What a Nuclear Verdict Means for a Restaurant

3 Min Read By Society Insurance

A $10 million lawsuit would be the nail in the coffin for nearly every hospitality business. However, the incidence of nuclear verdicts — where a jury awards above $10 million — continues to rise. Recent data shows that U.S. juries awarded more than $14.5 billion in nuclear verdicts in 2023 — a 15-year high.

Society Insurance has spent 110 years helping protect businesses and has seen firsthand how nuclear verdicts have evolved in the U.S. Below, they share more information on what a nuclear verdict is, a state of the union of nuclear verdicts, and precautions for restaurants to take to better protect themselves against these devastating verdicts.  

What is a nuclear verdict?As mentioned, nuclear verdicts are when juries award more than $10 million in a case. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a recent report that the number of verdicts above $100 million reached a record in 2023, up nearly 400% from 2013 as reported in The Wall Street Journal’s 2024 piece…