The following jaw-dropping figures represent just some of the top verdicts awarded to plaintiffs in the United States in 2023:

• $2.28 billion against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints;
• $1.78 billion against the National Association of Realtors, HomeServices of America and Keller Williams; and
• $1.56 billion plus an additional $857 million against Monsanto.

Without getting into the details or merits of each case, these "nuclear verdicts" or "runaway verdicts," as they're now referred to, reflect the growing power of the plaintiff's bar to influence juries and secure record-setting wins — a phenomenon due in part to social inflation, or the stereotype that large corporations are bad actors with deep pockets.

The trend has far-reaching implications for the insurance industry, which often must shoulder the cost of such lawsuits along with the verdicts and settlements they produce, as well as the average consumer, who can count mounting lawsuit expenses as one of the reasons that insurance rates are inching ever higher.

And of course, insurance carriers must defend against their fair share of lawsuits.

Most Americans are not aware of the negative impact of these litigation trends on their household expenses, according to the results of a newly-released survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) and Munich Re US.

Among the other telling results of the survey:

• 65% of respondents were not aware that every American household pays an estimated "tort tax" of more than $3,600 a year.
• 59% of respondents did not know that third parties often finance litigation in exchange for a share of a jury award or settlement as a return on their investment; and
• 47% of respondents were not aware that plaintiff's lawyers in a civil lawsuit will likely receive the lion's share of any jury award or settlement.

In this episode of Insurance Speak, James Whittle, APCIA vice president and counsel, speaks to these findings as well as the broader impact of "legal system abuse."

You can listen to the conversation above or subscribe to Insurance Speak on Spotify, Apple Music or Libsyn.

See also:

• Runaway verdicts: Reversing the trend
• The (somewhat) hidden costs of social inflation
• 10 biggest bad faith verdicts from 2013-2018