Walmart and Other Big Retailers in Federal Personal Injury Lawsuits, FY2005–FY2025
Original analysis of 204,310 records from the Federal Judicial Center, FY2005–FY2025 (federal fiscal years, Oct–Sep). Published October 23, 2026.
We counted every federal 'other personal injury' case (nature of suit 360) filed since FY2005 and checked whether the first-listed defendant is one of 29 large store chains, including Walmart.
What the Federal Court Records Show
In fiscal year 2025, 1,417 of the 13,851 'other personal injury' lawsuits filed in U.S. district courts (10.2%) named Walmart as the first defendant, and 29 large retailers together accounted for 3,685 (26.6%). This is the federal category for negligence injury claims that fit no more specific code, such as injuries on store premises. The figures are a lower bound, because court records keep only the first-listed defendant, and they cover federal courts only.
- 10%of FY2025 'other personal injury' suits, Walmart first
- 27%FY2025 'other injury' suits, 29 chains 1st
- 2.9×Walmart-first suits, FY2025 vs. FY2005
About one in ten
Walmart was the first-listed defendant in 1,417 of 13,851 federal 'other personal injury' cases filed in FY2025 (10.2%), roughly 27.3 a week.
More than the next three combined
Costco (333), Home Depot (311) and Target (274) followed; Walmart's count was 4.3× that of Costco. Sam's Club is counted separately; combined with Walmart, the share would be 11.2%.
Retailer cases grew faster than the docket
Walmart-first cases rose from 490 in FY2005 to 1,417 in FY2025 (2.9×), and cases against all 29 retailers 3.3×, while all cases in the category grew 1.6×.
Most arrive from state court
83% of FY2025 Walmart-first cases were removed from state court, compared with 39% of other private-defendant cases in the category.
Texas leads
Federal courts in Texas received 825 retailer-first cases in FY2025, 49.3% of all 'other personal injury' cases filed there. The count does not adjust for population or the number of stores.
Most end in settlement, very few at trial
Of Walmart-first cases filed FY2015–FY2022 that have ended, 57.3% were closed as settled and 0.9% reached a verdict after trial.
Quote this finding
In fiscal year 2025, 1,417 of the 13,851 'other personal injury' lawsuits filed in U.S. district courts (10.2%) named Walmart as the first defendant, and 29 large retailers together accounted for 3,685 (26.6%). Source: Settlement Insight, Retailer Injury Lawsuits
Which Retailers Get Sued Most for Injuries in Federal Court
Walmart is named first in far more federal injury suits than any other of the 29 store chains we searched for.
In FY2025 Walmart was the first defendant in 1,417 federal 'other personal injury' cases (10.2% of all such cases), followed by Costco with 333 (2.4%), Home Depot with 311 (2.2%) and Target with 274 (2.0%).
Walmart alone accounted for 38.5% of the 3,685 cases that named one of the 29 retailers first. The counts include store subsidiaries whose names contain the brand, such as Wal-Mart Stores East, LP or Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. Sam's Club is listed separately, with 133 cases.
Measured against all personal injury filings, including product liability and mass-tort cases, Walmart-first cases were 2.2% of 68,513 in FY2025. The ranking is by number of cases and does not account for the number of stores, customers or sales of each chain.
