Skip to Main Content

Court-Annexed Mandatory Arbitration Annual Report Fiscal Year 2005 - Cook County | State of Illinois Office of the Illinois Courts

Circuit Court of Cook County

Arbitration Program Information

As a general jurisdiction trial court, the Circuit Court of Cook County is the largest unified court in the nation. The Supreme Court granted approval to implement an arbitration program in Cook County in January 1990. A supervising judge oversees arbitration program matters and is assisted by an arbitration program administrator and deputy administrator.

DATA PROFILES

Cook County

Following are charts and diagrams which contain data from State Fiscal Year 2005.

State Fiscal Year 2005

Cook County*

At a Glance Arbitration Caseload Information

Number of Cases Pending / Referred to Arbitration  29,360                       
Number of Cases Settled /Dismissed  27,649
Number of Cases Pending  3,238
Number of Arbitration Hearings  9,764
Number of Awards Accepted  2,498          
Number of Awards Rejected  4,572   
Number of Cases Filed in Arbitration which Proceeded to Trial  348

(* Only jurisdiction with a limit of $30,000 for arbitration cases; others are $50,000)

Chart shows cases referred to Cook County's arbitration program vary annually, an average of 15,040 cases per year were referred to arbitration over the past five state fiscal years.

While cases referred to Cook County's arbitration program vary annually, an average of 15,040 cases per year were referred to arbitration over the past five state fiscal years.

Chart shows information regarding the total number of cases litigated in arbitration which yielded either a disposition or, ultimately went to trial.

The chart above presents information regarding the total number of cases litigated in arbitration which yielded either a disposition or, ultimately went to trial. Program data indicates that either a settlement or dismissal was reached in 93% (27,301 of 29,360 cases were disposed) of the cases filed in the Cook County arbitration program for State Fiscal Year 2005. This disposition rate is moderately higher than the five year average of 85% and is above the statewide average of 84%.

A more significant performance indicator for arbitration, however, is measuring the number of cases which, having completed the arbitration process, proceed to trial. In Cook County, a little over one percent of cases (348 of the 29,360) filed in arbitration proceeded to trial.