Top Individual Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements of 1999
The 10 largest individual personal injury results from 1999, nationwide on record here, ranked by amount: one client's, one family's, or one incident's recovery, never a pooled fund. Each links to the full story, the firm, and the record behind the number.
- $1.2 billionVerdictReduced from $4.9 billion
$4.9 Billion Verdict Over Chevy Malibu Fuel Tank Fire
A Los Angeles jury ordered General Motors to pay $4.9 billion after a 1979 Chevrolet Malibu's rear-mounted fuel tank ruptured and burned six occupants in a rear-end crash, the largest US personal-injury verdict at the time.
After trial: The punitive award was cut to $1.09 billion after trial, about $1.2 billion in total, and the case settled confidentially while the appeal was pending.
Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP, Greene Broillet & Wheeler and Robinson Calcagnie, Inc.1999 · Los Angeles, CA (LA County Superior Court)Read the full story → - $907 millionNot collectable
Maddux Family Wins $907 Million Wrongful Death Judgment Against Fugitive Ira Einhorn
In July 1999, a Philadelphia jury awarded $907 million against Ira Einhorn for the 1977 killing of his girlfriend, Helen 'Holly' Maddux, in a civil wrongful death and survival action filed by her family. Einhorn was a fugitive living in France at the time and sent no attorney, so the court directed a verdict for the family on liability and left the six-member jury to decide damages alone. The jury deliberated a little over an hour before returning $752 million in punitive damages and $155 million in compensatory damages. Firm founder James E. Beasley represented the Maddux family. The suit was never intended to collect money from a fugitive with no assets; it was filed to stop Einhorn from profiting off book or movie deals about the case.
After trial: Judgment entered after the defendant, a fugitive in France, presented no defense, with the jury deciding damages only. No post-trial motion or appeal has been reported.
- $296 millionVerdict
$296 Million Verdict Against Koch Industries for Butane Pipeline Deaths in Kaufman County
A Kaufman County jury awarded $296 million in compensatory damages against Koch Industries after a corroded, unmaintained butane pipeline exploded and killed two teenagers on August 24, 1996.
After trial: Koch settled confidentially before the punitive damages phase went to the jury.
- $100 millionSettlement
Willis Family Wrongful Death Settlement: $100 Million After Six Children Killed in I-94 Truck Crash
Power Rogers LLP recovered $100 million for Rev. Scott and Janet Willis after six of their nine children were killed when a mudflap assembly fell from a tractor-trailer on I-94 and ignited their minivan, a case that ultimately exposed an Illinois license-bribery scheme and sent Governor George Ryan to federal prison.
After trial: This was a settlement, not a jury verdict. The case never went to trial: the Willis family and the defendants settled the wrongful death claims for $100 million in 1999.
- $37 millionVerdict
$37 Million Verdict After FPL Killed Traffic Signal, Killing a 12-Year-Old
Stuart Grossman and Andrew Yaffa secured a $37.37 million wrongful-death verdict against Florida Power and Light after a utility crew deactivated a traffic signal without notifying police, causing a fatal multi-vehicle collision that killed a 12-year-old girl.
- $26.54 millionVerdictReduced from $29.7 million
Birth Injury Verdict Cut From $29.7 Million To $26.5 Million Under Idaho's Damages Cap
In 1999, a federal jury in Boise found that Dr. Ian Ross Donald had punctured a fetal blood vessel during an amniocentesis on Sandy Kirkland, causing internal bleeding that went undetected for about sixteen hours and left her son with severe brain damage and spastic quadriplegia. The jury awarded $29,715,077, finding Donald 75 percent at fault and reckless and Wood River Medical Center 25 percent at fault and merely negligent, while clearing Sandy's other treating physician entirely. Because Idaho's noneconomic damages cap does not apply to a defendant a jury finds reckless, only the hospital's share of noneconomic damages was reduced, leaving roughly $26,538,077 of the award standing. The Idaho Supreme Court later upheld the cap's constitutionality on a certified question from the case. Paul Luvera, of the firm now known as Luvera Law Firm, represented the Kirkland family at trial.
