Top 10 Class-Action Settlements of 2025 Surpassing $70 Billion: Insights from Duane Morris
The value of the ten highest class-action settlements in 2025 has surpassed an unprecedented $70 billion, with estimates nearing $80 billion across various litigation sectors, as reported by the law firm Duane Morris. This marks a significant milestone, as total settlements have consistently exceeded the $40 billion threshold for four consecutive years.
Gerald L. Maatman, co-author of the Duane Morris Class Action Review and chair of the firm’s Class Action Defense Group, emphasized the staggering implications of these figures. “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 plaintiff’s bar and providing massive incentive for plaintiffs’ lawyers to increase their filings and the sophistication of the strategies they employ.”
Maatman also highlighted the necessity for boards, investors, and insurers to proactively prepare for class-action litigation, a trend he has been monitoring since 2003. The ongoing high settlements in privacy-related class actions are particularly noteworthy, as plaintiffs’ attorneys are now targeting technologies such as session replay, website chatbots, and website pixels.
“The plaintiff’s bar continues to rely on a consistent recipe: pair modern, ubiquitous technologies with decades-old statutory schemes that impose statutory damages per violation. The result is outsized exposure for routine business practices,” Duane Morris noted. In 2025, data-privacy class actions totaled over 1,800, reflecting a more than 25% increase from 2024 and over 200% growth since 2022.
The nearly 750-page review of more than 1,761 decisions from the past year reveals that judges are certifying 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 filings every day.
This extensive report indicates that the number of class actions filed represents a substantial increase over 2024, suggesting that these lawsuits are not mere outliers but rather a constant presence in the legal landscape. “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 to class action defense,” remarked Duane Morris partner Jennifer A. Riley, co-author of the review and vice chair of the firm’s Class Action Defense Group.
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The value of the ten highest class-action settlements in 2025 has surpassed an unprecedented $70 billion, with estimates nearing $80 billion across various litigation sectors, as reported by the law firm Duane Morris. This marks a significant milestone, as total settlements have consistently exceeded the $40 billion threshold for four consecutive years.
Gerald L. Maatman, co-author of the Duane Morris Class Action Review and chair of the firm’s Class Action Defense Group, emphasized the staggering implications of these figures. “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 plaintiff’s bar and providing massive incentive for plaintiffs’ lawyers to increase their filings and the sophistication of the strategies they employ.”
Maatman also highlighted the necessity for boards, investors, and insurers to proactively prepare for class-action litigation, a trend he has been monitoring since 2003. The ongoing high settlements in privacy-related class actions are particularly noteworthy, as plaintiffs’ attorneys are now targeting technologies such as session replay, website chatbots, and website pixels.
“The plaintiff’s bar continues to rely on a consistent recipe: pair modern, ubiquitous technologies with decades-old statutory schemes that impose statutory damages per violation. The result is outsized exposure for routine business practices,” Duane Morris noted. In 2025, data-privacy class actions totaled over 1,800, reflecting a more than 25% increase from 2024 and over 200% growth since 2022.
The nearly 750-page review of more than 1,761 decisions from the past year reveals that judges are certifying 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 filings every day.
This extensive report indicates that the number of class actions filed represents a substantial increase over 2024, suggesting that these lawsuits are not mere outliers but rather a constant presence in the legal landscape. “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 to class action defense,” remarked Duane Morris partner Jennifer A. Riley, co-author of the review and vice chair of the firm’s Class Action Defense Group.
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