Federal 'other personal injury' cases by first-listed retailer, FY2025
- Walmart1,41710.23% of all · 6,567 in FY2021–25
- Costco3332.40% of all · 1,282 in FY2021–25
- Home Depot3112.25% of all · 1,166 in FY2021–25
- Target2741.98% of all · 1,340 in FY2021–25
- Kroger1711.23% of all · 695 in FY2021–25
- Lowe's1381.00% of all · 760 in FY2021–25
- Sam's Club1330.96% of all · 507 in FY2021–25
- Dollar General1240.90% of all · 533 in FY2021–25
- Dollar Tree1090.79% of all · 458 in FY2021–25
- CVS1050.76% of all · 539 in FY2021–25
- Menards690.50% of all · 322 in FY2021–25
- Albertsons / Safeway600.43% of all · 232 in FY2021–25
All retailers we searched for
- Family Dollar560.40% of all · 353 in FY2021–25
- TJX (TJ Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods)490.35% of all · 209 in FY2021–25
- Publix460.33% of all · 130 in FY2021–25
- Walgreens440.32% of all · 196 in FY2021–25
- Burlington340.25% of all · 127 in FY2021–25
- Ross Stores340.25% of all · 150 in FY2021–25
- Hobby Lobby320.23% of all · 131 in FY2021–25
- Tractor Supply310.22% of all · 98 in FY2021–25
- BJ's Wholesale270.19% of all · 178 in FY2021–25
- Macy's270.19% of all · 93 in FY2021–25
- Kohl's220.16% of all · 120 in FY2021–25
- Aldi120.09% of all · 51 in FY2021–25
- Best Buy110.08% of all · 65 in FY2021–25
- Meijer110.08% of all · 33 in FY2021–25
- Big Lots40.03% of all · 41 in FY2021–25
- J.C. Penney10.01% of all · 10 in FY2021–25
- Sears / Kmart00.00% of all · 4 in FY2021–25
Federal fiscal year 2025 runs from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025. A case is counted under a retailer only when that retailer is the first-listed defendant.
Are Lawsuits Against Walmart Increasing
The number of federal injury suits naming Walmart first has nearly tripled since FY2005.
Walmart-first federal 'other personal injury' cases rose from 490 in FY2005 to 1,355 in FY2024 and 1,417 in FY2025.
Over the same period, cases against all 29 retailers grew from 1,126 to 3,685, and the whole category from 8,824 to 13,851. Walmart's share was 5.6% in FY2005 and 10.2% in FY2025.
The yearly shares move with the size of the category, which jumps in years when large groups of related injury suits are filed at once. The case counts are the steadier measure of the trend. The data do not show why more retailer cases reach federal court.
Walmart-first and retailer-first cases by fiscal year
| Year | Walmart | Retailers | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,417 | 3,685 | 26.6% |
| 2024 | 1,355 | 3,472 | 27.5% |
| 2023 | 1,403 | 3,414 | 23.8% |
| 2022 | 1,228 | 3,003 | 35.2% |
| 2021 | 1,164 | 2,816 | 31.0% |
| 2020 | 1,128 | 2,760 | 26.6% |
| 2019 | 1,108 | 2,726 | 16.6% |
| 2018 | 1,010 | 2,524 | 28.0% |
| 2017 | 876 | 2,174 | 22.6% |
| 2016 | 733 | 1,923 | 25.9% |
| 2015 | 695 | 1,742 | 14.2% |
All fiscal years since FY2005
| Year | Walmart | Retailers | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 683 | 1,804 | 19.7% |
| 2013 | 586 | 1,607 | 23.6% |
| 2012 | 596 | 1,502 | 21.3% |
| 2011 | 614 | 1,501 | 22.6% |
| 2010 | 578 | 1,459 | 20.8% |
| 2009 | 563 | 1,454 | 20.6% |
| 2008 | 506 | 1,294 | 16.0% |
| 2007 | 468 | 1,187 | 9.4% |
| 2006 | 446 | 1,079 | 14.3% |
| 2005 | 490 | 1,126 | 12.8% |
Retailers: Walmart and the other chains we searched for, as first-listed defendant. Share: retailer cases as a percentage of all 'other personal injury' (nature of suit 360) filings that fiscal year.
Where Retailer Injury Lawsuits Are Filed
Texas federal courts receive more retailer injury suits than any other state.
Federal courts in Texas received 825 retailer-first 'other personal injury' cases in FY2025, 49.3% of the 1,672 such cases filed there; 363 named Walmart first.
California followed with 387 retailer-first cases (23.9% of its total). Among the 38 states with at least 50 cases in the category, the retailer share was highest in Texas, Indiana (46.6%) and Oklahoma (45.8%).
