- Here’s what happened: A recent report from the Institute for Legal Reform shows the widespread proliferation of nuclear verdicts in recent years.
- A nuclear verdict is a jury award that exceeds $10 million, often in personal injury or wrongful death lawsuits, comprising noneconomic, economic and punitive damages.
- ICYMI: Nationwide, nuclear verdicts hit a 15-year high in 2023, with jury awards totaling $14.5 billion. According to the study, Texas saw six of the top ten nuclear verdicts among all states, totaling over $200 million.
- Texas and four other states saw half of the nation’s nuclear verdicts but only account for a third of the nation’s population.
- How it works: In these lawsuits, plaintiffs’ lawyers often use tactics like the Reptile Theory to convince jurors the defendant is a danger to society and it’s up the jury to punish them. Techniques like jury anchoring—where a plaintiff’s attorney tries to quantify an unquantifiable concept, like pain and suffering, by comparing it to an expensive object—and rampant plaintiff’s lawyer advertising have helped normalize the idea of multimillion-dollar verdicts with the public. While these methods are frequently seen in commercial vehicle lawsuits, they extend to any personal injury lawsuit, making every industry a target.
- Why it matters: Nuclear verdicts can threaten the viability of businesses, especially small ones, increase consumer prices and drive up insurance costs, impacting jobs for Texans and the prices of the goods and services we use every day.
- TLR Thoughts: While Texas lawmakers passed HB 19 in 2021 to establish guardrails to help level the playing field in commercial vehicle litigation, it’s clear the problem isn’t just limited to company vehicles. And while the Lone Star State has come a long way from the days of jackpot justice in the 1980s and 1990s, our status as a national leader in nuclear verdicts shows there’s more work to be done to keep nuclear verdicts from destroying the Texas Miracle.
