How long does a civil rights lawsuit take?
Civil rights litigation — civil rights suits in federal court — take a median of 189 days from filing to resolution, based on 333,512 real cases in the public federal court record. Most resolve between 83 days and 2.3 years — here's the full picture.
Filing to termination · 333,512 cases · median 189 days
How civil rights lawsuit cases end
Of 245,227 resolved cases — the observed record, not a prediction of any one case.
Civil rights litigation duration by court
Median time to resolution in the districts with the most civil rights lawsuit cases.
| District | Cases | Median | Slowest 10% |
|---|---|---|---|
| C.D. Cal. | 41,226 | 111d | 1.3 yr |
| S.D.N.Y. | 28,176 | 137d | 1.6 yr |
| S.D. Fla. | 20,783 | 79d | 281d |
| E.D.N.Y. | 12,401 | 242d | 3.0 yr |
| N.D. Cal. | 12,253 | 222d | 1.9 yr |
| N.D. Ill. | 11,045 | 295d | 3.3 yr |
| M.D. Fla. | 10,925 | 135d | 1.5 yr |
| E.D. Cal. | 7,822 | 266d | 3.2 yr |
| D.N.J. | 7,815 | 270d | 3.0 yr |
| E.D. Pa. | 7,789 | 196d | 1.9 yr |
| N.D. Ga. | 7,127 | 189d | 2.1 yr |
| D. Colo. | 5,816 | 154d | 2.1 yr |
| E.D. Mich. | 5,439 | 1.1 yr | 2.9 yr |
| S.D. Tex. | 5,116 | 268d | 2.4 yr |
| W.D. Pa. | 4,901 | 238d | 2.7 yr |
Have a specific civil rights lawsuit?
These are averages across every civil rights lawsuit. For a forecast tuned to your case — your court, your amount, your posture — get a free estimate, or the full report built from your complaint.
Other case types
Source: data/fjc/civil.parquet (Federal Judicial Center), cleaned by Tertius · model tertius-acta-3. Durations are filing to termination for U.S. federal civil cases. This is observed historical data, not a prediction of any specific case, and not legal advice. Tertius forecasts timing and disposition, never merits or damages.