States are assigned by the location of the federal district court. The ranking does not account for population or the number of stores, and state rules on removal and damages differ.
Retailer-first 'other personal injury' cases by state, FY2025
| State | Retailer | All cases | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 825 | 1,672 | 49.3% |
| California | 387 | 1,618 | 23.9% |
| Florida | 265 | 975 | 27.2% |
| New Jersey | 227 | 535 | 42.4% |
| New York | 216 | 684 | 31.6% |
| Louisiana | 183 | 508 | 36.0% |
| Georgia | 177 | 526 | 33.7% |
| Pennsylvania | 173 | 494 | 35.0% |
| Michigan | 120 | 272 | 44.1% |
| Illinois | 117 | 634 | 18.5% |
| Indiana | 102 | 219 | 46.6% |
| Nevada | 86 | 223 | 38.6% |
| Tennessee | 75 | 225 | 33.3% |
| Mississippi | 73 | 191 | 38.2% |
| South Carolina | 63 | 263 | 24.0% |
All states and DC
| State | Retailer | All cases | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma | 55 | 120 | 45.8% |
| Maryland | 48 | 303 | 15.8% |
| Washington | 46 | 158 | 29.1% |
| Virginia | 44 | 170 | 25.9% |
| Alabama | 39 | 149 | 26.2% |
| Kentucky | 38 | 108 | 35.2% |
| Arizona | 33 | 106 | 31.1% |
| Colorado | 30 | 176 | 17.0% |
| Missouri | 30 | 223 | 13.5% |
| Ohio | 29 | 152 | 19.1% |
| Arkansas | 20 | 68 | 29.4% |
| Connecticut | 20 | 120 | 16.7% |
| Massachusetts | 17 | 128 | 13.3% |
| West Virginia | 15 | 55 | 27.3% |
| New Mexico | 14 | 95 | 14.7% |
| Oregon | 14 | 70 | 20.0% |
| Wisconsin | 14 | 64 | 21.9% |
| Minnesota | 12 | 78 | 15.4% |
| Hawaii | 11 | 49 | 22.4% |
| Nebraska | 10 | 41 | 24.4% |
| Kansas | 8 | 72 | 11.1% |
| Utah | 8 | 59 | 13.6% |
| Maine | 7 | 33 | 21.2% |
| Montana | 7 | 77 | 9.1% |
| North Carolina | 6 | 1,695 | 0.4% |
| Iowa | 5 | 26 | 19.2% |
| District of Columbia | 4 | 105 | 3.8% |
| New Hampshire | 3 | 22 | 13.6% |
| South Dakota | 2 | 21 | 9.5% |
| Alaska | 1 | 17 | 5.9% |
| Idaho | 1 | 15 | 6.7% |
| Wyoming | 1 | 20 | 5.0% |
| Delaware | 0 | 28 | 0.0% |
| North Dakota | 0 | 13 | 0.0% |
| Rhode Island | 0 | 27 | 0.0% |
| Vermont | 0 | 19 | 0.0% |
Do Walmart Injury Lawsuits Settle
Retailer injury suits are closed as settled far more often than other cases in the category, and very few go to trial.
Of the Walmart-first cases filed in FY2015–FY2022 that had ended, 57.3% were closed as settled and 11.3% as voluntarily dismissed; 0.9% ended in a judgment after trial.
For all 29 retailers, the settled share was 54.0%, compared with 35.1% for other cases in the category. Courts sent 8.8% of terminated Walmart-first cases back to state court, and 5.2% ended in a judgment on a pretrial motion.
We used cases filed in FY2015–FY2022, of which 99.7% of Walmart-first cases had ended by June 30, 2026. Settlement amounts are generally private and are not shown in the court records.
