for Political
and Social Research. The data for Federal Court
Cases: Integrated Data Base, 1970 - 1987
were originally collected by the Federal Judicial
Center. Neither the collector of the original
data nor the Consortium bears any responsibility
for the analyses interpretations presented here.
In order to provide funding agencies with essential
information about the use of archival resources and to
facilitate the exchange of information about ICPSR
participants' research activities, each user of the ICPSR
data facilities is expected to send two copies of each
completed manuscript or thesis abstract to the Consortium.
Please indicate in the cover letter which data were used.
Table of Contents
Page
No.
Introduction
Introduction I
Creating the Database II
Original Documents III
Reference Documents IV
Published Tables V
Statistical Year Designation VII
Special Notes VIII
Purpose and Limitations of the Documentation XI
File Structure XII
Codebook Information XIII
ICPSR Processing Information XVI
Variable Description Lists
Appellate Terminations/Pending XIX
Civil Terminations/Pending XXI
Codebooks
Appellate Terminations/Pending 25
[OMITTED]
Civil Terminations/Pending 67
Appendix 1
Note 1: U.S. District Courts County Codes 89
[OMITTED]
Note 2: Administrative Agency Codes 149
[OMITTED]
Note 3: Civil Nature of Suit Codes 151
Note 4: U.S. Criminal Offense Codes 167
[OMITTED]
Note 5: Statistical Codes for U.S. District
Courts and Offices 205
[OMITTED]
Appendix 2
Data Collection Forms 237
[NOT INCLUDED]
INTRODUCTION
In 1982 The Research Division of the Federal Judicial
Center initiated the Integrated Data Base (IDB) project. The
goals of the project were (1) to document the information
recorded on data tapes compiled by the Administrative Office
of the United States Courts (AO) on cases filed in the
Federal Court System, (2) to gather several years of data
together into a single data base to facilitate multiyear
analyses, (3) to provide a common format for the data so
that those analyses could be done without having to contend
with record formats that changed from year to year, and (4)
to provide a vehicle for linking cases from the district to
the appellate level. The time period covered by the initial
project was statistical year 1970 through statistical year
1983 (July 1, 1969 through June 30, 1983). These data have
since been updated to include cases through statistical year
1987 (June 30, 1987). The data base includes all federal
appellate and district court cases active during this time
period. The data base currently is comprised of 35 data
sets. There is one data set of terminated cases for each
statistical year (SY) for each of the two data categories:
appellate (17 data sets, SY71 - SY87), and district civil
(18 data sets, SY70 - SY87). In addition, in each category
there is a data set of cases still pending at the end of the
time period (3 data sets, SY87). This codebook describes the
format and fields of the, appellate data sets, and district
civil data sets.
Creating the Data Base
All the raw data were obtained on computer tapes
directly from The Administrative Office of the Courts. The
problem of the vaying physical structure of the data
records was relatively easy to solve. A core set of data
fields was identified from among all the fields occurring on
the records during any time period. Although this core set
is basically a union of all possible fields, some fields
that were determined to be of minor importance to our
research goals were excluded.
A standard format accommodating all the fields was then
designed. Whenever possible, mixed alphanumeric fields were
recoded as numeric-only fields and field widths were
enlarged to allow for greater value ranges in the future.
each raw data file was first passed through a reformatting
program to convert the data to the standard structure;
fields that existed in the standard record but not in the
original record were left blank.
Next, the restructured data were processed by a
conversion program that checked for errors and performed all
1 ii
value recoding. Because the new standard record included
some data items that were captured only during a limited
time span, many fields were recoded to a "not collected"
missing value. For example:
(1). For appeals data, information regarding whether
the appeal was disposed of by a single judge or
by a full panel was collected only during
statistical years 1973 through 1980;
(2). For civil data, information regarding the level
of magistrate involvement in the case was
collected only during statistical years 1981
through 1985.
In addition, some recoding was done in an attempt to
standardize values for a particular field across all years.
For example, the middle district of Florida was represented
by the district code 30 for SY70 and SY71, but the code
changed to 3A for subsequent years. In the IDB, the middle
district of Florida is always represented by the code 3A;
the older code was detected and recoded. More often,
however, the evolution of values did not follow a clear
pattern and longitudinal consistency recoding was not
possible. This means that for some fields the same coded
value may have different interpretations depending on when
the information was recorded. For example:
(1). For the field Opinion/Order in the appeals data,
the coded value 3 denotes "Per Curium" opinions
for SY71 data but "Published, Unsigned"
opinions and orders for SY81.
(2). For the field disposition in the civil data,
the coded value 1 denotes "Default judgment"
terminations for SY71 data but "Remanded"
terminations for SY81.
The lack of a consistent correspondence between a coded
value and a single interpretation is the most serious
challenge to multiyear analysis presented by the data and
the researcher must be extremely careful to account for
value inconsistency when doing analyses of this type. The
field-by-field descriptions that are presented below are
designed to help the researcher identify value changes.
Unless limitations are noted, the listed correspondence
between a coded value and its interpretation is consistent
throughout the data base time period. Value consistency
should not be confused with value validity. Circuit values
of 11 always refer to the Eleventh Circuit but are not valid
prior to SY82. Fine values of 6 for criminal data, on the
other hand, are valid throughout but assume two different
interpretations. Likewise, Procedural Progress values of 2
for appeals and civil data are valid throughout but assume
1 iii
three different interpretations.
