Product liability (federal) duration statistics, by court

Product liability (federal)federal product-liability suits, pharmaceutical mass torts included — take a median of 2.8 years from filing to resolution, based on 142,474 real cases in the public federal court record. Most resolve between 1.3 years and 6.0 years — full statistics, disposition mix, and district breakdown below.

Median
2.8 yr
Faster 25%
1.3 yr
Slower 25%
4.2 yr
Slowest 10%
6.0 yr

Filing to termination · 142,474 cases · median 1,032 days

How product liability lawsuit cases end

Of 236,119 resolved cases — the observed record, not a prediction of any one case.

54%settle· typically 3.3 yr
24%are dismissed· typically 3.5 yr
17%transfer or stay (incl. MDL)· typically 34d
4%reach judgment· typically 2.1 yr
2%are remanded· typically 61d

Product liability (federal) duration by court

Median time to resolution in the districts with the most product liability lawsuit cases.

DistrictCasesMedianSlowest 10%
E.D. La.13,4115.9 yr6.5 yr
D. Minn.6,7622.5 yr5.6 yr
D. Mass.4,3063.4 yr4.7 yr
N.D. Tex.3,6736.3 yr7.8 yr
C.D. Cal.3,059108d2.1 yr
S.D. Fla.3,05119d2.2 yr
N.D. Cal.2,8212.3 yr4.3 yr
E.D. Mo.2,318258d2.6 yr
M.D. Fla.1,810293d2.2 yr
E.D.N.Y.1,4772.3 yr4.4 yr
N.D. Ill.1,4511.2 yr3.6 yr
D. Ariz.1,4443.6 yr5.1 yr
S.D.N.Y.1,325339d3.1 yr
N.D. Ohio1,2861.6 yr4.4 yr
S.D. Cal.1,2151.2 yr6.2 yr

Have a specific product liability lawsuit?

These are averages across every product liability lawsuit. For a forecast tuned to your case — your court, your amount, your posture — get a free estimate, or the full report built from your complaint.

Other case types

Cite this data

Tertius, "Product liability (federal): how long federal cases take, and how they end" (2026). Analysis of Federal Judicial Center Integrated Data Base records, 9.1M U.S. federal civil cases. https://usetertius.com/benchmarks/product-liability

Free to cite with attribution — a link back to this page lets readers verify the numbers.

Source: data/fjc/civil.parquet (Federal Judicial Center), cleaned by Tertius · model tertius-acta-6. Durations are filing to termination for U.S. federal civil cases. This is observed historical data, not a prediction of any specific case, and not legal advice. Tertius forecasts timing and disposition, never merits or damages.