Tort Reform Part 2: Nuclear Verdicts

The research company, Marathon Strategies did a report on nuclear verdicts called, Corporate Verdicts Go Thermonuclear 2025 Edition. And the did — indeed — go thermonuclear.

In 2024 the number of nuclear verdicts topping $10 million hit 135. That’s a 52% increase over 2023.

Even more difficult to imagine is the total cost the 135 verdicts. Marathon said they cost those being sued $31.3 billion, 116% rise over 2023.

Then there are thermonuclear verdicts. The report said, “Thermonuclear verdicts” of $100 million or more increased to 49 last year, with five of those cases resulting in verdicts greater than $1 billion.”

Marathon says the causes of the increases is a growing mistrust of corporations, a society that is increasingly pessimistic, a desensitized public and a tort system that is slowly crashing.

Texas had the most nuclear verdicts at 23. The PIA Western Alliance state of California wasn’t far behind at 17. Pennsylvania had 12.

As a testament to what can happen if tort reform is enacted, Florida — which ranked number two on the list from 2009 to 2022 — dropped to number 10 after the Legislature began reforming its laws.

The state with the highest sum of verdicts is the PIA Western Alliance state of Nevada. The silver state saw verdicts hitting $8.4 billion. A series of multi-billion awards against a former Las Vegas bottled water company, Real Water, pushed Nevada to the top.

Without that series of verdicts the top spot would belong to the PIA Western Alliance state of California. It ranked second in 2024 with $6.9 billion in nuclear verdicts. The Golden State is followed by Pennsylvania at $3.4 billion, Texas had settlements of $3 billion, New York sits at $2.1 billion, Missouri is a billion less at $1.2 billion, Delaware  is the last in the billions of dollars at $1 billion.

Rounding out the top 10 is Louisiana’s $733 million, Illinois’ $654 million and Florida’s $538 million.

The report found that nuclear verdicts occur more often in state court than federal courts. State courts accounted for 85 nuclear verdicts in 2024 totaling $20.1 billion.  Federal verdicts were half that at $11.2 billion.

Product liability led the list of the highest verdicts against corporations. That’s been a trend for decades. Product liability suit verdicts totaled $13.9 billion in 2024.

The industry hit hardest is pharmaceuticals. There were 10 verdicts. Technology hardware, storage and peripherals, trucking, hotels, restaurants and leisure followed.

Pharmaceuticals had the most verdicts of any industry with 10, followed by technology hardware, storage & peripherals (9), trucking (8) and hotels, restaurants and leisure (8).

Source link: Insurance Journal — https://bit.ly/3Z3J28t