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Latest Civial Litigation Statistics

		
State courts of general jurisdiction disposed of
approximately 26,950 general civil cases -- tort, contract, and
real property -- through a jury or bench trial in 2005. These
trials were a small percentage of the reported 7.4 million
civil claims filed in all unified and general jurisdiction
state courts nationwide. ***Approximately 7.4 million civil
claims were filed in general jurisdiction and unified
jurisdiction courts in 2005, with 4.5 million of those claims
filed in courts of general jurisdiction and 2.9 million civil
cases filed in states with a unified court structure. See
LaFountain, R., Schauffler, R., Strickland, S., Raftery, W.,
& Bromage, C. Examining the Work of State Courts, 2006: A
National Perspective from the Court Statistics Project
(National Center for State Courts 2007).*** Among
jurisdictions that provided totals for both trial and
non-trial general civil dispositions in 2005, trials
collectively accounted for about 3% of all tort, contract,
and real property dispositions in general jurisdiction
courts. 

Civil bench and jury trials are rare but important events.
Records from civil trials are the primary source of
information on civil cases in general. The terms of
settlement agreements and other key information for civil
cases resolved prior to trial may not be reported to the
court or may not be publicly available.

The Civil Justice Survey of State Courts (CJSSC) examines
tort, contract, and real property trials disposed of in
general jurisdiction courts. It provides information such as
the types of litigants involved in trials, who wins in civil
trials, compensatory award amounts, punitive damages, and
case processing times. The 2005 CJSSC was the first time that
the series examined general civil trials concluded in a
national sample of urban, suburban, and rural jurisdictions.
Prior iterations of the CJSSC focused on general civil trial
litigation in the nation's 75 most populous counties.
***The 1992, 1996 and 2001 CJSSC reports are available at
 .***
Major findings from the 2005 Civil Justice Survey of State
Courts include--

*A jury decided almost 70% of the approximately 26,950
general civil trials disposed of in 2005.

*About 60% of the general civil trials included in the survey
involved a tort claim and about a third involved contractual
issues.

*Plaintiffs won in almost 60% of trials overall.

*The median damage award for plaintiffs who won monetary
damages in general civil trials was $28,000 (figure 1).

*Punitive damages were awarded to 5% of plaintiff winners in
general civil trials in 2005.

*In the nation's 75 most populous counties, the number of
general civil cases disposed of by jury or bench trial
declined by about 50% from 1992 to 2005.

Motor vehicle accident cases accounted for over a third of
civil trials in 2005

The majority (61%) of the nation's civil cases disposed of by
trial involved a tort claim, in which the plaintiff(s)
alleged injury, loss, or damage from the negligent or
intentional acts of the defendant(s) (table 1). Contract
cases, concerning an alleged breach of a contractual
agreement, accounted for 33% of all civil trials in state
courts in 2005. Real property cases, involving disputes over
land ownership, accounted for 6%. 

The most common types of civil cases disposed of by trial
were motor vehicle accident cases (35%), followed by seller
plaintiff cases involving payments owed for the provision of
goods or services (11%). Buyer plaintiff cases, in which the
purchasers of goods or services sought the return of money,
accounted for 10% of all civil cases disposed of by trial in
2005. Medical malpractice cases, involving the allegation of
harm caused by a doctor, dentist, or other heath care
provider, accounted for 9%, and premises liability cases,
concerning an alleged harm from inadequately maintained or
dangerous property, accounted for 7% of the civil trials.
Employment discrimination and product liability cases each
accounted for less than 2% of all civil trials in 2005.

Nine of every 10 tort trials resolved by juries in 2005

Civil trials involving tort claims of personal injury or
damaged property were most often heard before a jury (90%),
rather than a judge (10%). Medical malpractice (99%), alleged
illness or harm due to asbestos (96%) or some other product
(93%), premises liability (94%), and motor vehicle accident
(92%) cases were among the most likely tort claims to be
tried by a jury in 2005. 

Judges decided a greater percentage of business-related civil
trials--contract (64%) and real property (74%) cases--than
juries. Litigants waived their rights to a jury trial and had
their cases decided by a judge in more than 80% of contract
cases involving seller plaintiff, mortgage foreclosure,
rental lease agreement, and subrogation issues. In the
category employment discrimination, the majority (91%) of
contract trials were decided by a jury.