Original Documents
Appeals Data
The records of the appeals data base are derived from
information routinely collected by the Administrative Office
on standard case status forms filed monthly by the Clerk of
court in each of the federal circuit courts of appeals.
Copies of the multipart JS-34 Docket Report Form are
submitted at filing and at termination of the appeal.
Civil Data
The records of the district civil data base are derived
from information routinely collected by the administrative
office on standard case status forms filed monthly by the
Clerk of Court in each of the federal district courts. These
forms, the JS-5 Filing Report and the JS-6 Termination
Report, are part of the standard Civil Docket Set. The JS-44
Civil Cover Sheet is also an important raw data form from
which JS-5 information is drawn.
Reference Documents
The primary reference for information collected: on the
JS-34 is Title X "Instructions for Completing Court of Appeals
Report Forms JS-30, JS-34, and JS-34A" (appeals dataset); and,
on the JS-5, JS-6, and JS-44 is Title II "Instructions for
Completing District Court Report Forms DC-111 (including JS-5
and JS-6), JS-5A, JS- 6M, JS-9, JS-9C, JS-44, and JS-44B"
(civil dataset). These references are found in the Statistical
Analysis Manual, which is Volume XI of the Guide to Judiciary
Policies and Procedures published by the Administrative Office
of the United States Courts. This manual and the periodic
transmittals used to update it are the official instructions to
the Clerks of Court for completing the original case forms.
Information regarding the values coded on the computer record
from the original documents is contained in booklets issued
periodically by the Administrative Office entitled: "Statistical
Codes for Appeals Reports Submitted by Clerks of Court, United
States Courts of Appeals, "Statistical Codes for Civil Reports
Submitted by Clerks of Court, United States District Courts."
The several versions of these documents issued over the course
of our data period as well as computer tape layouts and occasional
special memoranda were the sources of the field and value
documentation presented below.
Documentation materials available to the project for the
1979 (appeals and civil), are very sparse; therefore it is
frequently impossible to accurately identify when a change in
values or interpretation occurred. The practice used in this
document is to list the statistical year in which the value
1 iv
is known to have been valid (primarily because documentation
from the same statistical year lists the value). A value may
have been valid prior to the listed date but we cannot
confirm it. Conversely, the assumption is made that a value
continues to have the same interpretation until a change is
documented. Values that are supposedly no longer valid are
sometimes found in the data as a result of coding habit or
the use of an outdated form.
Published Tables
Tables based on the original data compiled by the
Administrative Office are published in the Annual Report of
the Director of the Administrative Office of the United
States Courts. The "B" tables in the Appendix of "Detailed
Statistical Tables" are based on the appeals data. The "C"
tables (CL - C6) in the appendix of "Detailed Statistical
Tables" are based on the civil data. Case counts achieved with
the IDB data should match the published tables. If there are
discrepancies, contributing factors may be: (1) population
restrictions (excluding original proceedings cases for appeals
data, excluding land condemnation cases for civil data); (2) case
groupings employed to simplify presentation (for example, "all
other" categories); (3) statistical year skews effecting inclusion
in a cohort based on calendar dates (see "Statistical Year
Designation" below); and (4) any IDB processing that may have
altered values (for example, out-of-range values falling into a
separate "missing" category rather than part of "other").
Appeals Data
Matching published figures is not always a
straightforward process, especially for data from the
earlier statistical years. Often cases are excluded from or
included in tables based on information in fields other than
the obvious ones. For example, the failure to record a date
in the Submission Date field may cause a case to be excluded
from a count of submitted cases even though the Disposition
code indicates submission. Conversely, the occurrence of a
value in the Oral Hearing Date field might override missing
information in the disposition fields and cause a case to be
counted as heard. These types of problems are less likely to
occur when matching counts by case type or circuit than they
are in the area of case disposition where several fields are
used to report the details of the disposition.
Statistical Year Designation
The statistical year used in the federal courts runs
from July through June (for example, SY84 covers the period
July 1, 1983 through June 30, 1984). Due to reporting time
lags, there is often a slight skew to the correspondence
between calendar date and statistical year at the borders of
the statistical year. Transactions which by date would
1 v
logically fall into one statistical year may actually be
counted in a different statistical year. For example, June
1985 filings and terminations should be counted in SY85.
However, if the reports are received by the AO after the
statistical year data have been processed, the late-
arriving transactions are counted in SY86 instead. The
tables published by the AO for a particular statistical year
are based on all the cases designated as belonging to that
statistical year regardless of the actual filing or
termination dates.
The IDB files are organized according to statistical
year of termination based on the termination date used by
the AO to identify the statistical year in which the case
was counted, "Termination Date Used by AO". This
organization was chosen to facilitate matching published
terminations data. Because criminal records do not include
a field that contains information regarding the date used by
the AO to identify the statistical year of filing, it is
particularly difficult to match published filing data. To
match published data based on the statistical year of
filing, the "Filing Date Used by AO", can be used to
identify cases. Continuing the example given, a case in
appeals or civil data that was docketed in June 1985 but
was processed late and thus was counted among SY86 cases
instead of SY85 cases will have a value of 8507 for filing
date used by AO which places it within the value range for
SY86 cases. Cohorts based on actual filing and termination
dates (rather than on these Used-by-AO dates as in appeals
and civil data), are unlikely to provide counts that can be
matched with published tables.
