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Nuclear Verdicts Jump 40.7% in 2025, Marathon Says
Nearly 200 verdicts topped $10 million in 2025, totaling $25.6 billion. Eight states passed tort reform; Marathon sees no slowdown in jury awards.
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Nuclear verdicts jumped 40.7% in 2025, with nearly 200 jury awards of at least $10 million, the highest count since 2009, according to a report from Marathon Strategies, a strategic communications and research firm. The total value of those verdicts reached about $25.6 billion. Forty cases crossed $100 million, a level Marathon calls "thermonuclear," and four exceeded $1 billion.
Marathon attributed the increase to corporate mistrust, social pessimism, erosion of tort reform, and public desensitization to large numbers. More Millennials and Gen Z jurors are showing up, the firm said, and Millennials have proved to be pro-plaintiff and less trusting of companies.
The report counted nuclear verdicts across 68 industries in 2025, up from 55 in 2024 and 48 in 2023. The most frequent targets were beverage companies, pharmaceuticals, auto manufacturers, hotels and restaurants, agricultural chemical makers, banks, and oil and gas producers. Insurance drew five nuclear verdicts totaling $390 million.