The insurance conversation that once focused on “nuclear verdicts,” or verdicts and settlements that surpass $10 million and tend to be disproportionate to the litigated issue, has now evolved into one about “thermonuclear verdicts,” or lawsuit outcomes that surpass $100 million.
“These verdicts are not only rising in number, but in size and scope,” Marathon Strategies notes in its recent report, “Corporate Verdicts Go Thermonuclear — 2025 Edition.”
The slideshow above illustrates the top states for thermonuclear verdicts in 2024, the last full year of available data, according to Marathon Strategies.
Researchers for Marathon, a communications firm that crafts client messaging around business intelligence, ran down an alarming list of facts as they pertain to insurance lawsuits:
- There were 135 lawsuits against corporate defendants during the sample year (2024).
- This was the largest number of such cases Marathon Strategies identified in a single year since 2009, and a 52% increase over 2023.
- The total sum of these verdicts reached $31.3 billion, a 116% increase over 2023.
Insurance industry experts wager that such exorbitant litigation costs — perpetuated by a litigious public as part of a phenomenon dubbed “social inflation” — impact premiums for everyone and trickle up to the greater economy.
The trend has given way to concerns about “legal system abuse,” or a judicial system plagued by aggressive attorney advertising, third-party litigation financing, and persuasive jury “anchoring” techniques.
“Legal system abuse has driven up litigation expenses and costs, impacting businesses and consumers across the United States,” Joshua Hackett, head of Casualty at Munich Re US, said in a recent press release about research the carrier undertook in conjunction with the Triple-I. “If left unchecked, these rising costs will continue to increase insurance premiums and limit coverage options.”
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