Special Notes
Appeals Data
Appeals data for SY70 are not included in the integrated
data base. Prior to SY71, filing and termination data for
the circuit courts of appeals were recorded on the
JS-31/JS-32 report forms. This information was sufficiently
different in substance and format from the information
recorded on the JS-34 that the conversion effort was deemed
not worthwhile.
Changes to Rule 12(A) of the Federal Rules of Appellate
Procedure concerning docketing have affected the number of
cases that are reported as filed for the various years.
Until 1979, Rule 12(A) required that a case be docketed only
after payment of the docket fee or approval of the petition
to proceed in forma pauperis. The JS-34 form was completed
at the time of docketing and the case was entered into the
data base. However, in August 1979, the rule was changed to
permit entry on the docket prior to payment of docketing fee
or approval of the petition. For a brief period, the JS-34
1 vi
form continued to be completed only after payment of the fee
or approval of the petition. This was done in an effort to
maintain the comparability of the number of appeals reported
in the statistical system before and after the rule change.
However, in July 1980, the reporting standards were modified
to permit completion of the JS-34 Form for all cases at the
time that they were entered on the docket, without regard to
the status of fee payment or petition. This change allowed
for substantially more actions to be reported. At that same
time the AO also created a new "Without Judicial Action"
disposition code (7 = "Special Dismissal") to be used to
terminate cases that were dismissed due to failure to pay
the filing fee or failure to prosecute the appeal. This
allowed direct identification of the appeals included in the
reporting system solely due to the change to Rule 12(A).
In July 1984 (SY85) a major changed occurred in the
recording of the disposition of an appeal. Several data
fields dealing with disposition were restructured or
replaced. The affected fields are Disposition, Action on the
merits/By Judicial Action, Procedural Termination/Without
Judicial Action, No Judicial Action/Method of Disposition,
Opinion/Order, and Original Proceedings. The new structure
much more clearly delineates mutually exclusive dispositions.
In addition, complete record date was replaced in SY85 by
the briefing notice issued date. The new fields are coded
"in place of" the old fields; that is, the same record columns
are being used to record the different data. Therefore, the
researcher must exercise care in using these fields for pre-
and post- SY85 comparisons. See the field descriptions below
for more detailed information.
The disposition changes of sy85 referred to above also
shifted the emphasis from "disposition after hearing or
submission" to the more encompassing "termination on the
merits". The post-SY85 "termination on the merits" includes
decisions by full panels based on submission of informal
briefs (or other written papers) that did not meet the
criteria of formal briefs under Rule 28, F.R.A.P. prior to
SY85 these terminations would have been counted as "disposed
of without hearing or submission". If one compares the
pre-SY85 "hearing/submission" disposition count to the
post-SY85 "termination on the merits" count, it is clear
that there has been a noticeable increase in merits
dispositions in selected circuits (for example, the fourth)
and for some case types (notably prisoner petitions) where
the submission of informal briefs is common.
The appeals records include several detail fields that
provide additional information regarding the nature of the
case in the court below. For example, the administrative
agency field reports the code of the U.S. agency from which
the action arose; and, the jurisdiction and nature of suit
fields provide case type information for civil cases arising
1 vii
from the district courts. The correct match between type of
appeal (field 11) and the location of the detail information
is:
Type of Appeal Code Matching Detail Field
Administrative Appeals 1 or 2 Administrative
Agency
Civil 3, 4, 7 Jurisdiction
Nature of Suit
Criminal 5 or 8 Offense Code
Original Proceedings 6 Nature of Original
Proceedings
Bankruptcy/Other 9 to 12 Other Type
When the matching detail field is filled in, all the other
detail fields should be coded with 9's. Due to programming
errors, prior to SY87, occasionally there will be
information in another detail field in addition to the
matching detail field. The information in the matching
detail field is correct and any non-blank information in any
other detail fields is extraneous and should be ignored.
Civil Data
During SY86 the administrative office conducted a pilot
program in four district courts: Eastern District of
Pennsylvania, Northern District of Texas, Middle District of
Florida, and Western District of Missouri. The program
tested the online data entry of the JS-5 and JS-6
information and used a slightly more detailed version of the
JS-6 form. This new form contained different interpretations
for some of the values for the Procedural Progress,
Disposition, Nature of Judgment, and Judgment for Fields
that are listed on the standard JS-6 which was used by all
the other courts in SY86. This more detailed coding was
adopted by all courts in SY87 for cases filed on or after
July 1, 1986. Termination information for cases filed prior
to July 1, 1986 will be coded according to the older
(Standard SY86) scheme.
