‘Thermonuclear’ Verdicts on the Rise, Report Finds
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The trucking industry remained a top legal target last year as multimillion-dollar verdicts against U.S. companies expanded into “thermonuclear” territory of at least $100 million, a new report said.
The “” study from Marathon Strategies found that the trucking and automotive industries faced a combined 15 multimillion-dollar verdicts last year totaling jury awards of more than $1.4 billion.
“In 2024, 135 lawsuits against a corporate defendant resulted in a nuclear verdict — those that surpass $10 million — the largest number of such cases Marathon has identified in a single year since 2009, and a 52% increase over 2023,” said the company, a New York City-based public relations firm whose specialties include crisis and issues management. “The total sum of these verdicts reached an eye-popping $31.3 billion, a 116% increase over 2023.”
Also skyrocketing were so-called thermonuclear verdicts that last year jumped 81% to a new high of 49 compared with 27 in 2023. Two of them came from the trucking sector.
(Graphic by Transport Topics via Marathon Strategies)
In one, $450 million in punitive damages was levied against trailer manufacturer Wabash in connection with a 2019 fatal accident in which a motor vehicle struck the back of a nearly stopped 2004 Wabash trailer. This year, a St. Louis court lowered the amount to $108 million.
In another case, a $160 million verdict was rendered in 2024 by an Alabama state jury against Daimler Truck North America in a product liability case involving a driver who became quadriplegic after a 2022 rollover accident. In the wake of the verdict, Daimler said, “We stand by the safety of our products and our safety testing (including cab crush) meets and exceeds all industry standards in place in the U.S. and worldwide. We have strong grounds for appeal and intend to pursue this action.”
The study noted that nuclear and thermonuclear verdicts were handed down in 34 states nationwide last year, compared with 27 in 2023. Most of the verdicts were ordered in state courts, with $20 billion in awards across 85 cases. In federal courts, nuclear verdicts worth $11 billion were awarded in 50 cases.
The five states with the highest monetary tallies in 2024 were Nevada ($8.4 billion), California ($6.9 billion), Pennsylvania ($3.4 billion), Texas ($3 billion) and New York ($2.1 billion).
The found that the trucking and automotive industries faced a combined 15 multimillion-dollar verdicts last year totaling jury awards of more than $1.4 billion. (Marathon Strategies)
Of interest to trucking is the effect comprehensive tort reform legislation that advanced in Florida has had on the legal system there. Spearheaded in 2023 by the Florida Trucking Association and state lawmakers, this legislation has resulted in Florida dropping to No. 10 in the nation for nuclear verdicts. It had been No. 2 from 2009 to 2022.
Anticipating a change, trial attorneys filed 280,122 new civil cases a few days before Gov. Ron DeSantis enacted a law in March 2023. In enacting the legislation, DeSantis and other lawmakers who backed the bill slammed frivolous lawsuits, predatory practices and billboard attorneys.
The report linked visible advertising campaigns from trial attorneys as a contributor to the rise in nuclear verdicts.
“With the growth of attorney advertising — which now eclipses $2.4 billion each year — aggressive parties plaster American televisions with ads that seek plaintiffs for mass tort litigation and amplify denigrating claims,” the report stated.
Marathon cited pharmaceuticals, technology hardware, storage/peripherals, hotels, restaurants/leisure and oil/gas as other sectors that drew lawsuit attention last year. “Overall, 55 industries were the subject of a nuclear verdict in 2024, compared to 48 the year before,” the report said.
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“Marathon’s research has found that these sectors are among the top targets of nuclear verdicts, mainly in wrongful death and negligence cases,” the study concluded. “While many factors have influenced this growth, Marathon’s research identified corporate mistrust; social pessimism; erosion of tort reform; and public desensitization to large numbers as among the most important. Surveys of corporate counsels indicate that reaching pretrial settlements has become more difficult due to increasing legal costs, regulatory changes and high settlement demands.”
