March 12 (Reuters) - The number of new federal lawsuits

fell 14% in the 2024 fiscal year as a result of a decline in

mass tort litigation driven in large part by 3M's ( MMM ) decision to

strike a $6 billion deal to settle litigation over its combat

earplugs, according to the federal judiciary.

The steep drop off in lawsuits contributed to an overall 11%

decline in criminal and civil filings in the fiscal year that

ended Sept. 30, according to a report released on Tuesday by the

Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

New criminal cases meanwhile grew 6% to 69,802, driven in

part by a 30% increase in filings for defendants charged with

immigration offenses during the final fiscal year of Democratic

President Joe Biden's administration.

Those immigration cases constituted 37% of all criminal

filings and helped offset an 8% decline in filings involving

defendants charged with drug crimes, the judiciary said.

The decline in civil cases was fueled by a 41% drop-off in

personal injury cases, which plummeted to 69,506, the judiciary

said. Excluding mass tort cases, all other types of civil

lawsuits held steady in 2024, falling less than 1%.

The trend marked a shift from a year earlier, when the

judiciary reported a 24% increase in new lawsuits driven by a

flood of cases by people alleging they were injured by products

like 3M's ( MMM ) combat earplugs and Johnson & Johnson's ( JNJ ) talcum powder.

But 2024 was a different story, as personal injury case

filings plummeted 41% to 69,506, the judiciary said.

The mass tort involving 3M ( MMM ) was the largest federal

multidistrict litigation in U.S. history, with hundreds of

thousands of lawsuits by current and former U.S. military

service members alleging they suffered hearing loss as a result

of using the company's Combat Arms Earplugs products.

3M ( MMM ) in August 2023 agreed to pay $6.01 billion to settle

nearly 260,000 lawsuits, which were consolidated before a

federal judge in Florida's Northern District. Post settlement,

that district saw a 50% reduction in new personal injury cases

as it received fewer cases concerning 3M ( MMM ), the report said.

New Jersey's federal court - where the federal J&J talc

litigation is consolidated - saw a 65% decline in such cases.

J&J is seeking through a subsidiary's proposed $10 billion

bankruptcy plan to resolve thousands of lawsuits alleging that

its baby powder caused ovarian cancer. J&J denies the

allegations and says its products are safe.

The judiciary said the Northern District of Illinois saw a

69% decline in product liability lawsuits primarily due to a

drop in multidistrict cases filed there over claims that hair

relaxer products made by L'Oreal USA, Revlon and others cause

cancer. The companies deny wrongdoing.

Read more:

Mass torts against 3M ( MMM ), J&J fueled spike in new federal

lawsuits in 2023

New federal lawsuits continued to fall in 2022 amid

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New federal lawsuits, appeals fell in 2021 amid pandemic -

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