Purpose and Limitations of the Documentation
The purpose of this document is to briefly describe the
data contained in the IDB files: the physical structure of
the records, the fields that are included, and the range of
valid values that can be expected for each field
(particularly in those instances where IDB processing
programs have altered the value recorded in the original
data). The document also points out known problems
associated with using the IDB data, especially with respect
to multiyear analyses. This document does not provide
detailed explanations of fields or values, coding
instructions for special cases, definitions of legal terms,
1 viii
information regarding court management or procedures, or
changes in the federal rules or the law. Although
information on these latter topics may be important when
conducting analyses using these data, it is impossible to
present that information here. The researcher may want to
consult the reference materials listed above ("reference
documents"), the federal rules of procedure, and the U.S.
code for more detailed information.
File Structure
Federal Court Cases: integrated data base, 1970 - 1987,
is available from the ICPSR in lrecl format. The OSIRIS
dictionary gives the format and other information for each
variable in the OSIRIS Data file. The Dictionary or
Dictionary-Codebook File is used in conjunction with the
OSIRIS software package. The OSIRIS Data File is
constructed with a single logical record for each case.
There are three sections with a total of 56 parts in the
FEDERAL COURT CASES: INTEGRATED DATA BASE, 1970 - 1987.
Section 1, appeals data, contains Parts 15 - 28 and 34 - 37
which consists of 80 variables and a range of 12,428 - 34,444
cases depending on the part. Section 2, Civil Data, contains
Parts 38 - 56 which consists of 42 variables and a range of
80,520 - 269,880 cases depending on the part.
The OSIRIS data file can be accessed directly through
software packages or programs which do not use the OSIRIS
dictionary by specifying the tape locations of the desired
variables. These tape locations are given in the OSIRIS
dictionary-codebook.
Codebook Information
The example below is a reproduction of information
appearing in the machine-readable codebook for a typical
variable. The numbers in brackets do not appear but are
references to the descriptions which follow this example.
............................................................
1 VAR 0006 2 CIRCUIT 3 MD= 99
REF 0006 4 LOC 14 WIDTH 2
5 Q.2. The federal circuit where the district court
is located.
------------------------------------------
6 See note(s) 1
7 Actual number is coded.
1 ix
8 9
00. District of Columbia
01. First Circuit
02. Second Circuit
03. Third Circuit
04. Fourth Circuit
05. Fifth Circuit
06. Sixth Circuit
07. Seventh Circuit
08. Eighth Circuit
09. Ninth Circuit
10. Tenth Circuit
11. Eleventh Circuit (starting in 1982)
99. Out of universe
............................................................
1 Indicates the variable and reference numbers.
A variable number and a reference number are
assigned to each variable in the data collection.
In the present codebook which documents the
archived data collection these numbers are
identical. Should the data be subsetted or
rearranged (e.g.,to intersperse data from another
source, or TCOT to produce an analysis deck), the
variable numbers would change to reflect the order
of the new data collection, while the reference
number would remain unchanged to reflect the variable
number in the codebook describing the archived data
collection.
2 Indicates the abbreviated variable name to
identify the variable for the user. An expanded
version of the variable name can be found in the
variable description list.
3 Indicates the code values of missing data. In
this example, code values equal to 99 are missing
data (MD= 99). Alternative statements for other
variables are "MD=0," "MD GE 9," or "NO MISSING DATA
CODES." Some analysis software packages require that
certain types of data which the user desires to be
excluded from analysis be designated as "MISSING DATA,"
e.g., inappropriate, unascertained, unascertainable, or
ambiguous data categories. Although these codes are
defined as missing data categories, this does not
mean that the user should not or cannot use them in
a substantive role if so desired.
4 Indicates the starting location and width of this
variable when the data are stored on a magnetic tape.
If the variable is of a multiple-response type, the width
referenced is that of a single response. In this example
1 x
the variable named "Q.2. CIRCUIT" is 2 column(s) wide and
is located in the 14th column within the record.
5 This is the full text (question) supplied by the
investigator to describe the variable. The question
text and the numbers and letters that may appear at
the beginning reflect the original wording of the
questionnaire item.
6 A variable which has a footnote associated with it
is denoted by the message, "SEE NOTE(S) 1" where 1
is the number of the footnote referenced.
7 "Actual number is coded" would appear in the
codebook to indicate that the variable has been
declared continuous.
8 Indicates the code values occurring in the data for
this variable.
9 Indicates the textual definitions of the codes.
Abbreviations commonly used in the code definitions
are "DK" (Do Not Know), "NA" (Not Ascertained), and
"INAP" (Inappropriate).
ICPSR Processing Information
The data collection was processed according to the
standard ICPSR processing procedures. The data were checked
for illegal or inconsistent code values which, when found,
were recoded to missing data values. No consistency
checks were performed. Statements bracketed in "<" and ">"
signs in the body of the codebook were added by the
processors for explanatory purposes.
