Product liability lawsuits continue to rise in federal courts, with a noticeable uptick in cases, particularly against pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, according to a report released Monday.
The findings of Lex Machina’s 2020 Product Liability Litigation Report show that the total number of product liability cases shot up to 56,041 in 2019, compared to 43,567 in 2018. Even when excluding cases associated with multidistrict litigation, which makes up a large share of product liability lawsuits, there were 5,261 product liability filings in 2019, up from 4,943 in 2018, and the highest volume since 2010, the starting point of data in the report.
