The Bureau of Justice Statistics announced that the number of tort trials concluded in U.S. district courts was cut from 3,600 trials in 1985 to fewer than 800 trials in 2003 showing a decrease of nearly 80 percent. The Bureau also found that the percentage of tort cases concluded by trial in U.S. district courts has also declined from 10 percent in the early 1970s to 2 percent in 2003.