1 xi
Variable Description Lists
Appellate Terminations/Pending
1 ICPSR Study Number-8429
2 ICPSR Edition Number-5
3 ICPSR Part Number
4 ICPSR Sequential Case Identification Number
5 Item 1. Record quality indicator
6 Item 2. Circuit Court in which the appeal was filed
7 Item 3. Case number
8 Item 4. Denotes reopened/remanded appeals
9 Item 5. (1) Date the case was docketed in the court
of appeals: Year
10 Item 5. (2) Date the case was docketed in the court
of appeals: Month
11 Item 5. (3) Date the case was docketed in the court
of appeals: Day
12 Item 6. Indicates whether the United States
initiated the appeal
13 Item 7. Name of the party initiating the appeal
14 Item 8. Indicates whether the appeal was filed
against the United States
15 Item 9. Name of the party against whom the appeal
is taken
16 Item 10. Appeal from magistrate's decision
17 Item 11. Type of appeal
18 Item 12. Nature of original proceedings
19 Item 13. In forma pauperis
20 Item 14. Divisional Office
21 Item 15. Administrative agency
22 Item 16. Jurisdiction
23 Item 17. Nature of suit
24 Item 18. Offense code
25 Item 19. Other type
26 Item 20. District court - circuit
27 Item 21. District court - district
28 Item 22. District court - office
29 Item 23. District court - docket number
30 Item 24. Magistrate indicator
31 Item 25. (1) Date field in district court: Year
32 Item 25. (2) Date field in district court: Month
33 Item 25. (3) Date field in district court: Day
34 Item 26. (1) Date notice of appeal filed: Year
35 Item 26. (2) Date notice of appeal filed: Month
36 Item 26. (3) Date notice of appeal filed: Day
37 Item 27. (1) Filing date used by AO: Year
38 Item 27. (2) Filing date used by AO: Month
39 Item 28. (1) Transaction date: Year
40 Item 28. (2) Transaction date: Month
41 Item 28. (3) Transaction date: Day
42 Item 29. Transaction code
43 Item 30. Disposition
44 Item 31A/B. Action on the merits/By judicial action
45 Item 32A/B. By judicial action/Procedural terminations
1 xii
46 Item 33A/B. No judicial action/Method of disposition
47 Item 34. Opinion/Order
48 Item 35. Determination of original proceeding
49 Item 36. Joined appeal
50 Item 37. Joined appeal docket number
51 Item 38A/B.(1) Briefing notice date/Complete record date
52 Item 38A/B.(2) Briefing notice date/Complete record date
53 Item 38A/B.(3) Briefing notice date/Complete record date
54 Item 39. (1) Last brief filing date: Year
55 Item 39. (2) Last brief filing date: Month
56 Item 39. (3) Last brief filing date: Day
57 Item 40. (1) Submission date: Year
58 Item 40. (2) Submission date: Month
59 Item 40. (3) Submission date: Day
60 Item 41. (1) Oral hearing date: Year
61 Item 41. (2) Oral hearing date: Month
62 Item 41. (3) Oral hearing date: Day
63 Item 42. (1) Final judgment date: Year
64 Item 42. (2) Final judgment date: Month
65 Item 42. (3) Final judgment date: Day
66 Item 43. (1) Case termination date: Year
67 Item 43. (2) Case termination date: Month
68 Item 43. (3) Case termination date: Day
69 Item 44. Miscellaneous to general docket
70 Item 45. Concurring/Dissenting opinion
71 Item 46. Prisoner petition - CPC decision
72 Item 47. Prisoner petition - CPC decision made by
73 Item 48. Single judge/Full panel
74 Item 49. Counsel appointed
75 Item 50. Counsel continued
76 Item 51. Counsel source (in district court)
77 Item 52. Counsel source (in circuit court)
78 Item 53. Judge code #1
79 Item 54. Judge code #2
80 Item 55. Judge code #3
Civil Terminations/Pending
1 ICPSR Study Number-8429
2 ICPSR Edition Number-5
3 ICPSR Part Number
4 ICPSR Sequential Case Identification Number
5 Item 1. Record quality indicator
6 Item 2. The Federal Circuit where the district court
is located
7 Item 3. The U.S. district court where the case was
filed
8 Item 4. The Office of the district court where the
case was filed
9 Item 5. The case number
10 Item 6. (1) Filing date: Year
11 Item 6. (2) Filing date: Month
12 Item 6. (3) Filing date: Day
13 Item 7. Jurisdiction
1 xiii
14 Item 8. The nature of the action filed
15 Item 9. The source of the case filing
16 Item 10. Citizenship of the principal parties
17 Item 11. Class action allegation
18 Item 12. Termination judge
19 Item 13. Filing judge
20 Item 14. (1) Date trial commenced: Year
21 Item 14. (2) Date trial commenced: Month
22 Item 15. Dollar amount demanded
23 Item 16. Filing judge
24 Item 17. County of residence: Plantiff
25 Item 18. Style
26 Item 19. (1) Case closed: Year
27 Item 19. (2) Case closed: Month
28 Item 19. (3) Case closed: Day
29 Item 20. (1) The statistical date of filing: Year
30 Item 20. (2) The statistical date of filing: Month
31 Item 21. The method of disposition
32 Item 22. Termination magistrate
33 Item 23. Procedural progress at termination
34 Item 24. The nature of the judgment
35 Item 25. The monetary judgment amount awarded
36 Item 26. (1) Statistical termination date: Year
37 Item 26. (2) Statistical termination date: Month
38 Item 27. Judgment for
39 Item 28. Level of involvement of the U.S.
magistrate
40 Item 29. Involvement in the case of persons other
than judge or magistrate
41 Item 30. (1) Statistical master record date: Year
42 Item 30. (2) Statistical master record date: Month
CIVIL CODEBOOK
VAR 0001 ICPSR STUDY NUMBER-8429 NO MISSING DATA CODES
REF 0001 LOC 1 WIDTH 4
ICPSR Study Number-8429
-----------------------
8429. The ICPSR has attached this number as a unique
data collection identification number.
