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When the Supreme Court returns in October, several cases on its docket will offer a timely look at a growing problem in America’s legal system: the mounting cost of lawsuit abuse.
The cases involve different industries and legal questions, but each reflects a broader fight over how far liability can extend and who ultimately bears the cost. Suncor Energy v. Boulder County, for example, could determine whether federal law precludes local climate lawsuits seeking relief for harms tied to interstate and international greenhouse-gas emissions, opening or closing a path to potentially sweeping liability for energy producers.
Other cases involving digital privacy and retirement-plan claims may affect the reach of statutory liability and large-scale business exposure.
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Those questions matter well beyond the parties before the court. When liability expands, businesses must account for greater legal exposure through higher insurance premiums and compliance costs as well as reduced investment. Those expenses can ultimately become a “tort tax” that increases consumer prices and the cost of goods and services purchased by taxpayers.
Lawsuits targeting ultra-processed foods are multiplying despite early setbacks and are one of the prime issues in tort reform. (iStock)
Recent evidence suggests that burden is growing. A new Marathon Strategies report found nearly 200 “nuclear verdicts” of $10 million or more against corporate defendants in 2025, totaling more than $25.6 billion — a 40.7% increase from the year before.
More broadly, U.S. tort costs reached $529 billion in 2022, or about 2.1% of GDP, and are projected to approach $1 trillion by 2030 if recent trends continue. Economic analyses go as high as $6,000 to the average household’s annual expenses.
That makes lawsuit abuse an affordability issue as well as a legal one. And the cases already before the Supreme Court tell only part of the story. While they show where some of today’s biggest liability fights have ended up, cases moving through lower courts offer a preview of the new theories that trial lawyers are testing next and that the justices may eventually be asked to adjudicate themselves.
Antitrust litigation against fire-truck manufacturers offers one example. Cities, counties and fire departments allege that major manufacturers conspired to restrict competition, driving up prices and stretching delivery times. Those are serious allegations, and proven collusion should carry consequences.
But manufacturers point instead to pandemic-driven demand and disrupted supply chains as explanations for the price increases and delays. Fire trucks are also highly specialized vehicles requiring custom engineering, skilled labor and rigorous safety standards.
Courts should demand strong evidence before allowing those market realities to be converted into sweeping antitrust liability and localities should think twice before supporting such lawsuits. Even unsuccessful litigation imposes defense and insurance costs that the very municipalities suing for damages may ultimately have to absorb in future purchases — meaning a lawsuit intended to recover higher fire-truck costs could end up making the next truck more expensive.
A similar dynamic is emerging in the grocery aisle. Lawsuits targeting ultra-processed foods are multiplying despite early setbacks, generally alleging that major food companies marketed addictive or unhealthy products without adequately warning consumers about associated health risks. Manufacturers of specialized formula for premature infants, meanwhile, face nearly 1,700 claims alleging their products cause a serious intestinal disease.
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Both areas involve genuine health concerns, but both also show how mass litigation can gain momentum while causation remains contested. An early ultra-processed-food case was dismissed after a federal judge found correlation was not enough to establish causation, yet plaintiffs’ lawyers say they plan to appeal, continue filing similar cases and seek consolidation into multidistrict litigation.
Recent evidence suggests that burden is growing. A new Marathon Strategies report found nearly 200 “nuclear verdicts” of $10 million or more against corporate defendants in 2025, totaling more than $25.6 billion — a 40.7% increase from the year before.
The formula litigation raises similar stakes. Juries have reached conflicting conclusions as the litigation has continued to expand, showing that fundamental questions about causation can remain unsettled even after a litigation campaign has grown to encompass hundreds or thousands of cases.
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That is why these emerging legal fights deserve attention. Early setbacks do not necessarily end a new mass-tort theory. Claims can be revised and tested across jurisdictions until one gains enough traction to open broad discovery, encourage copycat filings and create pressure for industry-wide settlements. Legitimately injured consumers deserve recourse, but causation cannot become an afterthought simply because the potential pool of plaintiffs is large.
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Taken together, the Supreme Court docket and these lower-court fights show the tort system at two different stages. The justices will confront liability questions that have already worked their way to the high court, while lower courts are testing theories that could become tomorrow’s major mass-tort battles.
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That should strengthen the case for reform before those costs become more deeply embedded in the economy. Greater transparency around litigation funding and government contingency-fee arrangements, along with stronger screening of weak causation theories, can preserve legitimate claims while making abuse harder to sustain. Tort reform is not about protecting wrongdoers. It is about preventing an aggressive lawsuit economy from becoming another hidden cost American families are forced to absorb.
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