Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T12:35:34.049Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Connecting Litigation Levels and Legal Mobilization: Explaining Interstate Variation in Employment Civil Rights Litigation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Charles R. Epp
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Social science research on civil litigation has concentrated either on explaining variations in aggregate litigation levels or on explaining individual-level mobilization of the law. This article attempts to connect the two approaches by analyzing variations in state-level employment civil rights litigation within a framework based on individual-legal decisionmaking. Because the structure of our court system forces individuals to consider the costs and benefits of pursuing litigation, the model developed here incorporates factors that would affect individuals' cost/benefit decisionmaking with regard to civil rights litigation. The multivariate regression model based on this framework explains, with increasing strength, much of the state-level variation in civil rights litigation levels for the years 1970, 1975, and 1980. Although the framework has certain limitations, it may serve to enhance our understanding of aggregate litigation levels.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , 1990 , pp. 145 - 163
Copyright
Copyright © 1990 Law and Society Association.

Footnotes

This article is based on a presentation at the Southwestern Political Science Association annual meeting, March 29-April 1, 1989, Little Rock, Arkansas. I would like to thank C. K. Rowland and Paul Edward Johnson for helpful comments on the development of this research, and Herbert Kritzer and Joel Grossman for helpful comments on an earlier draft.

References

References

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES COURTS (1970, 1975, 1980, 1981) Annual Report of the Director. Washington, DC: Administrative Office of the United States Courts.Google Scholar
BELTON, Robert (1978) “A Comparative Review of Public and Private Enforcement of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” 31 Vanderbilt Law Review 905.Google Scholar
BLACK, Donald J. (1973) “The Mobilization of Law,” 2 Journal of Legal Studies 125.Google Scholar
BULLOCK, Charles S. III, and Charles M., LAMB, eds. (1984) Implementation of Civil Rights Policy. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Co.Google Scholar
BUMILLER, Kristin (1988) The Civil Rights Society: The Social Construction of Victims. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
BUREAU OF THE CENSUS (1970, 1980) Census of the Population, 1970 and 1980, Vol. Census of the Population, 1970 and 1980, Vol: Characteristics of the Population, Ch. C, “General Social and. Economic Characteristics.” Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
BURSTEIN, Paul (1988) “Minorities, Women, and the Mobilization of Equal Employment Opportunity Laws.” Delivered at the 1988 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association.Google Scholar
BURSTEIN, Paul (1985) Discrimination, Jobs, and Politics: The Struggle for Equal Employment Opportunity in the United States Since the New Deal. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
BURSTEIN, Paul and Kathleen, MONAGHAN, (1986) “Equal Employment Opportunity and the Mobilization of Law,” 20 Law & Society Review 355.Google Scholar
CARLIN, Jerome E., and Jan, HOWARD (1965) “Legal Representation and Class Justice,” 12 UCLA Law Review 381.Google Scholar
DANIELS, Stephen (1985) “Continuity and Change in Patterns of Case Handling: A Case Study of Two Rural Counties,” 19 Law & Society Review 381.Google Scholar
DANIELS, Stephen (1984) “Ladders and Bushes: The Problem of Caseloads and Studying Court Activities over Time,” 1984 American Bar Foundation Research Journal 751.Google Scholar
DANIELS, Stephen-(1982) “Civil Litigation in Illinois Trial Courts: An Exploration of Rural-Urban Differences,” 4 Law & Policy Quarterly 190.Google Scholar
DURKHEIM, Emile (1984 [1893]) The Division of Labor in Society. New York: Free Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION (1970, 1975, 1980) Equal Employment Opportunity Report: Job Patterns for Minorities and Women in Industry, Vol. 1. Washington, DC.Google Scholar
