New Research Documents the Scale of Nuclear Verdicts in Trucking
ATRI
Arlington, VA – The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) today released comprehensive research that confirms that large verdicts against trucking fleets are increasing dramatically, both in number and in size of awards. ATRI’s research is partially based on a newly created trucking litigation database that provides detailed information on 600 cases between 2006 and 2019.
In the first five years of the data, there were 26 cases over $1 million, and in the last five years of the data, there were nearly 300 cases.
This study was identified as the highest research priority for the industry by ATRI’s Research Advisory Committee in 2019.
In response to arguments that nuclear verdicts reflect real-world cost increases, the research documents that from 2010 to 2018,
the size of verdict awards grew 51.7 percent annually at the same time that standard inflation grew 1.7 percent and healthcare costs grew 2.9 percent.