Fewer lawsuits are being filed in New Jersey state courts, a trend that’s persisted for at least a decade and is sparking fears the judicial system is becoming irrelevant for segments of the population.

New Jersey courts saw 815,922 cases filed in the civil, criminal and family divisions in 2018, which represents a marginal increase from 2017′s filing level. But more significantly, that’s still a 28 percent decline from the number of cases filed in 2008.