HOUSTON - Lex Machina, a LexisNexis company, today releases its first ever Torts Litigation Report looking at trends and insights in federal district court.
The report includes data from 2010 through Sept. 30, 2020. Case tags for the tort module include Federal Tort Claims Act, medical malpractice, motor vehicle, and premises liability.
“Looking at the data, we could clearly see the effects of mass tort litigation on the analytics,” said Anne Wise Kann, Lex Machina’s torts legal data expert. “We developed case tags in order to be able isolate specific mass torts cases and look at trends within mass torts or excluding mass torts.”
According to the report, from January 2018 through 2019 Q2 torts case filings increased. Case filings then decreased each quarter until there was a small increase in the most recent quarter.
Out of the 173 torts cases caused by COVID-19 filed through 2020 Q3 most are negligence cases against cruise lines.
The top district in the last five years with 7,796 cases was the Eastern District of Louisiana, which is handling the Deepwater Horizon mass tort litigation, according to the report.
The top plaintiffs’ firm was Nations Law Firm with 5,166 cases, which represented plaintiffs incases related to Deepwater Horizon. The top defendants’ law firm was the Department of Justice, which represents the governmental organizations in claims against them. Most of the DOJ’s cases had claims under the Federal Torts Claims Act (FTCA).
Excluding mass torts cases, three of the top five defendants were retail stores, which had a large number of premises liability cases, according to the report.
Wal-Mart Stores had the most cases brought against it (2,027). Target also had a bull’s-eye on its back with 1,309 cases. Carnival came in third with 1,212 cases.
Johnson & Johnson and Janssen Pharmaceuticals were also hit with a large number of lawsuits, 984 and 964 respectively.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association was tenth on the list (900) due to an MDL class action for concussive injuries resulting from playing college sports.
There were also a large number of medical/pharmaceutical defendants, due to medical malpractice lawsuits.
When it came to placing blame, courts found no negligence almost four times as often as negligence, with nearly three-quarters of the no negligence findings at summary judgment.
In cases terminating 2015 to 2019, punitive damages and pain and suffering had the most damages awarded, with $1.8 billion and $1.4 billion respectively.
Lex Machina provides strategic insights on judges, lawyers, law firms, parties, and other critical information across 16 federal practice areas and select state courts.