Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2025

Abstract

As insurance premiums spike across the Nation, insurers are (yet again) pointing the finger at lawyers and lawsuits as an explanation. This Article offers new and important data on whether, in fact, currently there is a crisis of litigation in the United States. Neither the assertion of a litigation crisis, nor legislatures adopting systemic reform in response to the perception of one, is anything new. For almost two hundred years, there have been recurring cycles of complaints about lawyers, lawsuits, and their impact on society. Yet each time independent researchers have looked at the assertion, they have found the data wanting. Nonetheless, the current call from insurance companies and their lobbyists is that “social inflation” is somehow worse, different, and again fast driving the unaffordability and unavailability of insurance. Taking advantage of deeper data than ever before available, this Article jumps into a task largely not undertaken by academics for at least a decade, again seeking empirical evidence of a litigation crisis. This Article asks: considering the lack of evidence before, what’s new? In addressing this question, this Article looks at 25+ year trends to determine whether more lawsuits are being filed, defendants are losing with greater frequency, mean and median awards are growing, more frivolous cases are being filed (or winning), and if the cost of litigation is having a measurable impact on the cost of insurance. In other words, is there a litigation crisis?

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