Securities litigation duration statistics, by court

Securities litigationsecurities, commodities and exchange suits in federal court — take a median of 182 days from filing to resolution, based on 16,368 real cases in the public federal court record. Most resolve between 57 days and 3.9 years — full statistics, disposition mix, and district breakdown below.

Median
182d
Faster 25%
57d
Slower 25%
2.0 yr
Slowest 10%
3.9 yr

Filing to termination · 16,368 cases · median 182 days

How securities lawsuit cases end

Of 12,650 resolved cases — the observed record, not a prediction of any one case.

47%are dismissed· typically 93d
29%reach judgment· typically 1.4 yr
12%transfer or stay (incl. MDL)· typically 131d
10%settle· typically 1.3 yr
2%are remanded· typically 77d

Securities litigation duration by court

Median time to resolution in the districts with the most securities lawsuit cases.

DistrictCasesMedianSlowest 10%
S.D.N.Y.4,60097d3.4 yr
N.D. Cal.1,290238d4.6 yr
C.D. Cal.1,083350d3.5 yr
E.D.N.Y.984131d6.4 yr
D.N.J.7871.1 yr4.5 yr
S.D. Fla.464219d2.9 yr
E.D. Pa.39179d2.4 yr
D. Mass.3711.2 yr4.1 yr
N.D. Ill.3691.7 yr6.5 yr
D. Colo.306115d4.2 yr
S.D. Cal.2811.3 yr5.0 yr
S.D. Tex.2581.1 yr6.7 yr
N.D. Tex.223228d3.2 yr
D. Md.206154d3.7 yr
N.D. Ga.201287d3.2 yr

Have a specific securities lawsuit?

These are averages across every securities 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

Cite this data

Tertius, "Securities litigation: how long federal cases take, and how they end" (2026). Analysis of Federal Judicial Center Integrated Data Base records, 9.1M U.S. federal civil cases. https://usetertius.com/benchmarks/securities-litigation

Free to cite with attribution — a link back to this page lets readers verify the numbers.

Source: data/fjc/civil.parquet (Federal Judicial Center), cleaned by Tertius · model tertius-acta-6. 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.