Awards reached $3.4 billion across 12 cases in 2025, up from $1.4 billion in 2024
Marathon said juries in Texas, California, Florida and Maryland consistently produced large awards, based on 2025 totals. (adamkaz/Getty Images)
Noel Fletcher
Nuclear verdicts against the trucking and automotive industries nearly tripled to $3.4 billion in 2025 as researchers found settlements were becoming harder to reach and juries were more inclined to award larger damages.
Overall, about 200 juries last year delivered verdicts of $10 million or more — the threshold for so-called “nuclear” verdicts — totaling $25.6 billion, a 40.7% increase from 2024.
The findings are detailed in the 2026 edition of Marathon Strategies’ annual report, Corporate Verdicts Go Thermonuclear. The New York-based public relations firm specializes in crisis and issues management.
“For the second consecutive year, juries returned more than 40 ‘thermonuclear’ verdicts exceeding $100 million, including four awards topping $1 billion,” Marathon said. The report defines thermonuclear verdicts as those exceeding $100 million.
The trucking and automotive industries remained among the sectors most affected by large civil litigation awards.
“The sum of verdicts against the trucking and automotive industries nearly tripled in 2025, rising to 12 cases for $3.4 billion, compared with 15 cases for $1.4 billion in 2024,” the report stated. “Marathon’s research has found that these sectors are among the top targets of nuclear verdicts, mainly in wrongful-death and negligence cases.”
The first nuclear verdict involving autonomous vehicle technology litigation occurred last year. A Miami jury awarded $243 million in damages after determining car and truck manufacturer Tesla was partially liable for a fatal crash involving its Autopilot driver-assistance technology.
Marathon said the case could establish legal precedents as more manufacturers incorporate automation into their products, particularly because liability in motor vehicle cases involving corporate defendants often is shared between the company and the vehicle operator.
The 2025 jury awards set a record for the highest annual total since Marathon began publishing the report in 2023. Beverage companies faced the largest total awards at $3.8 billion, followed by pharmaceutical and automotive companies at $2.9 billion each. More than two dozen industries were hit with at least $100 million in nuclear verdicts.
Phil Singer, Marathon’s founder and CEO, said the rise in nuclear verdicts has expanded beyond a narrow group of industries and is occurring in a growing number of jurisdictions.
“These cases are becoming broader, more frequent and increasingly difficult for companies to predict or prepare for. Organizations across virtually every sector should view this as a long-term shift in litigation risk, one that requires not only stronger legal strategies, but also proactive communications planning to mitigate the significant reputational damage these cases can inflict,” Singer said.
Marathon said juries in Texas ($3.4 billion), California ($2.6 billion), Florida ($2.5 billion) and Maryland ($1.7 billion) consistently produced large awards, based on 2025 totals.
Despite Florida’s sweeping tort reform legislation enacted in 2023 to curb frivolous lawsuits, juries there continue to address a record wave of 280,122 civil suits filed before that legislation — House Bill 837 — took effect.
Singer told Transport Topics that Marathon researchers determined most nuclear verdict awards in Florida during 2025 stemmed from 16 of the 20 lawsuits that were already “in the pipeline” before March 24, 2023, when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law.
“With some exceptions, the reforms apply to causes of action filed after that effective date. Looking over the cases, we’re looking at an average of 4.4 years to reach a verdict among that set. There could obviously be more cases in the pipeline filed prior to 2023. We’ve seen some cases take a decade or more to reach a verdict, so there will likely be years of lag in assessing how effective Florida’s legislation will be,” he said.
Researchers attributed larger awards to younger jurors, who tend to be more skeptical of U.S. corporations and place greater weight on ethical business issues.
“A shift toward ‘juror activism’ may also become further pronounced as Gen Z and Millennials comprise a larger share of juries,” the report said. “Surveys of corporate counsels indicate that reaching pretrial settlements has become more difficult due to increasing legal costs, regulatory changes and high settlement demands.”
