Why Commercial Auto Insurance Keeps Climbing: Nuclear Verdicts and What Michigan Fleets Can Do

First, what is a “nuclear verdict”?

A nuclear verdict is a jury award so large it bears little relationship to the actual damages — the industry generally draws the line at $10 million or more. They’re rare in any one business’s life, but they’re becoming more common and far larger. The research firm Marathon Strategies counted 135 of them against companies in 2024 alone — a 52% jump in a single year — totaling $31.3 billion, with the median award reaching $51 million, up from $21 million in 2020. When an award like that lands anywhere near your industry, every insurer that covers that industry takes note.

Why vehicles — and fleets — sit at the center of it

Nothing draws a nuclear verdict like a crash involving a commercial vehicle. The numbers here are stark: the American Transportation Research Institute studied hundreds of truck-crash court cases and found the average jury verdict climbed from about $2.3 million in 2010 to around $22 million by 2018 — a 967% increase, while inflation over those same years ran under 2% a year. Verdicts over $10 million doubled in the back half of that study. A work van, a box truck, a passenger shuttle, a tow rig — the moment one of your vehicles is in a serious-injury crash, you’re exposed to the kind of award that can exceed a small company’s entire net worth.

How a courtroom in another state lands on your renewal

You don’t have to lose a case to feel this. Insurers price commercial auto by looking at the worst plausible outcome across everyone they cover — and that worst case keeps getting more expensive. The result is higher premiums, higher limits carriers now insist on, stricter underwriting, and fewer companies willing to write certain vehicles at all. Crain’s Detroit Business reported commercial liability premiums across Michigan and the Midwest rising about 15% year over year, with nuclear verdicts named as a leading cause. Even a fleet with a spotless record pays more, because the whole risk pool got riskier.

Why Michigan feels it more than most

Two things stack up here. First, Michigan already carries some of the highest auto costs in the country. Second, Michigan ranks among the tougher states in the nation for large crash verdicts — a legal climate plaintiff attorneys know well. Commercial auto liability — what your business owes when your driver injures someone else — is exactly the coverage a nuclear verdict attacks, and it’s the piece many Michigan owners are still carrying at limits they set years ago. For the broader picture on how the state’s rules shape your vehicles, we cover it in commercial auto insurance in Michigan.

What you can actually do about it

Here’s the reassuring part: you can’t change the legal climate, but you have real control over how exposed you are — and the same steps that protect you in a courtroom usually help your premium, too. None of this takes a safety department — just a few decisions made on purpose instead of by default.

1. Carry limits that match today’s courtrooms

The federal minimum for most freight is still $750,000 — a number set decades ago and dwarfed by a $20 million verdict. The fix is rarely just “a bit more primary coverage”; it’s a commercial umbrella / excess layer stacked above your auto and general-liability limits, sized to what you’d actually stand to lose. This is the single most important lever on the list.

2. Put cameras and telematics in the vehicles

Dash cameras and telematics aren’t just a safety nicety anymore — they’re evidence. Clear footage defends you against staged crashes and exaggerated injuries, and the absence of it is increasingly used against carriers in court. Many insurers now give a credit for a documented telematics program, so it can pay for itself.

3. Vet your drivers — and keep checking

Plaintiff attorneys win the biggest awards by arguing negligent hiring or retention — that you put an unsafe driver on the road and should have known better. Written hiring standards, pre-hire motor-vehicle-record checks, and continuous MVR monitoring (not just once at hire) are both a safety practice and a legal shield.

4. Write the safety program down

A paper trail is what rebuts the “the company didn’t care” story that drives jury anger. Written safety policies, documented training, and current maintenance records don’t just prevent crashes — they give your defense something solid to stand on when one happens anyway.

5. Don’t forget the cars you don’t own

If an employee ever runs an errand or makes a delivery in their own vehicle, your business can be pulled into that crash too. Hired & non-owned auto (HNOA) closes that gap, and it’s inexpensive next to what it covers. If you run passenger or medical transport, the exposure is sharper still — see our transportation & NEMT program.

6. Have someone shop the whole market

As carriers pull back from commercial auto, access matters. An independent broker who places your coverage across a range of A-rated carriers can find both capacity and the safety credits a single captive agent can’t. When the market tightens, the business holding one quote is the one that gets squeezed.

The bottom line

Nuclear verdicts are a trend you can’t opt out of — but you’re far from powerless. The businesses that get hurt are the ones carrying yesterday’s limits and no documentation into today’s courtrooms. Get your limits right, put the safety story on paper, and make sure someone is shopping the whole market on your behalf — and a hard market becomes something you manage instead of something that manages you.

Run vehicles for your business in Michigan? Send us your current commercial auto declarations and a quick note on your fleet — Domham pressure-tests your limits, flags where a nuclear verdict would break through, and shops commercial and fleet coverage with A-rated carriers who still have appetite for it.