Top Individual Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements of 2001
The 10 largest individual personal injury results from 2001, 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.
- $55.4 millionVerdict
$55.4 Million Verdict Against Continental General Tire for Tread Separation That Left Driver Quadriplegic
A Los Angeles jury found a manufacturing defect in a General AmeriTech ST tire whose tread separated on the highway, rolling a Ford Taurus and leaving its driver quadriplegic, and awarded $55.4 million to her and her parents.
After trial: Continental General Tire moved to set the verdict aside and said it would appeal, calling several of the trial court's evidentiary rulings wrong and prejudicial. No public record of how those motions or an appeal were resolved has surfaced, so what was ultimately paid is not known.
- $50 millionVerdictReduced from $3 billion
$3 Billion Philip Morris Verdict for a Lifelong Marlboro Smoker
In June 2001, after a nine-week trial, a Los Angeles jury awarded Richard Boeken, a Topanga man dying of lung cancer after four decades of smoking Marlboros, $5,539,127 in compensatory damages and $3 billion in punitive damages against Philip Morris, then the largest verdict ever won by an individual smoker. The trial court reduced the punitive award to $100 million, Boeken died in January 2002 at 57, the Court of Appeal cut the award to $50 million in 2004, and the judgment became final when the U.S. Supreme Court declined review in March 2006. Michael J. Piuze tried the case; he died in 2020, and this page documents the case as part of the public record.
After trial: Reduced post-trial to $100 million in punitive damages, then to $50 million on appeal; final when the U.S. Supreme Court declined review in 2006.
Law Offices of Michael J. Piuze2001 · Superior Court, Los Angeles County, CARead the full story → - $26 millionReduced from $78.4 million
Understaffed Nursing Home Held Liable for Resident's Death From Dehydration and Malnutrition
Margaretha Sauer, a 93-year-old resident of Rich Mountain Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Mena, Arkansas, died in July 1998 after five and a half years in the facility's care. Her estate sued the nursing home's corporate owners for negligence, medical malpractice, breach of contract, and wrongful death, presenting evidence of chronic understaffing, untreated weight loss and dehydration, and unaddressed pressure sores. A Polk County jury returned combined judgments of $78,425,000, reported at the time as the largest verdict against an Arkansas nursing home. The Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed liability on condition of remittitur, cutting the negligence and malpractice damages to $5,000,000 and the punitive award to $21,000,000, and the United States Supreme Court denied review in November 2003, leaving the reduced judgment final.
After trial: Reduced on appeal. On May 1, 2003 the Arkansas Supreme Court cut the $15,000,000 negligence and malpractice award to $5,000,000 and the $63,000,000 punitive award to $21,000,000, and the U.S.
Wilkes & Associates, P.A.2001 · Circuit Court of Polk County, Arkansas; affirmed on remittitur by the Arkansas Supreme CourtRead the full story → - $16.95 millionVerdict
Indiana Jury Awards Neurosurgeon $16.95 Million After Career-Ending Fall on a Hospital Pantry Floor
After a neurosurgeon slipped on a wet hospital pantry floor and developed reflex sympathetic dystrophy that ended his surgical career, an Evansville jury found St. Mary's Medical Center fully at fault and awarded $16.95 million, a verdict the Indiana Court of Appeals later affirmed.
- $16.56 millionVerdictReduced from $55.6 million
$55 Million Verdict Against Henry Ford Health System for a Child's Brain Injury
A Wayne County, Michigan jury awarded roughly $55.5 million, among the largest medical malpractice verdicts in the state at the time, against Henry Ford Health System after an emergency room physician sent home a child in respiratory distress who suffered a respiratory arrest the next morning and permanent brain damage. The trial court reduced the gross award to present value and applied Michigan's statutory cap on noneconomic damages, and the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment in 2005.
After trial: Reduced by statute: the trial court reduced the $55.57 million verdict to a present value of $17.95 million and cut $1,393,399 under Michigan's noneconomic damages cap, leaving about $16.56 million. The Court of Appeals affirmed in March 2005; payment is not publicly documented.
- $16.2 millionVerdict
False-Positive Cancer Test Leads to $16.2 Million Verdict for Washington Woman
A King County jury awarded $16.2 million to Jennifer Rufer after a faulty Abbott Laboratories pregnancy test produced false-positive readings that caused her doctors to put her through chemotherapy, a hysterectomy, and lung surgery for cancer she never had.