Judges hear business litigation more often than juries

Civil cases tried before juries and judges in state courts
differed in terms of the litigants, plaintiff win rates,
damage awards, and case processing times (table 2). Bench
trials (57%) had a higher percentage of business litigants
than jury trials (39%) and were likely to be decided in less
time than jury trials. Judges were more likely than juries to
find for plaintiffs. Plaintiffs won in 68% of bench trials,
compared to about 54% of jury trials.

The median damage awards in 2005 were statistically similar
for both jury and bench trials overall. Contract cases tried
before a jury ($74,000), however, had significantly higher
median final awards than contract cases decided by a judge
($25,000).

Individuals accounted for the majority of plaintiffs in tort
trials; businesses were more heavily represented as
plaintiffs in contract disputes

In 2005, individuals accounted for the largest percentage of
plaintiffs (81%) and defendants (50%) in civil trials (table
3). This held true in both tort and real property trials. For
contract trials, the majority of defendants were businesses
(58%). Also in contract trials, a larger percentage of
plaintiffs were businesses (43%) than in tort (4%) or real
property (9%) cases. 

Real property cases involved the highest percentage of
government plaintiffs (26%) and defendants (11%). A hospital
or medical company was the plaintiff in less than 1% and the
defendant in less than 6% of all civil bench and jury trials
in 2005. 

Seventy percent of civil trials involved individuals suing
other individuals or businesses; 40% of trials involved one
plaintiff and one defendant

The most common civil trials involved an individual suing
either another individual (42%) or a business (28%) (table
4). Businesses sued other businesses in about 10% of all
civil trials. In 2% of all civil trials, a government entity
initiated the lawsuit.

Excluding class action lawsuits, almost 86,000 litigants were
involved in general civil trials in 2005. Forty percent
(10,800) of all civil trials disposed of in state courts in
2005 involved one plaintiff and one defendant. Almost half
(47%) of all civil bench and jury trials in 2005 had multiple
defendants, and more than a quarter (29%) had multiple
plaintiffs (not shown in a table).

Plaintiffs won in the majority of tort and contract trials

Plaintiffs won in more than half (56%) of all general civil
trials concluded in state courts (table 5). In 2005, a higher
percentage of plaintiffs won in contract (66%) than in tort
(52%) cases. 

Among tort trials, plaintiffs were most likely to win in
cases involving an animal attack (75%), followed by motor
vehicle accident (64%), asbestos (55%), and intentional tort
(52%) cases. Plaintiffs had the lowest percentage of wins in
medical malpractice trials (23%), product liability trials
that did not involve asbestos (20%), and false arrest or
imprisonment trials (16%), compared to plaintiffs in other
tort cases.

In contract cases, plaintiffs won in the majority of trials
for all case types except subrogation (28%), which involves
an insurance company seeking to recover the amount paid on
behalf of a client. Mortgage foreclosure cases, in which the
plaintiff was either a mortgage company or other financial
lending institution, had the highest percentage of plaintiff
winners (89%) of all tort and contract cases in 2005.

Over 60% of plaintiff winners were granted final awards of
$50,000 or less

Plaintiff winners in civil bench and jury trials were awarded
an estimated sum of $6 billion in compensatory and punitive
damages in 2005 (not shown in a table). Among the 14,000
plaintiffs awarded monetary damages, the median final award
amount was $28,000 (table 6). Contract cases in general had
higher median awards ($35,000) than tort cases ($24,000).

Almost two-thirds (62%) of all plaintiff award winners were
awarded $50,000 or less. A small percentage (about 4%) of all
plaintiff award winners were awarded $1 million or more.
Plaintiff winners in asbestos cases tended to win the highest
award amounts. The median final award in asbestos cases was
almost $700,000. More than three-quarters of all award
amounts in asbestos cases were greater than $250,000.


Cases with median final awards over $150,000 included other
product liability ($500,000), medical malpractice ($400,000),
false arrest or imprisonment ($259,000), employment
discrimination ($175,000), and tortious interference
($169,000).
 
Motor vehicle accident cases accounted for more than 40% of
all plaintiff award winners in 2005. The median award in
motor vehicle accident cases was $15,000. Forty percent of
plaintiff winners in motor vehicle accident trials were
awarded $10,000 or less. 

