US corporate legal spending on defending class actions rose to a fresh record in 2025, with spending expected to increase further in the year ahead, according to a Carlton Fields report.
The 2026 Carlton Fields Class Action Survey showed that class action defence spending in the US rose to $4.53bn in 2025, a 7.6% increase on 2024 levels. Spending has nearly doubled since 2018, the data show, with Carlton Fields forecasting spending to increase by almost 6% over the coming year to $4.8bn.
The Tampa, Florida-headquartered firm says the jump in spending is down to four key drivers: more companies are facing multiple class actions, larger claims require more resources, claim complexity is growing and there are a higher volume of new claims.
The percentage of companies dealing with class actions rose to 74.7% – the highest level in 15 years – up from 72.2% a year ago.
Class action defence spending accounted for 11.8% of corporate litigation spend last year, a slight decrease from 2024 when class action defence accounted for 12.5% of overall spending, despite being a lower overall dollar amount.
Plaintiff filings are being driven by a number of factors, including geopolitical instability fostering a more litigious environment, workforce volatility, activist workforces, data privacy incidents, product performance issues and creative tactics by plaintiffs’ counsel, Carlton Fields said.
Labour and employment matters dominated class action defence spending (29.6% of all matters), followed by consumer fraud (22.4%) and data privacy and cybersecurity (11%).
Carlton Fields said: “When the inaugural survey was published in 2012, companies averaged just four to five active class actions and allocated about 10% of their litigation budgets to these matters. Today, those numbers have increased significantly, and spending surpassed $4bn for the first time in 2024.
“Over the past 15 years, class action portfolios have grown in both volume and complexity, requiring the increasing integration of class action risk management into corporate legal strategy.”
The survey was based on interviews with general counsel and senior legal officers at more than 300 Fortune 1000 and other larger companies across multiple industries.
A report earlier this month from Cornerstone Research found that US securities class actions saw the median settlement amount hit an almost three-decade high in 2025 amid a jump in the value of cases related to IPO filings.
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