Lex Machina, a service provided by Lexis Nexis, has released its latest report on employment litigation verdicts. That report shows a ten year high with $1.17 billion in jury verdicts between 2019 and 2021. The report includes results from federal district and appellate courts. Lex Machina points out that 21,193 employment matters were filed in 2021, the lowest number for any year in the past ten years. That low number likely reflects the effects pf the COVID19 pandemic.
The report also shows that 73$ of cases in district court settled between 2019 and 2021. In that time period, 10% of defendant employers won, while 3% of plaintiffs won.
In appellate cases, appellees (the party who filed the appeal) won 51% during that time period. While, 13% of appellants won. 15% of the appellate cases settled. The three appellate courts with the most employment cases include: Ninth Circuit (845 appeals), Second Circuit (615), and the Fifth Circuit (613 cases).
See ABA Bar Journal report here. See the Lex Machina synopsis of its report here.