Punitive damages were awarded to 5% of plaintiff winners in
general civil trials in 2005 

Punitive damages are awarded to punish and deter the
defendant. Punitive damages were sought in 13% of the
approximately 14,000 general civil trials with plaintiff
winners in 2005 (table 7). Plaintiffs were awarded punitive
damages in 700 of the 14,000 trials (5%). 

The median overall punitive damage amount awarded to
plaintiff winners was $64,000. About a quarter (27%) of the
punitive damage awards in 2005 were over $250,000 and 13%
were $1 million or more. Of the approximately 450 contract
cases in which punitive damages were awarded, plaintiffs were
awarded punitive amounts of $250,000 or more in 40% of the
trials.

Tortious interference ($6,900,000) and medical malpractice
($2,800,000) cases had among the highest median punitive
damage awards for specific contract and tort case types.
During 2005, there were less than 20 of each case type in
which punitive damages were awarded. Among the case types 
in which punitive damages were awarded most frequently--
intentional torts, fraud, and buyer plaintiff cases-- 
the median punitive damage awards were $100,000 or less. 

Largest damage award was $172 million

Of the civil trials sampled in state courts nationwide in
2005, the largest damage award was granted to approximately
116,000 California employees who brought a class-action
lawsuit against a large retail corporation.

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2001 by several former
employees and was expanded to cover California employees
working for the retailer between 2001 and 2005. The employees
claimed that the retailer had violated a California state law
requiring that employees working six hours or more be given a
30-minute, unpaid lunch break. Under the law, if an employee
was not permitted the break, the company was required to pay
a full hour's wages in compensation. The employees maintained
that they were owed more than $66 million plus interest.

After four months of testimony and three days of
deliberation, an Alameda County jury awarded the plaintiffs
$57 million in general damages and $115 million in punitive
damages.

Punitive damages exceeded compensatory awards in over half 
of the cases in which they were awarded

In a number of cases since 1996 the United States Supreme
Court has examined the issue of what constitutes a grossly
excessive***In BMW of North America, Inc. v. Gore, the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled that the punitive damages of more than
500 times the amount of compensatory damages was grossly
excessive and unconstitutional (517 U.S. 559, May 20,
1996).***ratio between plaintiff compensatory and punitive 
damage award amounts. In 2003, the Supreme Court opined that 
"few awards exceeding a single-digit ratio between punitive 
and compensatory damages...will satisfy due process.
"***State Farm Automobile Insurance Company v. Campbell 
(123 S.Ct. 1513:1524, April 7, 2003).***

In 2005, punitive damages exceeded compensatory awards in 37%
of tort and 62% of contract trials (table 8). Punitive awards
were at least four times greater than compensatory awards in
26% of all applicable trials. In 17% of applicable trials,
punitive awards exceeded compensatory awards by a ratio of 10
to 1 or greater (not shown in table).

Damage awards were adjusted in about 16% of all civil trials

The initial compensatory and punitive damage amounts awarded
to plaintiff winners were adjusted prior to trial end in
about 16% of all trials (not shown in a table). Of the
approximately 2,300 adjusted awards, over half (56%) were
reduced due to findings of contributory negligence on the
part of the plaintiff. A small percentage (about 1%) were
adjusted because of damage caps. Thirty percent of the
adjustments were due to miscalculation of cost, payment of
additional fees, set-off claims, collateral source
reductions, and other reasons.
     
Class action lawsuits

A case must meet the following criteria if it is to be class
action certified: 

*The case must involve plaintiffs so numerous 
that it would be impractical to bring them all before court;

*The case must have a named representative(s) who can fairly
represent all members of the class;

*The case must have class members with a well defined common
interest in the questions of law or fact to be resolved
(Black's Law Dictionary).

Within the jurisdictions included in the 2005 Civil Justice
Survey of State Courts, 14 trials were identified as being
class action certified. Over half (8) of the trials occurred
in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. 

Class action cases are unique in that they tend to take
longer to process than regular civil trials. In 2005, the 14
class action trials lasted 17 days on average. The total time
from filing to disposition averaged 3.5 years. 

