SOUTHEAST TEXAS RECORD

Yesterday (Nov. 4) was the funeral for former U.S. Representative John Conyers, who died last Sunday. A “lineup of political, entertainment, religious and sports leaders” paid tribute to him and his “remarkable 53-year” tenure in Congress, where he “compiled a near-record legacy of civil rights activism, longevity and advocacy for poor and underprivileged people.” But to us, he was also a civil justice hero.

Very few injured Americans file lawsuits. Granted it’s been awhile since anyone took an empirical look at the numbers, but when Rand’s Institute for Civil Justice did so 1991, researchers found that only 2 percent of injured Americans file lawsuits. The National Center for State Courts recently provided another perspective: “Tort cases garner a great deal of public interest but generally account for only about 4 percent of [state court] Civil caseloads….”