How terminated cases ended, filed FY2015–FY2022
| First defendant | Settled | Voluntary | Trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walmart | 57.3% | 11.3% | 0.9% |
| All 29 retailers | 54.0% | 11.9% | 1.0% |
| All other cases | 35.1% | 13.8% | 0.9% |
Settled: disposition code 13. Voluntary: dismissed voluntarily (code 12), which can also follow a private settlement. Trial: jury verdict, directed verdict or court trial. One record per docket and filing date; a reopened docket with a new filing date counts again.
Download the Data and Cite This Study
Every table as a CSV file and in one Excel workbook, a short PDF summary and every chart as an image, free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0).
- How retailer personal injury suits ended, cases filed FY2015-FY2022Disposition shares among terminated nature-of-suit 360 cases filed FY2015-FY2022, for Walmart, all 29 retailers and all other cases, one record per docket. · 3 rows · CSV, 1 KB
- Walmart and retailer personal injury suits in federal court by fiscal year, FY2005-FY2025Annual nature-of-suit 360 filings, filings with Walmart or any of 29 store chains as first-listed defendant, and their shares, by federal fiscal year. · 21 rows · CSV, 1 KB
- Retailer personal injury suits in federal court by state, FY2025FY2025 nature-of-suit 360 filings per state (50 states and DC, by federal district location), with Walmart and all-retailer counts and the retailer share. · 51 rows · CSV, 1 KB
- Retailers named as first defendant in federal 'other personal injury' suits, FY2025Cases filed in U.S. district courts under nature of suit 360 in FY2025 whose first-listed defendant matches each of 29 store chains, with share of all NOS 360 filings, share removed from state court and five-year total. · 29 rows · CSV, 1 KB
- All tables in one Excel workbookOne sheet per table plus an About sheet with sources, method and citation · Excel (.xlsx), 17 KB
Charts for your story
Federal 'other personal injury' cases by first-listed retailer, FY2025
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Walmart-first and retailer-first cases by fiscal year
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Retailer-first 'other personal injury' cases by state, FY2025
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How terminated cases ended, filed FY2015–FY2022
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How to cite
Goldberg, L. (2026). Retailers in Federal Personal Injury Litigation — Nature of Suit 360 Cases Naming Walmart and Other Store Chains as First Defendant by Retailer, Fiscal Year, State and Outcome (FY2005–FY2025) [Data set]. Settlement Insight. https://settlementinsight.com/research/retailer-injury-lawsuits-federal-court
BibTeX
@dataset{goldberg_2026_retailer_injury_lawsuits_federal_court,
author = {Goldberg, Leonard},
title = {Retailers in Federal Personal Injury Litigation --- Nature of Suit 360 Cases Naming Walmart and Other Store Chains as First Defendant by Retailer, Fiscal Year, State and Outcome (FY2005--FY2025)},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Settlement Insight},
url = {https://settlementinsight.com/research/retailer-injury-lawsuits-federal-court}
}How We Measured
Checked against published figures
- Cases filed under nature of suit 360 (Other Personal Injury - Other), 12 months ending September 30, 2025: published 13,852, our count 13,851 (0.01% apart).Judicial Business 2025, Table C-2: U.S. District Courts, Civil Cases Commenced, by Basis of Jurisdiction and Nature of Suit
- Cases filed under nature of suit 360 (Other Personal Injury - Other), 12 months ending September 30, 2024: published 12,627, our count 12,605 (0.17% apart).Judicial Business 2025, Table C-2: U.S. District Courts, Civil Cases Commenced, by Basis of Jurisdiction and Nature of Suit
- Nature of suit 360 cases filed on diversity of citizenship jurisdiction, 12 months ending September 30, 2025: published 9,801, our count 9,802 (0.01% apart).Judicial Business 2025, Table C-2: U.S. District Courts, Civil Cases Commenced, by Basis of Jurisdiction and Nature of Suit
- Nature of suit 360 cases filed with the United States as defendant, 12 months ending September 30, 2025: published 2,127, our count 2,126 (0.05% apart).Judicial Business 2025, Table C-2: U.S. District Courts, Civil Cases Commenced, by Basis of Jurisdiction and Nature of Suit
- Personal injury cases filed (all personal injury natures of suit, codes 310-368), 12 months ending September 30, 2025: published 68,522, our count 68,513 (0.01% apart).Judicial Business 2025, Table C-2: U.S. District Courts, Civil Cases Commenced, by Basis of Jurisdiction and Nature of Suit
Full method and limits of the data
Cases are assigned to federal fiscal years (October 1 to September 30) by the IDB filing date (FILEDATE), so FY2025 is every record with a filing date from October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025, the same period used in the judiciary's Table C-2; every year in the series, including the FY2005 starting point, uses all records of the current release with a filing date in that fiscal year. FY2026 is incomplete and left out. Every IDB record is counted, including records for reopened, removed or remanded dockets that appear more than once; we do not de-duplicate, because Table C-2 counts the same way. Our count for FY2025 is 13,851 cases, 0.01% below the figure published in Table C-2; our count of diversity-jurisdiction cases (9,802) and of all personal injury filings (68,513) also match the published table within a fraction of a percent.
