About Nicholas C. Rowley
Nicholas C. Rowley is a renowned National Trial Lawyer, published author, philanthropist, and founder of Trial Lawyers for Justice, with a distinguished career marked by over $3.5 billion in verdicts and settlements on behalf of injury victims and their families across the United States.
Born in Storm Lake, Iowa, Nick’s early life was characterized by significant challenges, including periods of poverty and bullying during his childhood in Nogales, Arizona, and small-town Iowa. Demonstrating resilience, he became self-supporting by the fifth grade and was emancipated at the age of 16. At 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and served a total of 6 years as a medic in the USAF and US Army. Military education benefits helped Nick earn a bachelor’s degree in Social Psychology by age 19 and commencing law school at 20.
Nick’s legal career is distinguished by numerous record-setting verdicts across the country, including the largest medical malpractice verdict in history in the amount of $412 Million, a $131 million verdict for a car crash victim, a $74.5 million verdict in a medical malpractice birth injury case, a $50 Million against Starbucks on behalf of a 25 year old who was seriously burned and disfigured as a result of a reckless corporate culture. In Washington State, Nick has been instrumental in securing significant multiple jury verdicts against Monsanto for injuries and damages suffered by children, parents, and teachers who were exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in a public school. The list of seven, eight, and nine-figure jury verdicts goes on and on.
Beyond the courtroom, Nick is a dedicated philanthropist and advocate. He co-founded Trial by Human, a nonprofit program aimed at enhancing trial skills for plaintiff lawyers. His humanitarian and philanthropic efforts extend internationally, including funding and constructing educational centers and helping underserved communities and nonprofits in the United States, Costa Rica, Kenya, and Bhutan.
Nick has invested years of his life and tens of millions of dollars towards protecting, preserving, and improving the Civil Justice Systems in America and leading the charge to change unjust laws such as California’s 1975 $250,000 Non-Economic Damages Cap (MICRA). Nick has done and continues to do similar work in multiple other States. He is the founder of Justice Watch, a national organization dedicated to protecting and policing the judiciary throughout the United States and as an answer to the far right’s organization (Judicial Watch), which is dedicated to tort reform and appointing Judges who are willing to trample on our 7th Amendment rights and uphold insurance company sponsored legislation that places caps on damages.
Nick’s commitment to justice and empathy for his clients have earned him recognition from numerous trial lawyer organizations and consumer advocate groups. He embodies a relentless pursuit of justice while offering world-class training to attorneys who seek self-improvement, both in and out of the courtroom. Nick shares his teachings through his books (Running With the Bulls, Trial by Human, Damages Evolving), as well as his podcast “Brutal Honesty,” which debuted at #47 on the Apple Podcasts Self-Improvement category in the US.
Proven verdicts and settlements
Carrie DeJongh, 40, of Hull, Iowa, died on June 9, 2015 after receiving iodinated contrast dye for a CT scan at Sioux Center Health, when the physician treating her gave her an antihistamine but did not immediately check her vital signs or give epinephrine. Her family sued Sioux Center Health and Dr. Roy T. Slice for negligence, and both defendants denied the allegations. A Sioux County jury in Orange City returned a $29.5 million verdict on June 13, 2018, covering DeJongh's pain and suffering before her death and loss of consortium for her husband and four children. No appeal, remittitur or reduction has turned up since.
In February 2017, a physician assistant at a UnityPoint urgent care clinic in Des Moines diagnosed Joseph Dudley with the flu despite a negative flu test, sent him home on Tamiflu, and never ordered a complete blood count. Two days later Dudley was hospitalized with bacterial meningitis caused by an undetected heart valve infection, spent eight days in a medically induced coma, and suffered a series of strokes that left him with permanent brain damage, hearing loss, vertigo and nerve damage. A Polk County jury tried the malpractice claim against physician assistant Melanie Choos and Central Iowa Hospital Corp, doing business as UnityPoint Clinic, over a week in November 2022 and returned a $27,000,000 verdict, all of it noneconomic damages. The defense moved for a new trial afterward and UnityPoint said it was weighing an appeal.
Richard J. Pellock, 80, had surgery to remove bladder cancer at UnityPoint Health Finley Hospital in Dubuque, Iowa in January 2015, and the operation succeeded. Days later he needed a second procedure for a post-surgical complication, and the nurse anesthetist handling that procedure induced anesthesia without first emptying his stomach despite signs he had a full one. Pellock aspirated, developed aspiration pneumonia and respiratory failure, and died. His widow and son sued the anesthesia group and a Dubuque County jury returned a $10 million verdict against it in September 2017, awarded entirely as loss-of-consortium damages. Defense lawyers were reported as saying they would challenge the verdict, but no Iowa appellate decision in the case has ever been published.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.
Practice areas
Bar admissions & credentials
Other attorneys at Trial Lawyers for Justice
View firm →