After trial: Reduced by the Idaho cap. The hospital's $3,750,000 share of noneconomic damages was cut to about $573,000 because the jury found it negligent rather than reckless; the doctor's share was not capped.
- $23.72 millionVerdictReduced from $296.2 millionPaid
$296 Million Bronco Rollover Verdict Against Ford, Paid Out at $23.7 Million After Four Years of Appeals
A Stanislaus County jury awarded $6,226,793 in compensatory damages and $290 million in punitive damages against Ford Motor Company after a 1978 Bronco rolled over and its roof collapsed, killing three members of the Romo family and orphaning three children. Joseph W. Carcione Jr., the retired founder of the practice that continues today as Carcione, Henderson & Markowitz, tried the case. The punitive award was cut to $23,723,287 in 2003 after the U.S. Supreme Court's State Farm v. Campbell decision, and Ford paid the reduced judgment.
After trial: The punitive award was reduced to $23,723,287 in 2003 after State Farm v. Campbell; Ford paid the reduced judgment plus compensatory damages and interest in 2004.
Carcione, Henderson & Markowitz, LLP1999 · Stanislaus County Superior Court, Modesto, CaliforniaRead the full story → - $20 millionVerdict
Jury Awards $20 Million to Boy Burned by 13,200 Volts in Virginia Power Substation
A Charles City County jury returned a $20 million verdict for a ten-year-old boy who suffered third-degree burns across 25 percent of his body after contacting 13,200 volts inside an inadequately secured Virginia Power substation next to his Richmond apartment complex, and the Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the award in full.
- $7.4 millionVerdictReduced from $51 million
Kline & Specter Wins $51 Million SEPTA Escalator Verdict for Boy Who Lost His Foot
A Philadelphia jury awarded more than $51 million against SEPTA in December 1999, after a four-year-old boy's foot was severed in a subway escalator and the transit agency was caught mid-trial concealing maintenance records. Because Pennsylvania's sovereign immunity cap limited the tort damages and SEPTA moved to appeal, the family settled for $7.4 million in January 2000.
After trial: Pennsylvania's sovereign immunity cap limited the tort damages, and the family settled for $7.4 million in January 2000.
- $810,458Verdict
Jury Awards Parents $810,458 After Driver Admits Fault in 1995 West Fargo Crash That Killed Their Son
The parents of an eight-year-old boy killed in a November 1995 crash in West Fargo, North Dakota, sued the driver, his father and a second driver alleged to have been racing him. The driver admitted liability, and the jury awarded the parents $810,457.96 against him and found the second driver not negligent. The trial court refused to subtract the family's pretrial settlement with the father from the award, and the North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed in 1999.
After trial: The North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed on August 25, 1999 (1999 ND 171), refusing to deduct the family's pretrial settlement with the driver's father from the jury award. The amended judgment was $825,681.47, but the opinion does not itemize what was added to the jury's $810,457.96, so only the award ranks.
Vogel Law Firm1999 · North Dakota state district court (crash in West Fargo); appeal to the North Dakota Supreme Court, 1999 ND 171Read the full story →
All 1999 verdicts and settlements
14 results, largest first
A Los Angeles jury ordered General Motors to pay $4.9 billion after a 1979 Chevrolet Malibu's rear-mounted fuel tank ruptured and burned six occupants in a rear-end crash, the largest US personal-injury verdict at the time.
In July 1999, a Philadelphia jury awarded $907 million against Ira Einhorn for the 1977 killing of his girlfriend, Helen 'Holly' Maddux, in a civil wrongful death and survival action filed by her family. Einhorn was a fugitive living in France at the time and sent no attorney, so the court directed a verdict for the family on liability and left the six-member jury to decide damages alone. The jury deliberated a little over an hour before returning $752 million in punitive damages and $155 million in compensatory damages. Firm founder James E. Beasley represented the Maddux family. The suit was never intended to collect money from a fugitive with no assets; it was filed to stop Einhorn from profiting off book or movie deals about the case.
