The State of Commercial Insurance Litigation
A running record of what commercial insurance litigation actually costs: nuclear verdicts, social inflation, third-party litigation funding, and the court delays that stretch every claim. Each figure is published with its source and the date that source published it.
- Last reviewed
- Update cadence
- Quarterly
Nuclear verdicts
Outsized jury awards against commercial defendants: how many, how large, and where they land.
135
Nuclear verdicts of $10 million or more against corporate defendants in 2024, the highest on record
Up 52% over 2023.
Source: Marathon Strategies via Insurance Journal — Corporate Nuclear Verdicts Surged to New Record High in 2024, Report Says (opens in a new tab) Published
$31.3B
Total awarded across those 135 verdicts in 2024
A 116% jump over 2023.
Source: Marathon Strategies via Insurance Journal — Corporate Nuclear Verdicts Surged to New Record High in 2024, Report Says (opens in a new tab) Published
$51M
Median corporate nuclear verdict in 2024, up from $21 million in 2020
The median was $44 million in 2023.
Source: Marathon Strategies via Risk & Insurance — Nuclear Verdicts Skyrocket: Corporate Lawsuit Awards Surge 116% to $31.3 Billion in 2024 (opens in a new tab) Published
49
Verdicts of $100 million or more in 2024, up from 27 in 2023
Five verdicts topped $1 billion.
Source: Marathon Strategies via Risk & Insurance — Nuclear Verdicts Skyrocket: Corporate Lawsuit Awards Surge 116% to $31.3 Billion in 2024 (opens in a new tab) Published
61%
Share of 1,200+ nuclear verdicts from 2013 to 2022 produced by six states: California, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas
Median verdict $21 million. Varies by state.
Source: US Chamber Institute for Legal Reform — New U.S. Chamber Research Shows 'Nuclear' Verdicts Continue to Increase in Size and Frequency (opens in a new tab) Published
149
Nuclear verdicts tracked in 2025, totaling $25.1 billion across 28 states
CaseGlide's Litigation Sentinel tracker counts all defendants and jury verdicts only, so these figures are not directly comparable to the Marathon figures above. Five verdicts topped $1 billion.
Source: CaseGlide — What Counts as a Nuclear Verdict? Definition and 2026 Data (opens in a new tab) Published
34
Nuclear verdicts tracked in the first half of 2026, totaling $6.9 billion with a median of $61 million
Same tracker: 15 verdicts of $100 million or more, one over $1 billion. Not an exhaustive national tally.
Source: CaseGlide Litigation Sentinel — Nuclear Verdicts Dashboard: 2026 Nuclear Verdict Statistics, Tracked Monthly (opens in a new tab) Published
24
Nuclear verdicts in California in 2025, the most of any state; Georgia led by dollars with $4.88 billion tracked
Same CaseGlide tracker: Florida had 16, Texas 14, New York 11. Not exhaustive. Varies by state.
Source: CaseGlide — Nuclear Verdicts by State: Where Exposure Concentrates (2026) (opens in a new tab) Published
Third-party litigation funding
Capital committed by outside investors to fund civil litigation, and its measured effect on case duration and award size.
$17B
Invested globally in litigation funding in 2020, more than half of it in the US
Swiss Re projects the sector could reach $30 billion by 2028.
Source: Triple-I citing Swiss Re — Reining in Third-Party Litigation Funding Gains Traction Nationwide (opens in a new tab) Published
$16.1B
Assets held by US commercial litigation funders across 42 active funders in 2024, the latest available figure
Funders committed $2.3 billion to new deals in 2024.
Source: Westfleet Advisors via PR Newswire — $2.3 Billion Committed in U.S. Commercial Litigation Finance Amid Capital Contraction in 2024 (opens in a new tab) Published
+23%
Rebound in new capital commitments to US commercial litigation finance in 2025, after two years of decline
39 active funders in 2025; average transaction about $8.1 million.
