This report presents findings from a new study of public experience with civil justice situations, the Community Needs and Services Study (CNSS), funded by the ABF and the National Science Foundation (NSF). The study found widespread incidence of events and situations that have civil legal aspects, raise civil legal issues, and are potentially actionable under civil law. These events are common and can be severe in their impacts. Yet most were handled outside the formal justice system. When people who did not seek assistance from third parties were asked if cost was a barrier, they reported that concerns about cost were a factor in 17% of cases. However, a more important reason people did not seek assistance, in particular assistance from lawyers or courts, is that they did not understand these situations to be legal.