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Judiciary says overall filings in federal court rose 18%

in 2023

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Criminal cases fell 3%

By Nate Raymond

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

jumped 24% in the 2023 fiscal year as cases by people alleging

they were injured by products like 3M's ( MMM ) combat earplugs and

Johnson & Johnson's ( JNJ ) talcum powder soared, the federal judiciary

reported on Tuesday.

The increase in civil case filings in the fiscal year that

ended Sept. 30, marked a shift after two years of straight

declines in new lawsuits filed in federal court, drops the

judiciary had attributed in part to disruptions brought on by

the COVID-19 pandemic.

The jump in new lawsuits in fiscal 2023 came even as other

activity in the federal courts continued to decline, with new

criminal cases falling 3% and filings in regional appeals courts

dropping 4%.

Criminal cases charging defendants with drug crimes fell 8%

to 18,103 and constituted 27% of all criminal cases, the

judiciary said.

The increase in civil lawsuits led the judiciary to report

405,878 in overall new case filings in 2023, up 18%.

The judiciary in an annual report attributed much of the

increase in civil cases to a 47% jump in diversity of

citizenship cases, or disputes between citizens of different

states, with personal injury cases jumping 66% to 117,705.

Much of that increase was in mass tort cases consolidated in

multidistrict litigation. Even excluding the mass tort cases,

civil lawsuits increased 10% last year.

Florida's Northern District reported 47,650 personal injury

cases filed last year, a 38% jump attributed to more lawsuits

being consolidated before a judge there by U.S. military

veterans and service members who say they suffered hearing loss

from using 3M's ( MMM ) combat earplugs.

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

those lawsuits, which had become part of the largest federal

multidistrict litigation proceeding in U.S. history with more

than 276,000 lawsuits, according to court statistics.

In New Jersey, personal injury filings in the health care

and pharmaceutical sector soared 310% primarily due to lawsuits

alleging that Johnson & Johnson's ( JNJ ) talc-based products like its

baby powder caused people to develop cancer.

Nearly 53,800 lawsuits against J&J are pending there. The

cases were on hold for about two years after J&J attempted to

resolve its talc liabilities in bankruptcy court, but courts

dismissed two separate bankruptcy filings, allowing litigation

to resume last year.

Illinois' Northern District also saw a 1,421% increase in

product liability cases to 8,487 as a result of lawsuits

claiming chemical hair relaxer products made by L'Oreal USA,

Revlon and others cause cancer and other injuries.

The companies in all of these cases have denied wrongdoing.

Read more:

New federal lawsuits continued to fall in 2022 amid

pandemic, judiciary says

New federal lawsuits, appeals fell in 2021 amid pandemic -

judiciary