Data collected from seven southeastern state by CaseMetrix, a company that complies data from attorneys on verdicts and settlements, shows that the average verdict in a trucking case has increased by $1.4 million dollars in the last year.
CaseMetrix’ conclusions reflects jury verdicts and not settlement data for Georgia, Florida, Texa, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina. This year, the average verdict was about $17.5 million compared to $16.9 million last year.
Both of these figures are more than double the average from 2017 at around $7 million and six times more than they were in 2012 at about $2.6 million. In under a decade, a couple of 8- or 9-figure nuclear verdicts have skewed the average legal award, but the median has changed much more modestly. The median is $2.88 million this year.
Despite more stability at the median, insurance costs are responding to just a handful of decisions. CaseMetrix only operates in the Southeast U.S. and does not collect data for Arkansas, but carriers here are concerned about the rising rates and access to sufficient coverage. Read more about this in Jeff Threlkeld’s Last Word.
