COVID-19's shadow spreads across federal court filings Wednesday, May 13, 2020
Law360
Federal courts are seeing an explosion of complaints referencing the COVID-19 pandemic, and the surge is spreading to a host of practice areas, according to recently released Lex Machina data.
Looking at U.S. federal district court complaints filed between March 1 and May 2 that referenced keyword terms tied to the coronavirus pandemic, Lex Machina found there was a 110% spike around mid-April, according to a report released on Monday.
The pandemic has also been referenced in filings that touch on 14 of the 16 practice areas that Lex Machina tracks, and most filings cite the coronavirus pandemic as a major factor behind the filing as opposed to just mentioning the current state of affairs, according to the data.