Trials and Tribulations: Crises, Litigation, and Legal Change

Using a data base of 28,000 trial cases decided in four Arizona trial courts between 1912 and 1951, this article examines the relationships between crises, litigation, and policy change. After comparing and contrasting consensus and conflict perspectives on trial court litigation, an interrupted time series design is used to test three propositions derived from the conflict perspective. These propositions concern the impact of crises, namely, world wars and depressions, on different types of litigation; the victory patterns of different types of disputants; the ability of losing litigants to obtain policy relief; and the impact of policy change on varying disputants and litigants. The results suggest the utility of further attempts to explore litigation from an economic and political conflict perspective.