Source: Westfleet Advisors via Risk & Insurance — Litigation Finance Capital Commitments Rebound 23% After Two-Year Contraction (opens in a new tab) Published
~30%
Share of patent lawsuits filed in 2022 estimated to be third-party funded
Patent litigation only. GAO confirms no verified national figure exists for all US cases.
Source: US GAO citing Unified Patents — Intellectual Property: Information on Third-Party Funding of Patent Litigation (GAO-25-107214) (opens in a new tab) Published
Court delays
Civil case backlogs and time-to-disposition in the courts where commercial liability claims are tried.
15.6 months
Median time from filing to disposition for federal civil cases in FY2025, up from 13.7 months in FY2024
Median time rose even as total pending cases fell 19%, driven by mass-tort terminations.
Source: Administrative Office of the US Courts — U.S. District Courts: Judicial Business 2025 (opens in a new tab) Published
86,778
Federal civil cases pending more than three years as of September 30, 2025
Roughly 4.7 times the 2004 level of 18,280.
Source: US Courts — September 2025 Civil Justice Reform Act (opens in a new tab) Published
40
Article III judicial vacancies at the end of 2025, 17 of them designated judicial emergencies
The Judicial Conference asked Congress for 71 additional judgeships in early 2025.
Source: US Courts — The Federal Bench, Annual Report 2025 (opens in a new tab) Published
30% vs 4%
Growth in federal district court filings since 1990 versus growth in authorized judgeships since 1991
From testimony to Congress by Judge Timothy Tymkovich.
Source: US Courts — Courts Need More Judgeships, Judge Tells Congress (opens in a new tab) Published
How we source these numbers
- Every figure links to the primary source that published it, not to a secondary article summarising it.
- Every figure carries the source's publication date so you can judge how current it is.
- Figures are re-checked quarterly. Anything superseded is replaced; anything withdrawn is removed rather than left standing.
- Where a source's methodology materially limits the figure, such as a partial jurisdiction sample or a self-reported survey, that limit is stated alongside the number.
- We do not publish estimates, extrapolations or figures we cannot trace to a named publisher.
Spotted an error or a newer source? Email ted@policyportal.com. For daily coverage of the cases behind these numbers, see the news feed or read about PolicyPortal.
Social inflation
The share of commercial liability loss-cost growth that outruns general economic inflation.
$231.6B to $281.2B
Estimated losses added to US liability insurance by legal system abuse plus inflation over the decade through 2024
Includes $52.0 to $70.8 billion in commercial auto.
Source: Triple-I / Casualty Actuarial Society — New CAS and Triple-I Analysis Quantifies Impact of Legal System Abuse on Liability Insurance Losses
93.5%
Rise in commercial auto claim severity from 2015 to 2024, averaging 7.6% a year while general inflation (CPI) averaged 3.2%
This edition changed its CPI methodology, so it is not directly comparable to earlier editions.
Source: Triple-I / CAS — Increasing Inflation on Liability Insurance: Impact as of Year-End 2024
$4B
Spent on more than 30 million US legal services ads in 2025, up about 44% versus 2024
Up from $2.5 billion in 2024.
Source: American Tort Reform Association — New York Local Legal Services Advertising 2024-2025
$529B
US tort system costs in 2022, over $4,200 per household
Per-household cost varies by state.
Source: US Chamber Institute for Legal Reform — New U.S. Chamber Study: Lawsuit System Costs Reach Over $4,200 Per Household
$42.8B
Estimated excess litigation value from US motor vehicle tort cases filed 2014 to 2023
About 5 million such cases were filed in state civil courts over that period.
Source: Triple-I — Behind the Wheel of Legal Inflation: More Than $42.8B in Excess Auto Tort Cases Uncovered
$58B
US commercial auto tort costs in 2022, the fastest-growing US tort area at over 10% a year from 2016 to 2022
Source: US Chamber Institute for Legal Reform / The Brattle Group — Tort Costs in America - Commercial Auto: An Analysis of the Economic Impact of Commercial Automobile Tort Costs