Of the 14 class action certified trials in 2005, ten were
heard before a jury. Nine of the 14 involved a product
liability claim: three were asbestos cases, four involved a
well-known prescription drug combination, one was a
non-prescription drug case, and one involved a defective
automobile part. Another tort case involved a class of
neighbors alleging discomfort as a result of a nearby
factory's release of a chemical into the air. There were also
four contract cases that were class action certified.

The defendants in all 14 class action certified cases were
businesses. The plaintiffs prevailed in ten of the 14 class
action trials. The median final award in the ten trials was
$1 million.

Jury trials lasted two days longer on average than bench
trials

In 2005, jury trials for general civil cases lasted almost
four days on average (table 9). Bench trials lasted almost
two days. Thirteen percent of jury trials and 70% of bench
trials were completed within one day (not shown in a table).
Among bench and jury trials, contract cases lasted slightly
longer on average than both tort and real property cases.

Asbestos jury trials tended to take the most time, averaging
13 days in trial. Although less than 10% of employment
discrimination, medical malpractice, and other product
liability cases were bench trials, these cases took the
longest for judges to hear and dispose (about three days).
The longest trial recorded in the 2005 CJSSC sample was a
premises liability case, in which the trial lasted for 69
days (not shown in a table). 

Majority of bench and jury trials were disposed within two
years of filing

Cases heard before a jury took more time from filing of the
complaint to rendering of the verdict than those heard before
a judge. On average, the processing of a case required an
additional half year for a jury trial (27 months), compared
to a bench trial (21 months). Nearly three-fourths (73%) 
of bench trials and more than half (54%)of jury trials were 
disposed of within two years of filing.

Overall, there was little difference in the average number of
months needed for tort and contract case processing. Real
property jury trials took about four months longer from
filing to verdict than tort and contract jury trials. Real
property bench trials took two months less time on average to
process, compared to other general civil bench trials. Among
jury trials, mortgage foreclosure (48 months), false arrest
and imprisonment (40 months), and tortious interference (37
months) cases took the longest to process on average.
Partnership dispute cases averaged the longest time from
filing to bench trial judgment (43 months) (not shown in a
table).

Litigants filed notices of appeal in nearly 1 in 5 civil
trials

Litigants who seek to overturn or modify a verdict or
judgment that they believe does not comply with state law
have the option of filing a notice of appeal. Appeals were
filed with the trial court in 17% of general civil trials
concluded in 2005 (not shown in a table).

The rate of appeal for civil bench and jury trials varied
depending on the case outcome. Plaintiffs filed appeals in 5%
of general civil trials in which they prevailed, and in 15%
of civil trials in which they did not win any monetary award
(not shown in a table). Defendants gave trial court notice of
appeal in 12% of civil trials with a plaintiff winner, and in
2% of trials in which the plaintiff did not receive an award.

In the nation's 75 most populous counties, the total number
of civil trials declined by over 50% from 1992 to 2005 

Prior to the 2005 CJSSC, BJS funded three surveys that
examined general civil trial litigation. The surveys focused
on general civil trials concluded in a sample of the nation's
75 most populous counties in 1992, 1996, and 2001. ***For a
discussion of findings and methodologies for the earlier BJS
studies on general civil trials, see Civil Jury Cases and
Verdicts in Large Counties, 1992 (NCJ 154346), Civil Trial
Cases and Verdicts in Large Counties, 1996 (NCJ 173426), and
Civil Trial Cases and Verdicts in Large Counties, 2001 (NCJ
202803) at .***

For the purpose of discussing trends in this report, this
section focuses on civil trial litigation in the nation's 75
most populous counties rather than on the national sample
examined in 2005. The trends analyses has been restricted to
the nation's 75 most populous counties as data from previous
BJS civil justice surveys cannot be used to generate national
level estimates.
 
In the nation's 75 most populous counties, the number of
civil trials decreased 52%, from 22,451 in 1992 to 10,813 in
2005 (table 10). Tort cases decreased the least (40%), while
real property (77%) and contract (63%) cases registered the
largest declines. Among tort cases, product and premises
liability experienced the sharpest declines, while decreases
in medical malpractice cases were not statistically
significant from 1992 to 2005. In terms of contract trial
litigation, seller plaintiff cases saw the largest declines
(73%) and the number of fraud and buyer plaintiff cases
dropped by about 50%. 