...............................................................
VAR 0002 ICPSR EDITION NUMBER 4 NO MISSING DATA CODES
REF 0002 LOC 5 WIDTH 1
ICPSR Edition Number-5
----------------------
The number identifying the release edition of the data
collection.
5. March, 1993 Release
...............................................................
VAR 0003 ICPSR PART NUMBER NO MISSING DATA CODES
REF 0003 LOC 6 WIDTH 2
ICPSR Part Number
-----------------
Identifies the parts in this 35 part data collection.
38. Civil Terminations, 1970
39. Civil Terminations, 1971
40. Civil Terminations, 1972
1 Page 37
(CONTINUED)
41. Civil Terminations, 1973
42. Civil Terminations, 1974
43. Civil Terminations, 1975
44. Civil Terminations, 1976
45. Civil Terminations, 1977
46. Civil Terminations, 1978
47. Civil Terminations, 1979
48. Civil Terminations, 1980
49. Civil Terminations, 1981
50. Civil Terminations, 1982
51. Civil Terminations, 1983
52. Civil Terminations, 1984
53. Civil Terminations, 1985
54. Civil Terminations, 1986
55. Civil Terminations, 1987
56. Civil Pending, 1987
...............................................................
VAR 0004 ICPSR SEQUENCE NUMBER NO MISSING DATA CODES
REF 0004 LOC 8 WIDTH 6
ICPSR Sequential Case Identification Number
-------------------------------------------
The ICPSR has attached a sequential identification number to
every case. This number uniquely identifies each record in
the data collection.
...............................................................
VAR 0005 RECORD QUALITY INDICATOR MD=99
REF 0005 LOC 14 WIDTH 2
Item 1. Record Quality Indicator
-----------------------------
This field was used to quantify the accuracy of the record
by the original investigator. The ICPSR has recoded this
variable to 99.
99. Out of universe
...............................................................
VAR 0006 CIRCUIT MD=99
REF 0006 LOC 16 WIDTH 2
1 Page 38
(CONTINUED)
Item 2. The federal circuit where the district court is
located.
----------------------------------------------------
00. District of Columbia 06. Sixth Circuit
01. First Circuit 07. Seventh Circuit
02. Second Circuit 08. Eighth Circuit
03. Third Circuit 09. Ninth Circuit
04. Fourth Circuit 10. Tenth Circuit
05. Fifth Circuit 11. Eleventh Circuit
(since 1982)
99. Out of universe
...............................................................
VAR 0007 DISTRICT NO MISSING DATA CODES
REF 0007 LOC 18 WIDTH 2
Item 3. The U.S. District Court where the case was filed.
------------------------------------------------------
Prior to 1974, the District Code 70 referred to a district
that included both Arizona and Alaska, since 1974 the
district code for Arizona has been 70, while the code for
Alaska is 7- (listed as 7x in the Appendix).
This is an alphanumeric variable that contains a combination
of numbers and letters.
See note(s) 5
...............................................................
VAR 0008 OFFICE NO MISSING DATA CODES
REF 0008 LOC 20 WIDTH 1
Item 4. The office of the district court where the case
was filed.
----------------------------------------------------
This is an alphanumeric variable of which certain codes
contain asterisks (*).
See note(s) 5
...............................................................
VAR 0009 DOCKET NUMBER NO MISSING DATA CODES
REF 0009 LOC 21 WIDTH 7
1 Page 39
(CONTINUED)
Item 5. The case number as assigned by the Clerk of Court
at the time of the original filing of the case.
------------------------------------------------------
The format is YYNNNNN, where YY is the last two
digits of the calendar year in which the case was
filed, and NNNNN is the five digit sequence number
from 00001 to 99999. Docket numbers run on a
calendar year basis; the serially assigned numbers
are restarted on January 1.
Docket/case numbers prior to 1961 do not necessarily adhere
to the standard format.
...............................................................
VAR 0010 FILING YEAR MD=99
REF 0010 LOC 28 WIDTH 2
Item 6.(1) The date on which the case was filed in district
court: Year
--------------------------------------------------------
01. 1901
.
.
87. 1987
99. Out of universe
...............................................................
VAR 0011 FILING MONTH MD=99
REF 0011 LOC 30 WIDTH 2
Item 6.(2) The date on which the case was filed in district
court: Month
--------------------------------------------------------
01. January
.
.
12. December
99. Out of universe
...............................................................
1 Page 40
VAR 0012 FILING DAY MD=99
REF 0012 LOC 32 WIDTH 2
Item 6.(3) The date on which the case was filed in district
court: Day
--------------------------------------------------------
01. First day of the month
.
.
31. Thirty-first day of the month
99. Out of universe
...............................................................
VAR 0013 JURISDICTION MD=99
REF 0013 LOC 34 WIDTH 2
Item 7. The basis of jurisdiction for filing the case
in federal court.
--------------------------------------------------
01. U.S. Plaintiff
02. U.S. Defendant
03. Federal Question
04. Diversity of Citizenship
05. Local Question (territorial districts only)
99. Out of universe
...............................................................