A case counts under a retailer when the first-listed defendant (IDB field DEFENDANT, upper-cased, often cut off at about 30 characters) matches one of exactly 29 store chains; no other chains are searched. Matching is by literal text: a search term matches when it appears in the field at the start of a word, meaning at the start of the field or right after any character that is not a letter or digit (space, comma, slash, period, hyphen, parenthesis), and any characters may follow it, so MENARD also matches MENARD, INC. and MENARDS, WALGREEN matches WALGREEN CO. and WALGREENS, KROGER matches KROGERS, and DOLGEN matches DOLGENCORP. Each record is assigned to at most one chain, checked in this order, with these exact search terms: Walmart (WAL-MART, WALMART, WAL MART; a record naming both Walmart and Sam's Club counts as Walmart); Sam's Club (SAM'S CLUB, SAMS CLUB, SAM'S EAST, SAMS EAST, SAM'S WEST, SAMS WEST), a separate chain included in the retailer total but not in Walmart; Costco (COSTCO); Home Depot (HOME DEPOT); Target (only when the field begins with TARGET or THE TARGET, followed directly by CORP, STORES, BRANDS, INC, A/K/A with a leading space, by a comma, or by nothing, so TARGET CORPORATION, TARGET, ET AL and TARGET, INC. count); Lowe's (LOWE'S, LOWES); Kroger (KROGER; Kroger banners such as Dillon or Smith's do not count); Dollar Tree (DOLLAR TREE); Family Dollar (FAMILY DOLLAR); Dollar General (DOLLAR GENERAL, DOLGEN; DG Louisiana does not count); CVS (CVS, which includes names such as HOLIDAY CVS or GARFIELD BEACH CVS); Walgreens (WALGREEN); Menards (MENARD); Macy's (MACY'S, MACY' S, MACY S, MACYS); Publix (PUBLIX); Albertsons and Safeway (ALBERTSON, SAFEWAY, except any field containing SAFEWAY MOVING, a moving company); TJX (TJX, TJ MAXX, T.J. MAXX, T. J. MAXX, T J MAXX, MARSHALLS, HOMEGOODS); Burlington (BURLINGTON COAT, BURLINGTON STORES); Ross Stores (ROSS STORES, ROSS DRESS); Tractor Supply (TRACTOR SUPPLY); Hobby Lobby (HOBBY LOBBY); Kohl's (KOHL'S, KOHLS); J.C. Penney (J.C. PENNEY, J.C.PENNEY, J.C PENNEY, J. C. PENNEY, J C PENNEY, JC PENNEY, JCPENNEY); Sears and Kmart (SEARS ROEBUCK, SEARS, ROEBUCK, SEARS HOLDING, KMART, K MART, K-MART); BJ's Wholesale (BJ'S WHOLESALE, BJS WHOLESALE); Best Buy (BEST BUY); Aldi (ALDI only as a whole word, so ALDI'S counts but ALDINE does not); Meijer (MEIJER); Big Lots (BIG LOTS). No other spellings count. Other retailers, such as Amazon, convenience-store chains or sporting-goods chains, are not counted. Shares are retailer records divided by all nature of suit 360 records in the same fiscal year, and the weekly figure is the FY2025 Walmart count divided by fifty-two, rounded half up.
