Top 10 Class-Action Settlements of 2025 Surpassing $70 Billion: Insights from Duane Morris

By Chad Hemenway

The value of the ten highest class-action settlements in 2025 has surpassed an unprecedented $70 billion for the first time. In fact, the total amount is closer to $80 billion across various areas of litigation, as reported by the law firm Duane Morris.

For the fourth consecutive year, total settlements have exceeded the $40 billion threshold. Gerald L. Maatman, co-author of the Duane Morris Class Action Review and chair of the firm’s Class Action Defense Group, remarked that the “implications are staggering.”

“To put it into perspective, that amount is larger than the annual budgets of multiple U.S. states and eclipses the GDP of more than half the world’s nations,” he stated. “At the same time, the gravitational pull of these massive outcomes is attracting elite talent to the plaintiffs’ bar and providing a significant incentive for plaintiffs’ lawyers to increase their filings and enhance the sophistication of their strategies.”

Maatman emphasized the need for boards, investors, and insurers to proactively prepare for class-action litigation, a trend he has been monitoring annually since 2003.

The ongoing high settlements in privacy class actions are capturing the attention of the plaintiffs’ bar, who are now focusing on session replay technology, website chatbots, and website pixels.

“The plaintiffs’ bar continues to rely on a consistent recipe: pairing modern, ubiquitous technologies with decades-old statutory schemes that impose statutory damages per violation. The result is outsized exposure for routine business practices,” noted Duane Morris. Furthermore, data-privacy class actions in 2025 totaled over 1,800, reflecting more than a 25% growth compared to 2024 and over 200% growth since 2022.

According to a nearly 750-page review of more than 1,761 decisions from the past year, judges continue to certify class-action litigation at a high rate, with 68% of motions granted in 2025. Plaintiffs filed over 13,000 class-action lawsuits in federal courts alone, averaging more than 36 new class-action filings every day.

The extensive report indicates that the number of class actions filed represents a “substantial” increase over 2024, suggesting that these types of lawsuits are not outliers but rather “a constant presence.”

“With the traditional arbitration defense being tested and eroded, widening circuit splits driving forum shopping, and the continued rise of Private Attorneys General Act claims, there are many threats looming for class action defense,” stated Duane Morris partner Jennifer A. Riley, co-author of the review and vice chair of the firm’s Class Action Defense Group.

Topics
Lawsuits

By Chad Hemenway

The value of the ten highest class-action settlements in 2025 has surpassed an unprecedented $70 billion for the first time. In fact, the total amount is closer to $80 billion across various areas of litigation, as reported by the law firm Duane Morris.

For the fourth consecutive year, total settlements have exceeded the $40 billion threshold. Gerald L. Maatman, co-author of the Duane Morris Class Action Review and chair of the firm’s Class Action Defense Group, remarked that the “implications are staggering.”

“To put it into perspective, that amount is larger than the annual budgets of multiple U.S. states and eclipses the GDP of more than half the world’s nations,” he stated. “At the same time, the gravitational pull of these massive outcomes is attracting elite talent to the plaintiffs’ bar and providing a significant incentive for plaintiffs’ lawyers to increase their filings and enhance the sophistication of their strategies.”

Maatman emphasized the need for boards, investors, and insurers to proactively prepare for class-action litigation, a trend he has been monitoring annually since 2003.

The ongoing high settlements in privacy class actions are capturing the attention of the plaintiffs’ bar, who are now focusing on session replay technology, website chatbots, and website pixels.

“The plaintiffs’ bar continues to rely on a consistent recipe: pairing modern, ubiquitous technologies with decades-old statutory schemes that impose statutory damages per violation. The result is outsized exposure for routine business practices,” noted Duane Morris. Furthermore, data-privacy class actions in 2025 totaled over 1,800, reflecting more than a 25% growth compared to 2024 and over 200% growth since 2022.

According to a nearly 750-page review of more than 1,761 decisions from the past year, judges continue to certify class-action litigation at a high rate, with 68% of motions granted in 2025. Plaintiffs filed over 13,000 class-action lawsuits in federal courts alone, averaging more than 36 new class-action filings every day.

The extensive report indicates that the number of class actions filed represents a “substantial” increase over 2024, suggesting that these types of lawsuits are not outliers but rather “a constant presence.”

“With the traditional arbitration defense being tested and eroded, widening circuit splits driving forum shopping, and the continued rise of Private Attorneys General Act claims, there are many threats looming for class action defense,” stated Duane Morris partner Jennifer A. Riley, co-author of the review and vice chair of the firm’s Class Action Defense Group.

Topics
Lawsuits