By Kevin Smith
You might not think trucking company lawsuits have anything to do with you. But a brand new report says these giant legal payouts are putting a huge drain on the entire U.S. economy, and it’s hitting your wallet.
Here’s the problem: When trucking companies have to pay out massive sums in lawsuits—sometimes tens of millions of dollars—it doesn’t just hurt their business. The report says it hurts everyone by slowing down the whole country’s economic engine.
The Stunning Cost of Lawsuits
The research, done by two well-respected groups, discovered something surprising. For every extra $1 million spent on these legal costs, the U.S. economy actually shrinks by about $2 million.
The study asked a simple question: What if every state in the U.S. found a way to lower these legal costs for trucking and other commercial vehicles? The results were huge. Over ten years, this change could:
- Give the U.S. economy a $52.3 billion boost each year.
- Create 5.7 million new jobs all across the country.
- Slow down the rising cost of groceries by up to 15%.
Between 2016 and 2022, legal costs for commercial vehicles became the fastest-growing type of lawsuit expense. Trucking companies were involved in a quarter of all car accident lawsuits that ended with those giant “nuclear verdicts” of $10 million or more. By 2022, the total cost of all these lawsuits had ballooned to a staggering $529 billion.
Why Your Grocery Bill Could Go Down
So, how does a lawsuit against a trucking company make your food more expensive? It’s all about transportation.
The report explains that when it costs more to insure and operate trucks because of lawsuit risks, companies have to charge more to move goods. This is a big deal for things like fresh food, where getting it from the farm to the store is a major part of its price.
The study found that lowering these legal costs could seriously slow down the rising price of groceries. For families, especially those with lower incomes, this would be a major help.
Spending less on food, combined with more job opportunities from a stronger economy, would put more money back in people’s pockets. The report estimates that for the lowest-income households, their food costs could drop by about 1.2% over the next ten years.
A new report has uncovered where the money from trucking lawsuits actually goes. It turns out that about 62 cents of every dollar spent on these legal claims goes to the families involved in accidents. The rest of the money gets eaten up by insurance and legal fees.
The report had a stunning finding. It said that if every state limited these lawsuit costs to $25 for every $1,000 a trucking company makes, the total cost would have dropped by a huge 40% in 2022. That would have saved the industry a whopping $6 billion.
This issue is now a top priority for the trucking industry. In a major survey, industry leaders ranked “lawsuit abuse reform” as their second biggest concern. This is the highest it has ever been in the 21-year history of the survey.
So, what are trucking companies suggesting? Most want states to pass new laws that put a cap, or a limit, on the money people can win in lawsuits after a truck crash. Other ideas include stopping courts from considering “phantom damages” and forcing lawyers to reveal if a secret third party is paying for the lawsuit.
The cost of these lawsuits isn’t the same everywhere. The report shows that states like North Dakota and Wisconsin have relatively low costs. On the other hand, Louisiana, Texas, and California are dealing with much higher costs, which hurts their local economies.
There is some hope, though. Florida and Georgia have already passed new laws to fix this problem. Florida’s governor estimated that their 2023 reforms helped lead to a drop in car insurance rates for drivers in 2025.
Some states feel the pain of these lawsuit costs more than others. The economies of Nevada, Iowa, Louisiana, and Indiana are especially sensitive because they depend heavily on trucking to trade with nearby states.
Finally, the report makes it clear that this isn’t just a trucking problem. Lowering these legal costs would be a huge win for everyone. It would create more jobs not only in trucking but also in the businesses that depend on it, like your local food stores, insurance companies, and factories. States like Nebraska, Washington, and Utah would see these positive ripple effects.
Author Profile
- Covers trucking and logistics news with a focus on driver concerns, industry trends, freight markets, and transportation policy. Provides clear, timely updates for anyone following the trucking world.