For outcomes we used cases filed in FY2015–FY2022 that had ended by June 30, 2026, keeping one record for each combination of docket and filing date, so a reopened docket with a new filing date counts again, and grouped the IDB disposition codes as settled (13), voluntarily dismissed (12), remanded (1), judgment on pretrial motion (6) and trial (7, 8, 9). Removal shares use the IDB origin code 2, cases that began in state court.
What this data cannot tell you
- The IDB stores only the first-listed defendant, and only in shortened form. Suits that name a property owner, contractor or employee first and the retailer second are not counted, so all retailer figures are a lower bound.
- These are federal cases only. Most injury suits against stores are filed in state courts, which this data does not cover; a case appears here only if it was filed in or removed to federal court. The figures do not show how many lawsuits a retailer faces in total.
- Nature of suit 360 is a catch-all for negligence injury claims. The records do not say how an injury happened, so the counts cannot be read as slip-and-fall cases alone, and some retailer injury claims are filed under other codes such as product liability.
- Each record is a case filing, not an injured person or an incident. Reopened and removed cases are counted as in Table C-2. The ranking does not adjust for the number of stores, customers or sales, and name matching can miss subsidiaries filed under a different company name.
- Courts keep updating IDB records after filing, and the outcome figures depend on cases that had ended by June 30, 2026. Settlement amounts are not reliably recorded in the IDB, and a voluntary dismissal may also follow a private settlement.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many lawsuits does Walmart get a year?
In federal court, Walmart was the first-listed defendant in 1,417 'other personal injury' cases filed in fiscal year 2025 (October 2024 to September 2025). That is a lower bound for federal injury suits only; most injury suits against stores are filed in state courts, which these records do not cover.
What share of federal personal injury lawsuits are against Walmart?
Walmart was named first in 10.2% of the 13,851 federal 'other personal injury' cases filed in FY2025. Measured against all federal personal injury filings, including product liability and mass torts, the share was 2.2%.
Which store gets sued the most for injuries?
Among the 29 chains we searched for, Walmart, by a wide margin. In FY2025 it was first defendant in 1,417 federal 'other personal injury' cases, followed by Costco (333), Home Depot (311) and Target (274). The ranking does not adjust for the number of stores.
Do Walmart slip and fall lawsuits settle?
Most federal ones end that way. Of Walmart-first 'other personal injury' cases filed FY2015–FY2022 that had ended, 57.3% were closed as settled and 11.3% as voluntarily dismissed, while 0.9% ended after a trial. Court records do not show settlement amounts.
Why are Walmart injury lawsuits in federal court?
Most of them start in state court and are moved there: 83% of FY2025 Walmart-first cases were removed from state court. Federal courts can hear such cases when the parties are citizens of different states, the basis for 71% of all cases in the category.
Are lawsuits against Walmart increasing?
In federal court records, yes. Walmart-first 'other personal injury' cases rose from 490 in FY2005 to 1,417 in FY2025, while the whole category grew 1.6×.
Sources
- Integrated Database (IDB): Civil cases filed, terminated, and pending from SY 1988 to present — Federal Judicial Center
- Civil Codebook 1988 Forward — Federal Judicial Center
- Table C-2. U.S. District Courts – Civil Cases Commenced, by Basis of Jurisdiction and Nature of Suit (September 30, 2025) — Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
- Civil Nature of Suit Code Descriptions — Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
Independent analysis. Settlement Insight is not a law firm and not affiliated with any agency named here. Analysis by Leonard Goldberg, Editor. How we work: methodology, our data.
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