VAR 0014 NATURE OF SUIT MD=999
REF 0014 LOC 36 WIDTH 3
Item 8. The nature of the action filed.
------------------------------------
Numeric codes represent commonly used civil statutes.
See note(s) 3
999. Out of universe
...............................................................
1 Page 41
VAR 0015 ORIGIN MD=99
REF 0015 LOC 39 WIDTH 2
Item 9. The source of the case filing.
-----------------------------------
01. Original proceeding
02. Removed from state court
03. Remanded from appellate court
04. Reinstated or reopened
05. Transferred from another district
06. Multi-district Litigation
(Transfer by order of Panel for
Multi-district Litigation)
07. Appeal of Magistrate judgment
to a district judge (since 1981)
08. 2nd reopening (since 1983)
09. 3rd reopening (since 1983)
10. 4th reopening (since 1983)
11. 5th reopening (since 1983)
12. 6th reopening (since 1983)
99. Out of universe
...............................................................
VAR 0016 RESIDENCE MD=99
REF 0016 LOC 41 WIDTH 2
Item 10. Describes the citizenship of the principal parties
in cases in which diversity of citizenship is the basis
of federal jurisdiction. The two-digit code is a composite
of a single-digit plaintiff's code and a single-digit
defendant's code (that is, a 1 for plaintiff and a 3 for
defendant yields a residence code of 13).
-----------------------------------------------------------
Statistical year 1970 to statistical year 1976.
01. Resident of your state
02. Non-resident corporation doing business in
state
03. Non-resident corporation not doing business
in state
04. Other non-resident of your state
1 Page 42
(CONTINUED)
Statistical Year 1977 to Statistical Year 1985.
(two variations active)
Variation One
01. Citizen of this state
02. Incorporated this state
03. Foreign corporation -- principal place of
business in ___________
04. Other non-citizen of this state
Variation Two
01. Citizen or resident business of this
state
02. Non-resident business incorporated in this
state
03. Foreign business corporation, incorporated
in another state
04. Other non-citizen of this state
Statistical Year 1986 to Statistical Year 1987.
01. Citizen of this state
02. Citizen of another state
03. Citizen or subject of a foreign country
04. Incorporated or principal place
of business in this state
05. Incorporated and principal place
of business in another state
06. Foreign nation
99. Out of universe
...............................................................
VAR 0017 CLASS ACTION MD=99
REF 0017 LOC 43 WIDTH 2
Item 11. Class Action Allegation under Rule 23, Federal Rules
of Civil Procedure.
----------------------------------------------------------
00. No allegation of class action made
01. Allegation of class action
02. Allegation dismissed
03. Allegation affirmed
1 Page 43
(CONTINUED)
99. Out of universe
..............................................................
VAR 0018 TERMINATION JUDGE MD=9999
REF 0018 LOC 45 WIDTH 4
Item 12. Termination Judge
-----------------------
For reasons of confidentiality, the ICPSR has masked this
variable.
9999. Out of universe
9999. Out of universe
...............................................................
VAR 0019 FILING JUDGE MD=9999
REF 0019 LOC 49 WIDTH 4
Item 13. Filing Judge
------------------
For reasons of confidentiality, the ICPSR has masked this
variable.
9999. Out of universe
9999. Out of universe
...............................................................
VAR 0020 TRIAL YEAR MD=99
REF 0020 LOC 53 WIDTH 2
Item 14.(1) Date trial commenced: Year
-----------------------------------
61. 1961
.
.
71. 1971
99. Out of universe
From 1984 to 1987 these data were no longer
1 Page 44
(CONTINUED)
collected.
...............................................................
VAR 0021 TRIAL MONTH MD=99
REF 0021 LOC 55 WIDTH 2
Item 14.(2) Date trial commenced: Month
------------------------------------
01. January
.
.
12. December
99. Out of universe
From 1984 to 1987 these data were no longer
collected.
...............................................................
VAR 0022 DEMAND MD=0
REF 0022 LOC 57 WIDTH 4
Item 15. Amount demanded in thousands of dollars.
----------------------------------------------
9999. Coded for amounts greater than $9,999,000
9999. Coded for amounts greater than $9,999,000
0000. Out of universe
From 1970 to 1976 values less than $1000 coded to zeros.
From 1977 to 1981 values less than $1000 coded to zeros.
From 1982 to 1987 values less than $1000 coded as 0001.
...............................................................
VAR 0023 FILING MAGISTRATE MD=9999
REF 0023 LOC 61 WIDTH 4
Item 16. Filing Judge
------------------
For reasons of confidentiality, the ICPSR has masked this
variable.
9999. Out of universe
1 Page 45
(CONTINUED)
9999. Out of universe
...............................................................
VAR 0024 COUNTY MD=0
REF 0024 LOC 65 WIDTH 5
Item 17. Code for the county of residence of the first-listed
plaintiff, except where the united states is the plain-
tiff; in that case it is the code of the county of resi-
dence for the first-listed defendant. In land condemna-
tion cases, the county code of the land in question is
used.
----------------------------------------------------------
See note(s) 1
00000. Out of universe
...............................................................