Data from the two most recent BJS civil trial surveys showed
stabilization in the number of general civil trials. From
2001 to 2005, the number of general civil trials concluded in
the nation's 75 most populous counties declined by 9%, a
decrease that was not statistically significant.

Although the number of product liability trials declined from
1992 to 2005, a comparison of the two most recent surveys
(2001 and 2005) showed a 42% increase in those trials.

In terms of incoming caseload filings, the Court Statistics
Project of the National Center for State Courts (NCSC)
reported that the number of civil cases filed in state courts
increased by 5% in the unified/general jurisdiction courts of
43 states from 1996 to 2005. NCSC also reported a 21% decline
in tort filings in 30 states and a 25% increase in contract
filings in 13 states from 1996 to 2005. ***LaFountain, R.,
Schauffler, R., Strickland, S., Raftery, W., & Bromage, C.
Examining the Work of State Courts, 2006: A National
Perspective from the Court Statistics Project (National
Center for State Courts 2007).***

Percentage of plaintiffs prevailing in general civil trials
remained stable in the nation's 75 most populous counties

The percentage of plaintiff winners in general civil trials
concluded in the nation's 75 most populous counties remained
relatively stable between 1992 and 2005. On average,
plaintiffs won in about 53% of trials concluded during this
period (not shown in a table). Overall plaintiff win rates
ranged from 52% in 1992 and 1996 to 55% in 2001. In 2005,
plaintiffs prevailed in 53% of civil trials. Among tort
cases, about half the plaintiffs prevailed at trial from 1992
(47%) through 2005 (48%). The percentage of plaintiff winners
in contract trials varied from 57% in 1992 to 65% in 2001.
The plaintiff win rate for contract trials concluded in 2005
was 63%.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Trials accounted for 3% of all general civil dispositions

One hundred and sixteen of the surveyed jurisdictions were
able to provide counts of both trial and non-trial
dispositions in 2005. Non-trial dispositions include cases
dismissed for want of prosecution, granted default or summary
judgments, settled or withdrawn prior to trial, settled
though mediation or another method of alternative dispute
resolution, or transferred to another court. 

Among the 116 jurisdictions that could provide the total
number of general civil dispositions, the rate of cases
disposed through trial was about 3%. Among the various
case types, the highest percentage of cases disposed through
trial were real property cases (5%), followed by tort (4%)
and contract (2%) cases.                                      
          
  
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Since 1992, the overall median jury awards declined by 40%

When adjusted for inflation, the median damages awarded in
general civil jury trials declined from $72,000 in 1992 to
$43,000 in 2005, a decrease of 40% (table 11). For tort jury
trials, the median damages declined by about 50% from $71,000
to $33,000 during the 1992 to 2005 period. The reduction in
jury awards for tort trials can be attributed mostly to the
decline in median damage awards in automobile accident trial
litigation. From 1992 to 2005, the median awards in
automobile accident trials declined by almost 60%, from
$41,000 to $17,000. Since automobile accident cases accounted
for approximately 64% of tort jury trials with plaintiff
winners, these cases drove the overall tort award trend (not
shown in a table).

In comparison to automobile accident cases, several tort case
categories had marked increases in their median jury awards.
This trend was apparent in product liability jury trials in
which the median award amounts were about 5 times higher in
2005 ($749,000) than they were in 1992 ($154,000). For
medical malpractice trials, the median damage awards were
nearly 2.5 times higher in 2005 ($682,000) than they were in
1992 ($280,000).

The years 2001 and 2005 were marked by stability in the
median damage awards for general civil jury trials. Overall,
the median damage awards increased by almost 5% but this
increase was not statistically significant. One exception to
the stabilization trend was medical malpractice trials. For
medical malpractice trials, the median damage awards
increased by 44% during this period.

Punitive damages awarded infrequently in civil jury trials in
the nation's 75 most populous counties

The percentage of jury trials in which the plaintiff winners
received punitive damages remained stable, ranging from 4% in
1996 to 6% in 1992 and 2001 (not shown in a table). In 2005,
plaintiff winners were awarded punitive damages in about 5%
of general civil jury trials concluded in the nation's 75
most populous counties. 

Methodology

Collection of data on civil bench and jury trials

The Civil Justice Survey of State Courts (CJSSC) examines
tort, contract, and real property trials disposed of in
general jurisdiction courts. The 2005 CJSSC contained two
sampling frames. First, the sample was designed so that
inferences could be made about general civil trials litigated
in the nation's 75 most populous counties. The 75 most
populous counties design was maintained in order to compute
trends in civil trial litigation. 

