As the second half of the year begins, Docket Alarm analytics shows a slight uptick in lawsuits filed in the year 2025, compared to the same time period in 2024.
The PACER system saw 551,771 cases in the first half of 2025, compared to 505,037 in the first half of 2024, according to Docket Alarm. This represents an increase of 9.25%. 152,655 of these cases were civil, an increase of about 10 percent.
The busiest federal court in the first half of the year was the District of New Jersey, which covers the entire state. Over 12,000 new suits were filed there in the first six months of the year, compared to 7,700 the year before. Beyond New Jersey, the top districts are to be expected, with the Central District of California being the most populous district in the nation.
The increase appears to be driven by new plaintiffs joining the long-running Johnson & Johnson Talcum Powder litigation, often filing short-form complaints. Indeed, the top parties for the first half of 2025, by number of lawsuits filed, are all related to that case.
Other top parties are more typical, like government officials, agencies, and the three major credit reporting bureaus. Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, was named in 2,220 lawsuits in the first half of the year, largely pertaining to immigration. Despite the changes in immigration policy, Noem’s predecessor in the Biden administration, Alejandro Mayorkas, was involved in over 2,800 in the first half of the prior year.
The top plaintiff in federal court is Strike 3 Holdings, with 2,278 cases so far this year. The company is a producer of pornographic films and files exclusively copyright litigation, employing a variety of firms to do so. The defendants are typically sued as John Does, or sometimes identified by IP address.
These activities make Strike 3 the most prolific federal litigation plaintiff in the United States – no other corporation appears in the top 50 in terms of lawsuits filed as a plaintiff.