VAR 0025 STYLE (PARTIES INVOLVED) NO MISSING DATA CODES
REF 0025 LOC 70 WIDTH 40
Item 18. Style (Names of Parties Involved)
---------------------------------------
Format: Plaintiff (et.al.) v Defendant (et.al.)
This is an alpha variable.
................................................................
VAR 0026 TERMINATION YEAR MD=99
REF 0026 LOC 110 WIDTH 2
Item 19.(1) The date the case was closed in district court.
This is the date of the final judgment or of the
order disposing of the action. If the case was
transferred, the date of transfer is the termination
date: Year
--------------------------------------------------------
22. 1922
.
.
87. 1987
99. Out of universe
1 Page 46
(CONTINUED)
...............................................................
VAR 0027 TERMINATION MONTH MD=99
REF 0027 LOC 112 WIDTH 2
Item 19.(2) The date the case was closed in district court.
This is the date of the final judgment or of the
order disposing of the action. If the case was
transferred, the date of transfer is the termination
date: Month
--------------------------------------------------------
01. January
.
.
12. December
99. Out of universe
...............................................................
VAR 0028 TERMINATION DAY MD=99
REF 0028 LOC 114 WIDTH 2
Item 19.(3) The date the case was closed in district court.
This is the date of the final judgment or of the
order disposing of the action. If the case was
transferred, the date of transfer is the termination
date: Day
--------------------------------------------------------
01. First day of the month
.
.
31. Thirty-first day of the month
99. Out of universe
...............................................................
VAR 0029 FILING YEAR USED BY AO MD=99
REF 0029 LOC 116 WIDTH 2
Item 20.(1) The statistical date when the filing entered
the master record of the administrative Office of the
Courts. This date is used to assign the case to a
1 Page 47
(CONTINUED)
"statistical year filed" cohort: Year
-----------------------------------------------------
08. 1908
.
.
87. 1987
99. Out of universe
From 1970 to 1980 these data were not collected.
...............................................................
VAR 0030 FILING MONTH USED BY AO MD=99
REF 0030 LOC 118 WIDTH 2
Item 20.(2) The statistical date when the filing entered
the master record of the administrative office of the
courts. This date is used to assign the case to a
"statistical year filed" cohort: Month
-----------------------------------------------------
01. January
.
.
12. December
99. Out of universe
From 1970 to 1980 these data were not collected.
...............................................................
VAR 0031 DISPOSITION MD=99
REF 0031 LOC 120 WIDTH 2
Item 21. The method of disposition
-------------------------------
Statistical Year 1970 to Statistical Year 1971
00. Transferred to another district
01. Default judgment
02. Consent judgment
03. Dismissed for want of prosecution
04. Dismissed by action of parties
05. Remanded to state court
06. Judgment for plaintiff
07. Judgment for defendant
1 Page 48
(CONTINUED)
08. Judgment for both or other party
09. Outcome unknown
Statistical Year 1979 to Statistical Year 1986
(excluding 4 pilot districts in 1986)
00. Transferred to another district
01. Remanded
02. Dismissed for want of prosecution
03. Dismissed, discontinued, settled,
withdrawn, etc.
04. Judgment on default
05. Judgment on consent
06. Judgment on motion before trial
07. Judgment on jury verdict
08. Judgment on directed verdict
09. Judgment on court trial
10. Judgment on other
11. Statistical closing (since 1984)
Statistical Year 1986 to Statistical Year 1987
(4 districts in 1986: EDPA,NDTX,MDFL,WDMI)
00. Transferred to another district
01. Remanded to state court
02. Dismissed for want of prosecution
03. Dismissed for lack of jurisdiction
04. Judgment on default
05. Judgment on consent
06. Judgment on motion before trial
07. Judgment on jury verdict
08. Judgment on directed verdict
09. Judgment on court trial
10. Multi-district litigation transfer
11. Remanded to U.S. Agency
12. Dismissed: voluntarily
13. Dismissed: settled
14. Dismissed: other
15. Judgment on award of arbitrator
16. Judgment on trial de novo after arbitration
17. Judgment on other
18. Statistical closing
99. Out of universe
1 Page 49
(CONTINUED)
...............................................................
VAR 0032 TERMINATION MAGISTRATE MD=9999
REF 0032 LOC 122 WIDTH 4
Item 22. Termination Magistrate
----------------------------
For reasons of confidentiality, the ICPSR has masked this
variable.
9999. Out of universe
9999. Out of universe
...............................................................
VAR 0033 PROCEDURAL PROGRESS MD=99
REF 0033 LOC 126 WIDTH 2
Item 23. Procedural progress at termination.
-----------------------------------------
Statistical Year 1970 to Statistical Year 1975
01. No issue - no action
02. No issue - action
03. Issue, no pretrial - no action
04. Issue, no pretrial - action
05. Pretrial but no trial
06. Terminated during court trial
07. Terminated during jury trial
08. Judgment after court trial
09. Judgment after jury trial
00. Land condemnation cases
Statistical year 1976 to statistical year 1986
(excluding 4 pilot districts in 1986)
01. Before issue joined
02. After motion decided but before issue joined
03. Issue joined, no other court action
04. Issue joined, and after judgment of court on
motion
05. Issue joined, and after pretrial conference
1 Page 50