The sample design for the 75 most populous counties sample
was the same as the ones used for the 2001, 1996, and 1992
BJS civil trial studies. The sample is a stratified sample
with 46 of the 75 most populous counties selected. 

In addition to sampling civil trial litigation in the
nation's 75 most populous counties, a sample of
non-metropolitan counties, from which to estimate the civil
trial litigation in counties outside the 75 most populous,
was developed. 

The sample of civil trial litigation outside the nation's 75
most populous counties was constructed by first forming 2,518
primary sampling units (PSUs) from 3,066 counties--3,141 U.S.
counties total minus the 75 counties from the 2001 CJSSC. 

The 2,518 PSUs were stratified into 50 strata according to
census region, levels of urbanization, and population size
which was based on the square root of the estimated 2004
population in each of these PSUs. 

From the 50 strata, a total of 100 PSUs containing 110
counties were selected for the supplemental sample of
counties outside the nation's 75 most populous. Hence, a
total of 156 counties, 46 representing the nation's 75 most
populous, and 110 representing the remainder of the nation
were used for the sample. 

The second stage of the sample design involved generating
lists of cases that would be coded. Each participating
jurisdiction was asked to identify a list of cases that had
been disposed of by jury trial or bench trial between January
1, 2005, and December 31, 2005. Trial cases were to meet the
definitional criteria for jury and bench trials developed by
the National Center for State Courts. Civil trials that
occurred in federal district courts and civil trials in state
courts of limited jurisdiction were excluded from the sample.

For the sample of civil trials occurring in the nation's 75
most populous counties, data on 5,613 civil jury trials and
2,069 civil bench trials met the study criteria. When these
trials are weighted to the nation's 75 most populous
counties, they represent 10,813 general civil bench and jury
trials.
 
For the sample of civil trials occurring outside the nation's
75 most populous counties, data on 814 civil jury trials and
376 civil bench trials met the study criteria. When these
trials are weighted, they represent 16,135 general civil
bench and jury trials disposed in counties outside the
nation's 75 most populous counties. 

Collection of counts of trial and non-trial dispositions

In conjunction with collecting detailed case level
information on general civil trials, the counties
participating in this survey were asked to complete a matrix
that contained information on all general civil cases
disposed in 2005. Frequency counts were obtained for trial
and non-trial dispositions in these counties. The non-trial
dispositions included cases dismissed for want of
prosecution, granted default or summary judgments, settled or
withdrawn prior to trial, settled through mediation or
another method of alternative dispute resolution, or
transferred to another court. This secondary data collection
was used to gather disposition outcomes in trial and
non-trial cases by plaintiff claim type. 

Information on all civil dispositions was obtained from a
variety of sources including state administrative court
offices, annual reports, or the actual trial courts. Some
trial courts were able to provide specific information on the
exact types of non-trial dispositions including the number of
cases concluded by summary judgment, dismissal, settlement,
etc. Other courts could not provide a detailed breakdown of
manner of disposition types. Forty-three courts were unable
to provide any data on counts of general civil trial and
non-trial dispositions. 

Definitions of disposition types ***Definitions were
developed by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC)
through consultation with NCSC staff attorneys, law
professors, and from Black's Law Dictionary. *** 

Jury trial: A trial held before and decided by a group of
laypersons selected according to the law presided over by a
judge culminating in a verdict for the plaintiff(s) and/or
defendant(s). Unless noted, the term jury trial includes
trials with a directed verdict, judgment not withstanding the
verdict (JNOV), and jury trials for defaulted defendants.

Bench trial (nonjury trial): A trial held in the absence of a
jury and decided by a judge culminating in a judgment for the
plaintiff(s) or defendant(s).

Definitions of civil case types***Definitions were developed
by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) through
consultation with NCSC staff attorneys, law professors, and
from Black's Law Dictionary.***

Torts: Claims arising from personal injury or property damage
caused by negligent or intentional acts of another person or
business. 

Contracts: Cases that include all allegations of breach of
contract. 

Real property: Cases concerning ownership or division of real
property (excluding mortgage foreclosures which are included
under contracts). 

		
		

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