FELSTINER, William L. F., Richard L., ABEL, and Austin, SARAT (1980–81) “The Emergence and Transformation of Disputes: Naming, Blaming, Claiming…,” 15 Law & Society Review 631.Google Scholar
FIREBAUGH, Glenn, and Jack P., GIBBS (1985) “User's Guide to Ratio Variables,” 50 American Sociological Review 713.Google Scholar
GILES, Michael W., and Thomas D., LANCASTER (1989) “Political Transition, Social Development and Legal Mobilization in Spain,” 83 American Political Science Review 817.Google Scholar
GROSSMAN, Joel B., and Austin, SARAT (1975) “Litigation in the Federal Courts: A Comparative Perspective,” 9 Law & Society Review 321.Google Scholar
GROSSMAN, Joel B., Austin, SARAT, Herbert M., KRITZER, McDOUGAL, Stephen, Kristin, BUMILLER, and Richard, MILLER (1982) “Dimensions of Institutional Participation: Who Uses the Courts, and How?” 44 Journal of Politics 86.Google Scholar
HEYDEBRAND, Wolf, and Carroll, SERON (1986) “The Rising Demand for Court Services: A Structural Explanation of the Caseload of U.S. District Courts,” 11 Justice System Journal 303.Google Scholar
JOHNSON, Earl Jr. (1980–81) “Lawyers' Choice: A Theoretical Appraisal of Litigation Investment Decisions,” 15 Law & Society Review 567.Google Scholar
KRISLOV, Samuel (1983) “Theoretical Perspectives on Caseload Studies: A Critique and Beginning,” in Boyum, Keith O. and Mather, Lynn (eds.), Empirical Theories about Courts. New York: Longmans.Google Scholar
KRITZER, Herbert M. (1990) “Substance and Method in the Use of Ratio Variables, or the Spurious Nature of Spurious Correlation?” 52 Journal of Politics 243.Google Scholar
LEMPERT, Richard (1978) “More Tales of Two Courts: Exploring Changes in the Dispute Settlement Function of Trial Courts,” 13 Law & Society Review 91.Google Scholar
LEMPERT, Richard-(1976) “Mobilizing Private Law: An Introductory Essay,” 11 Law & Society Review 173.Google Scholar
MARSHALL, Ray, Charles B., KNAPP, Malcolm H., LIGGETT, and Robert W., GLOVER (1978) Employment Discrimination: The Impact of Legal and Administrative Remedies. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
MAYHEW, Leon (1975) “Institutions of Representation: Civil Justice and the Public,” 9 Law & Society Review 401.Google Scholar
McINTOSH, Wayne (1983) “Private Use of a Public Forum: A Long Range View of the Dispute Processing Role of Courts,” 77 American Political Science Review 991.Google Scholar
MILLER, Richard E., and Austin, SARAT (1980-81) “Grievances, Claims, and Disputes: Assessing the Adversary Culture,” 15 Law & Society Review 525.Google Scholar
MUNGER, Frank W. Jr. (1988) “Law, Change, and Litigation: A Critical Examination of an Empirical Research Tradition,” 22 Law & Society Review 57.Google Scholar
MUNGER, Frank W. Jr. (1986) “Commercial Litigation in West Virginia State and Federal Courts, 1870–1940,” 30 American Journal of Legal History 322.Google Scholar
PARSONS, Talcott (1977) The Evolution of Societies. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
PRIEST, George L., and Benjamin, KLEIN (1984) “The Selection of Disputes for Litigation,” 13 Journal of Legal Studies 1.Google Scholar
STEEL, Lewis M. (1983) “Why Attorneys Won't Take Civil Rights Cases,” Nation, 326–64 (March 26).Google Scholar
STOOKEY, John A. (1986) “Economic Cycles and Civil Litigation,” 11 Justice System Journal 282.Google Scholar
WEBER, Max (1975) Roscher and Knies: The Logical Problems of Historical Economics. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
ZEMANS, Frances Kahn (1982) “Framework for Analysis of Legal Mobilization: A Decision-making Model,” 1982 American Bar Foundation Research Journal 989.Google Scholar
ZEMANS, Frances Kahn (1983) “Legal Mobilization: The Neglected Role of the Law in the Political System,” 77 American Political Science Review 690.Google Scholar

Cases Cited

Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, 422 U.S. 405 (1975).Google Scholar
Franks v. Bowman Transportation Co., 424 U.S. 747 (1976).Google Scholar

Statute Cited

Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000 (1964)..Google Scholar