A Kaufman County jury awarded $296 million in compensatory damages against Koch Industries after a corroded, unmaintained butane pipeline exploded and killed two teenagers on August 24, 1996.
Power Rogers LLP recovered $100 million for Rev. Scott and Janet Willis after six of their nine children were killed when a mudflap assembly fell from a tractor-trailer on I-94 and ignited their minivan, a case that ultimately exposed an Illinois license-bribery scheme and sent Governor George Ryan to federal prison.
Stuart Grossman and Andrew Yaffa secured a $37.37 million wrongful-death verdict against Florida Power and Light after a utility crew deactivated a traffic signal without notifying police, causing a fatal multi-vehicle collision that killed a 12-year-old girl.
In 1999, a federal jury in Boise found that Dr. Ian Ross Donald had punctured a fetal blood vessel during an amniocentesis on Sandy Kirkland, causing internal bleeding that went undetected for about sixteen hours and left her son with severe brain damage and spastic quadriplegia. The jury awarded $29,715,077, finding Donald 75 percent at fault and reckless and Wood River Medical Center 25 percent at fault and merely negligent, while clearing Sandy's other treating physician entirely. Because Idaho's noneconomic damages cap does not apply to a defendant a jury finds reckless, only the hospital's share of noneconomic damages was reduced, leaving roughly $26,538,077 of the award standing. The Idaho Supreme Court later upheld the cap's constitutionality on a certified question from the case. Paul Luvera, of the firm now known as Luvera Law Firm, represented the Kirkland family at trial.
An Oakland County jury found Warner Bros. and The Jenny Jones Show liable for the wrongful death of Scott Amedure and assessed $25 million, an award the Michigan Court of Appeals later reversed.
A Stanislaus County jury awarded $6,226,793 in compensatory damages and $290 million in punitive damages against Ford Motor Company after a 1978 Bronco rolled over and its roof collapsed, killing three members of the Romo family and orphaning three children. Joseph W. Carcione Jr., the retired founder of the practice that continues today as Carcione, Henderson & Markowitz, tried the case. The punitive award was cut to $23,723,287 in 2003 after the U.S. Supreme Court's State Farm v. Campbell decision, and Ford paid the reduced judgment.
A Charles City County jury returned a $20 million verdict for a ten-year-old boy who suffered third-degree burns across 25 percent of his body after contacting 13,200 volts inside an inadequately secured Virginia Power substation next to his Richmond apartment complex, and the Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the award in full.
A Phoenix jury ordered General Motors to pay $17 million for the wrongful death of a Scottsdale woman crushed by her own pickup, a verdict the Arizona Court of Appeals later set aside over a flawed jury instruction.
A Philadelphia jury awarded more than $51 million against SEPTA in December 1999, after a four-year-old boy's foot was severed in a subway escalator and the transit agency was caught mid-trial concealing maintenance records. Because Pennsylvania's sovereign immunity cap limited the tort damages and SEPTA moved to appeal, the family settled for $7.4 million in January 2000.
The parents of an eight-year-old boy killed in a November 1995 crash in West Fargo, North Dakota, sued the driver, his father and a second driver alleged to have been racing him. The driver admitted liability, and the jury awarded the parents $810,457.96 against him and found the second driver not negligent. The trial court refused to subtract the family's pretrial settlement with the father from the award, and the North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed in 1999.
A registered nurse whose pickup was rear-ended by a Rush Trucking tractor-trailer in 1994 won a federal jury award, entered as a $931,218 judgment in January 1999 in the Western District of New York. The Second Circuit held that the separate emotional distress awards duplicated pain and suffering and allowed $581,218 to stand on remittitur. Rush Trucking had admitted its driver caused the crash and contested only the cause and extent of her injuries.
Jimmy Apodaca, a 17-year employee at Excel Corporation's beef-packing plant in Friona, Texas, sued the non-subscribing employer over cumulative trauma injuries to his hand, neck and back. A Lubbock County jury found Excel negligent in August 1999 and awarded $536,472, and the Amarillo Court of Appeals affirmed. The Texas Supreme Court reversed in 2002 for lack of causation evidence and rendered a take-nothing judgment.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.