LexisNexis Legal & Professional has reported a significant shift in U.S. federal coverage litigation since 2022, diverging from trends observed during the early COVID years and the previous decade. According to a statement on X, non-hurricane homeowners claims and commercial liability disputes have reached unprecedented levels in California.
According to Insurance NewsNet, an analysis published on October 30, 2025, identified these changes as “a new world of insurance litigation.” Data from Lex Machina indicates that homeowners’ policy cases excluding hurricanes have increased sharply since 2018. In 2024 alone, over 3,500 such lawsuits were filed in federal district courts—the highest number recorded since at least 2009—and initial data for 2025 shows a continued increase. This trend is particularly pronounced in states like California, where large verdicts and active plaintiff law firms are contributing to rising claim volumes and related insurance exposure.
In its 2025 press briefing, Lex Machina noted that lawsuits concerning business liability coverage have risen significantly each year from 2021 to 2024. More than 3,000 business liability coverage suits were initiated in federal district courts in 2024—surpassing any year since 2010. The report also highlights that business interruption coverage lawsuits remain elevated, with over 650 filings in 2024—a figure more than 50% higher than any year between 2009 and 2019. These findings suggest a transformation in corporate liability risks and associated insurance coverage disputes, especially in plaintiff-friendly jurisdictions like California.
Risk & Insurance reports that data from Lex Machina’s analysis show a decline in overall insurance case filings in federal district courts to 17,654 in 2023—a decrease of six percent from the previous year—yet this number remains the second-highest of the past decade. Within this context, non-hurricane homeowners’ coverage cases continue to rise. Defendants and insurers describe these claims as “increasingly unpredictable.” The ongoing increase in high-value coverage disputes outside traditional catastrophe claims is raising concerns about how California’s active litigation environment and substantial verdict culture contribute to mounting insurer exposure and costs.
According to its official website, LexisNexis Legal & Professional is a global provider of legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics serving professionals across more than 150 countries. Its data-analytics platform, Lex Machina, utilizes machine learning to extract and tag litigation data from federal courts, providing insights into trends in case filings, damages, judgments, and legal practice. Part of RELX Group, LexisNexis continues to offer tools and analyses designed to help legal and insurance professionals navigate evolving risk landscapes and shifts in litigation behavior.
