2024 produced record number of 'thermonuclear verdicts,' report finds; what is impact of younger jurors?
A record number of eight- and nine-figure jury verdicts are evidence of an “indisputable trend,” according to the CEO of a communications and research company that compiled the figures. (Image from Shutterstock)
A record number of eight- and nine-figure jury verdicts are evidence of an “indisputable trend,” according to the CEO of a communications and research company that compiled the figures.
“Civil court juries want to punish companies like never before,” said Phil Singer, the CEO and founder of Marathon Strategies, in a May 20 press release. “Supersized jury verdicts are being issued at greater scales, in more places across the country, and against a wider breadth of industries than we’ve ever encountered in our research.”
Marathon Strategies’ report found that 135 lawsuits against corporate defendants resulted in jury awards of $10 million or more—the largest number of “nuclear verdicts” in a year since the company began compiling civil jury awards in 2009.
Marathon Strategies also identified 49 suits that produced verdicts of more than $100 million last year—a record number of “thermonuclear verdicts.” Five of those cases involved verdicts greater than $1 billion last year.
Big verdicts were most often issued in products liability and intellectual property cases.
“While many factors have influenced this growth,” Marathon Strategies said in its report, “Marathon’s research identified corporate mistrust, social pessimism, erosion of tort reform and public desensitization to large numbers as among the most important.”
The research also showed that an influx of millennial and Generation Z jurors could be affecting verdicts. According to Marathon Strategies, studies show that millennials are generally more pro-plaintiff than the prior generation and less trusting of corporations.
The report identified new areas of legal risk as forever chemicals, obesity, algorithmic liability, cryptocurrency and cybersecurity.
Marathon Strategies compiled jury verdict data from state and federal court records, media reports and other records. Sources included the National Law Journal’s VerdictSearch and LexisNexis’ Jury Verdicts & Settlements database.
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