PTAB Activity During COVID-19
As part of our ongoing work to track the impact of COVID-19 on litigation, Lex Machina surveyed new petitions filed with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) that challenged patentability of claims in issued patents. We also reviewed recent PTAB trial activity to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown has impacted this administrative law body. Here is a summary of our findings: New petition filings are trending upwards. The number of new PTAB petitions increased in May, June, and July 2020 compared to those months in 2019. More distinct patents were challenged. The number of issued patents where one [...]
Lex Machina Announces Expanded Federal District Court Coverage
The Lex Machina team is excited to announce expanded federal district court coverage, which provides users with access to all commercially relevant federal civil cases. Our users can now locate any federal district court case and ensure that it is incorporated in the generation of data-driven insights from our legal analytics on judges, law firms, attorneys, and parties. Over the past ten years, Lex Machina has expanded to 16 different practice areas in federal courts, as well as an increasing number of state courts. With our current expansion, Lex Machina provides access to over 2.8 million federal civil cases, enabling [...]
Continuing to Track New Litigation Caused By COVID-19
The COVID-19 crisis has caused businesses and individuals to face unexpected social and economic consequences, including disputes caused by COVID-19. Lex Machina is tracking disputes that have made their way into court. Previously, we tracked new litigation caused by COVID-19 for federal district court cases filed March 1 through May 2, 2020 and observed the following trends: COVID-19 case filings were trending upward. Contracts and insurance, followed by employment, were the leading practice areas with COVID-19 keyword matches. Contracts, insurance, and employment were the leading practice areas with confirmed case filings directly resulting from COVID-19. We continue to track cases [...]
The Impact of the Pandemic Shutdown on New Case Filings in State Courts
The COVID-19 pandemic halted non-essential social and economic activities including the day-to-day operation of courthouses. During the shutdown, courts adopted special guidelines for providing essential legal services (e.g., bond hearings, temporary restraining orders). Some courts encouraged the use of electronic filings while others emphasized physical dropboxes. Lex Machina surveyed its current state civil trial court modules to examine how the pandemic shutdown impacted new case filings in state courts, which handle a tremendous volume and breadth of matters. Our survey of new case filings in nine state courts during April and May 2020 revealed the following observations: Case filings in [...]
Lex Machina Launches the New COVID-19 Impact Analyzer App
The Lex Machina team is excited to introduce the new COVID-19 Impact Analyzer App (the “COVID App”). COVID-19 has impacted all aspects of our lives and the legal profession, and the uncertainty and speculation have been obstacles in moving forward. Lex Machina’s COVID-19 App can eliminate some of the guesswork in the legal profession by providing the data and analytics to help everyone understand how COVID-19 has affected federal district litigation. The COVID App provides data and analytics regarding: New total case filings New case filings by practice area Findings (i.e., court-enforceable determinations) Complaints that mention COVID-19 or related terms [...]
Lex Machina Launches Legal Analytics for Sacramento County Superior Court and Clark County Court (Las Vegas Area)
The Lex Machina team is excited to launch Legal Analytics for Sacramento County Superior Court (“Sacramento”) and Clark County Court (Las Vegas Area) (“Clark County”). Including over 170,000 combined civil court cases filed January 2016 or later, these are important venues for state court litigation. Located in the California State Capitol, Sacramento is a key court for civil cases involving government entities and businesses. Clark County District Court is the largest general jurisdiction court in Nevada, serving more than 2.1 million citizens in the Las Vegas area. Lex Machina provides valuable data-driven insights about judges, law firms, individual attorneys, and [...]
April 2020 Summary: Ongoing Impacts of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Litigation Activity in Federal District Court
Lex Machina continues to explore how courts are affected by the social changes due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Our analysis of court activity through March and the first two weeks of April in 2020 compared to the previous two years revealed the following: Case filings have not yet been significantly impacted year-over-year, though the overall total remains slightly down in 2020 compared to previous years. Case activity is down in 2020 compared to 2018 and 2019. COVID-19 is showing up in 2020 court records mainly due to general orders. However, 200+ cases filed since April 1st mention the coronavirus pandemic in [...]
Tracking New Litigation Caused By COVID-19
The social and economic changes due to the COVID-19 crisis are affecting the business and practice of law. In federal district court, we have seen a slowdown in court activity, but not in case filings. In this blog post, we investigate situations in which COVID-19 social and economic changes may be the driving forces behind new case filings. Here is a summary of the trends that we’ve observed so far: COVID-19 Case Filings are Trending Upward. New cases with complaints citing COVID-19 are increasing week-over-week since March 1, including 110% between the weeks of April 12-18 and April 19-25 alone [...]