Johnson & Johnson company logo on headquarters building on May 12, 2018 in Prague, Czech Republic.

Product liability lawsuits continue to rise in federal courts, with a noticeable uptick in cases, particularly against pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, according to a report released Monday.

The findings of Lex Machina's 2020 Product Liability Litigation Report show that the total number of product liability cases shot up to 56,041 in 2019, compared to 43,567 in 2018. Even when excluding cases associated with multidistrict litigation, which makes up a large share of product liability lawsuits, there were 5,261 product liability filings in 2019, up from 4,943 in 2018, and the highest volume since 2010, the starting point of data in the report.

"We do think there might be a slight upward trend in product liability case filings," said Rachel Bailey, legal data expert at Lex Machina. She cautioned, however, that many of the cases could end up transferred into multidistrict litigation and, as a result, might "overwhelm the statistics."

"That's one of the features of the report we find the most useful: being able to look at whether MDL associated cases are relevant or not," she said.

The report found that pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers faced the largest number of product liability lawsuits, contributing 2,011 cases in 2019, down slightly from 2018 but far above the average since 2010. The top corporate defendant hit with product liability cases was Johnson & Johnson, which faced 70,924 lawsuits from 2015 to 2019, many from multidistrict litigation over its baby powder and blood thinner Xarelto. Johnson & Johnson's Janssen subsidiaries and various divisions of Bayer AG, which owns Monsanto, which was hit with thousands of lawsuits over its Roundup herbicide, made the entire top 10 list. Outside the area of medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical firms, however, the top defendants were Volkswagen Group of America Inc. and The Boeing Co.

The findings follow a 2018 product liability report from Lex Machina, which looks exclusively at federal courts and does not account for appeals or changes to the judgments. At that time, filings involving medical devices and pharmaceuticals were dropping, from 53,066 in 2013 to 29,146 in 2016.

In Monday's report, both vehicle and aircraft cases continued to increase, with dozens of lawsuits against The Boeing Co. over the crashes of its Max 8 aircraft in 2018 and 2019. The other shift came in asbestos, where product liability cases rose for the first time last year since 2013.

Here are some other findings from the report:

Where Did Firms File Cases?

When including cases associated with multidistrict litigation, the district with the largest number of product liability filings was the Eastern District of Louisiana, with 47,538, where U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon ranked No. 1 in the nation at 31,012 lawsuits filed in the past five years—nearly all part of the multidistrict litigation over Xarelto.

Coming in at No. 2 was the District of New Jersey, where nearly half of the 37,521 cases filed were in multidistrict litigation alleging Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder caused ovarian cancer.

At No. 9, the Northern District of Florida had 6,533 new filings—but that could change this year, as the court is home to multidistrict litigation involving 3M earplugs used in combat.  As of May 15, about 7,790 lawsuits had been filed in that docket, according to the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.

"One thing we're watching for are those 3M earplug cases because they are so massive in 2020," said Bailey. "Some of these statistics are really going to change in 2020."

Excluding cases associated with multidistrict litigation, the top district was the Central District of California, which had 1,620 cases.

Which Firms Handled The Cases?

The top firms filing product liability cases were New York's Weitz & Luxenberg, which brought 6,848 lawsuits from 2015 to 2019, including those associated with multidistrict litigation. Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles filed 6,470 cases, and Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz, 6,503. When excluding multidistrict litigation, Bracewell topped the list at 514 cases.

The top defense firms were Shook, Hardy & Bacon, which handled 27,249 lawsuits filed in the past five years, followed by Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, with 26,690 cases. When excluding multidistrict litigation, Kirkland & Ellis came in No. 1 with 976 lawsuits.

How Did Cases End?

The report found that 92% of product liability cases resolved through a procedural order, most due to a transfer to multidistrict litigation.

"This is the only practice area that has such a higher percentage where the cases are resolving with the MDL," Bailey said.

When excluding multidistrict litigation, 28% ended in procedural rulings, which includes remand orders, and 66% ended in settlement.

"It's something obviously other than substantive that causes the case to be dismissed," Bailey said. "Sometimes, it could be going to arbitration or something like that sends it elsewhere. In most cases, it is a remand, but we've never seen such a large percentage in all our practice areas."

Total damages awarded in product liability cases were $132 million in 2019, the lowest since 2013. In 2016 and 2017, total damage awards were more than $913 million and $1 billion, respectively, largely influenced by jury verdicts against DePuy Orthopaedics over its Pinnacle hip implants. DePuy is a unit of Johnson & Johnson.