Lex Machina Releases 2023 Product Liability Litigation Report

Product liability cases (excluding MDL Associated Cases) have generally increased over recent years, with subsets of cases clustered around specific large-scale litigation events

Menlo Park, CA — September 14, 2023 —Lex Machina, a LexisNexis company, today releases its annual Product Liability Litigation Report. The report examines trends in product liability litigation in federal district courts and appellate courts. Focusing on the five-year period from 2018 to 2022, it surveys emerging trends in case filings, venues, judges, law firms, parties, timing metrics, case resolutions, findings, and damages. The report often focuses on different sets of data, e.g., filtering cases in order to provide analytics on general product liability cases, medical device/pharmaceutical cases, vehicle cases, and federal appellate product liability cases.

“Lex Machina monitors different trends in product liability litigation through analyzing the kinds of data offered in this report,” said Ron Porter, Lex Machina’s product liability legal data expert and editor of the report. “By filtering to different subsets of cases – including product liability cases excluding MDL Associated Cases, medical/pharmaceutical cases, and vehicle cases – it’s clear the analytics reveals two key trends. One, product liability cases are generally increasing over recent years. Two, spikes and dips in cases can generally be correlated with specific large-scale litigation events, which are discussed in more detail in the report. By analyzing the data, it’s possible to gain crucial data-driven insights on the evolving landscape of product liability litigation.”

Highlights from the report include:

In 2022, 5,826 product liability cases (excluding MDL Associated cases) were litigated in federal district courts.
In the five-year period from 2018 to 2022, the highest number of product liability cases was filed in the Southern District of Illinois, while Judge Rosenstengel from the Southern District of Illinois was the most active judge for product liability cases.
In the five-year period from 2018 to 2022, Syngenta AG was the most active defendant in general product liability cases (excluding MDL Associated Cases), while Johnson & Johnson was the most active defendant in medical/pharmaceutical cases, and Ford Motor Company was the most active defendant in vehicle cases.
Meyers & Flowers was the most active counsel representing plaintiffs in product liability cases in the five-year period from 2018 to 2022, while Kirkland & Ellis represented defendants in the highest number of product liability cases over the same period of time.
$214 million in total damages were awarded as Approved Class Action Settlement Damages from 2018 to 2022, while $201 million in total damages were awarded as Punitive Damages.

Lex Machina’s reports and software enable practitioners to devise data-driven litigation strategies. The metrics in this report can help readers decide who to pursue as clients, whether to file a particular motion, or when to settle (and for how much). This research supplements traditional legal research and anecdotal data for a competitive edge in court.

Product Liability Litigation Report Webcast
Lex Machina is hosting a webcast to discuss the report on September 14, 2023 at noon ET/9am PT with Robbie Jost (Counsel at Crowell), Richard North, Jr. (Partner at Nelson Mullins), and Ron Porter (Lex Machina’s Legal Data Expert in Product Liability Litigation), hosted by Aria Nejad (Lex Machina’s In-house Counsel). Register for the event or view a recording.

About LexisNexis Legal & Professional
LexisNexis Legal & Professional® provides legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics that help customers increase their productivity, improve decision-making, achieve better outcomes, and advance the rule of law around the world. As a digital pioneer, the company was the first to bring legal and business information online with its Lexis® and Nexis® services. LexisNexis Legal & Professional, which serves customers in more than 150 countries with 11,300 employees worldwide, is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers.

About Lex Machina
Lex Machina fundamentally changes how companies and law firms compete in the business and practice of law. The company provides strategic insights on judges, lawyers, law firms, parties, and other critical information across 20 federal practice areas and a rapidly growing number of state courts. Lex Machina allows law firms and companies to anticipate the behaviors and outcomes that different legal strategies will produce, enabling them to win cases and close business.

Lex Machina was named one of “Legal Tech’s Most Promising Solution Providers” (CIO Review Awards 2022), “Greater Bay Area Top Workplaces 2022” (The San Francisco Chronicle Top Workplaces in the Bay Area 2022), “Legal Tech Company of the Year 2021″ (CIO Review, 2021), “2021 Legal Technology Trailblazer” (National Law Journal Trailblazer Awards, 2021), Winner of the “Media Excellence” Award for Analytics/Big Data (13th Annual Media Excellence Award, 2021). Based in Silicon Valley, Lex Machina is part of LexisNexis, a leading global provider of legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics. For more information, please visit www.lexmachina.com.