ST. LOUIS — St. Louis has again been singled out as one of the nation’s most active and problematic jurisdictions for civil litigation, according to the newly released Judicial Hellholes 2025–2026 report.
The study portrays the city as a magnet for massive verdicts, permissive court rulings and waves of lawsuits that critics say burden local businesses, fuel litigation tourism and exert significant economic strain on residents.
The report places St. Louis at the center of several ongoing legal trends — including high-dollar nuclear verdicts, aggressive ADA-related claims and surging baby formula and Roundup litigation, while noting related issues emerging in neighboring Illinois counties.
The report states that St. Louis courts “routinely embrace junk science” and have become “prolific producers of nuclear verdicts,” pointing to nearly $1 billion in verdicts issued across just two cases in 2024.
In March 2025, the city’s circuit court refused to overturn a $462 million verdict against Wabash Trucking Company, continuing a pattern of high-value awards that the report claims has persisted for more than a decade.
Lawsuit activity has also contributed to what researchers estimate is a steep annual “tort tax” for residents, which is about $1,653 per person each year in St. Louis, higher than the statewide average of $1,216.48.
The report also highlights a surge of new claims filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act by an out-of-town lawyer targeting St. Louis small businesses.
These lawsuits, centered on website accessibility issues, have drawn criticism from business owners who point to automated scans showing similar accessibility failures on the lawyer’s own websites.
Critics quoted in the report argue that the enforcement push appears financially motivated rather than aimed at improving access.
In addition to ADA filings, St. Louis continues to be a major venue for asbestos litigation.
The city ranked seventh nationwide in 2024, with 138 asbestos cases filed.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers’ extensive advertising in the region underscores the city’s reputation as a favorable legal environment: from Jan. 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025, trial attorneys spent $41 million on more than 548,000 advertisements across the St. Louis market, according to data included in the report.
St. Louis has also played a central role in national litigation involving baby formula manufacturers.
The report notes that thousands of lawsuits claim certain fortified formulas prescribed for premature infants increase the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).
Major medical organizations cited in the document, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the NEC Society, caution that the science does not support these allegations and warn that such litigation may reduce access to essential nutritional therapies for preterm babies.
One St. Louis case is currently before the Missouri Court of Appeals after a judge ordered a new trial, overturning a jury verdict that had rejected a request for $6 billion in damages.
Roundup litigation remains another major front for St. Louis courts.
Tens of thousands of lawsuits have been filed in the city alleging the weed-killer’s active ingredient causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Despite Missouri’s adoption of stricter expert-evidence standards in 2017, the report criticizes St. Louis judges for allowing what it describes as “junk science” into the courtroom.
In February 2025, a Missouri appellate court upheld a $1.25 million St. Louis jury verdict against Monsanto, finding that state failure-to-warn laws were not preempted by federal labeling requirements.
That case is now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
There are also similar litigation patterns that appear in neighboring Madison and St. Clair counties in Illinois, which the report groups with St. Louis as major destinations for large-scale and out-of-state filings.
The Illinois counties, like St. Louis, are central hubs for baby formula litigation, and the report warns that a recent jurisdictional ruling may allow thousands more cases to proceed there.
Still, the document notes that St. Louis remains the most significant hotspot in the region due to its combination of high-dollar verdicts, concentrated advertising, and willingness by courts to allow expansive, novel or scientifically disputed claims.
The report concludes that without legislative or judicial reforms, St. Louis will continue to attract high-volume litigation that strains local businesses and the broader economy.
It argues that more rigorous standards for scientific evidence, limits on venue selection, and curbs on excessive awards could help reverse what it characterizes as a long-running trend of lawsuit abuse in the Gateway City.