- $8 millionVerdict
$8 Million Verdict Against Paxil Maker After Gillette Family Killings
A Wyoming federal jury returned an $8 million verdict against SmithKline Beecham after finding that Paxil caused a Gillette man to kill three family members and himself within 48 hours of taking the drug.
- $7.22 millionVerdict
Jury Awards $7.22 Million After Tractor-Trailer Rear-Ends Car, Causing Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries
A tractor-trailer going about 50 mph rear-ended the Whiting family's car at a red light, leaving Harold Whiting with permanent brain damage and a spinal cord injury. The defendants conceded negligence, and a federal jury in Hammond awarded Harold $6 million, his wife Leatrice $1.22 million for loss of consortium and their daughter $80,000. The Seventh Circuit later affirmed the denial of a new trial.
After trial: The Seventh Circuit affirmed the denial of a new trial in June 2002, and no remittitur was sought, so the award stood. Ranks at the $7.22 million for Harold Whiting and his wife Leatrice (her loss of consortium); their daughter, also injured, was awarded $80,000 separately (decisions rule 16).
Schafer & Schafer LLP2001 · U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, HammondRead the full story → - $1.78 millionVerdict
$1.775 Million Verdict for Ironworker Who Fell From Unprotected Steel Frame at Delaware Construction Site
Arthur Krawitz won a $1.775 million federal jury verdict for a 59-year-old ironworker who suffered spinal and wrist fractures after falling from open steel framing at a Delaware construction site where no fall protection had been provided. The jury added $500,000 on his wife's consortium claim, which the court later reduced on remittitur.
After trial: This is not a reduction of the $1,775,000 the injured ironworker recovered, which stands. A separate $500,000 loss-of-consortium award to his wife was later reduced on remittitur.
The Law Offices of Doroshow, Pasquale, Krawitz & Bhaya2001 · U.S. District Court for the District of DelawareRead the full story → - $1.62 millionReduced from $2.0 million
$1.62 Million Judgment for Teen Hurt on Sullivan Road After Judge Overrode Jury That Cleared Parish
On May 10, 1993, three high school students were coming home from school on Sullivan Road in East Baton Rouge Parish when the driver lost control in the Sparkle Drive curve on wet pavement, crossed the centerline and hit a pickup. The driver and one passenger died. The other passenger, 16-year-old Jason Adams, suffered a torn heart valve requiring open-heart surgery, permanent frontal lobe brain damage, a compound leg fracture, a crushed ankle and a fractured pelvis. A jury cleared the Parish, but the trial judge granted judgment notwithstanding the verdict because the Parish had skid tests and citizen complaints showing the road was dangerously slick and had not fixed it. The First Circuit affirmed liability, put 20 percent on the driver, and left the Adams family with $1,622,757.
After trial: Reduced on appeal. The First Circuit reallocated 20 percent of fault to the deceased driver on November 14, 2001 and amended the awards, affirming otherwise.
Gordon McKernan Injury Attorneys2001 · 19th Judicial District Court, East Baton Rouge Parish, LA; amended and affirmed, La. App. 1 Cir.Read the full story →
All 2001 verdicts and settlements
12 results, largest first
A San Diego Superior Court jury returned a $94.5 million verdict for Otay Mesa developer Roque de la Fuente II after finding the City of San Diego breached a development agreement and damaged his 312-acre Border Business Park through airport planning announcements and commercial truck routing that blocked access to the site.
A Los Angeles jury found a manufacturing defect in a General AmeriTech ST tire whose tread separated on the highway, rolling a Ford Taurus and leaving its driver quadriplegic, and awarded $55.4 million to her and her parents.
In June 2001, after a nine-week trial, a Los Angeles jury awarded Richard Boeken, a Topanga man dying of lung cancer after four decades of smoking Marlboros, $5,539,127 in compensatory damages and $3 billion in punitive damages against Philip Morris, then the largest verdict ever won by an individual smoker. The trial court reduced the punitive award to $100 million, Boeken died in January 2002 at 57, the Court of Appeal cut the award to $50 million in 2004, and the judgment became final when the U.S. Supreme Court declined review in March 2006. Michael J. Piuze tried the case; he died in 2020, and this page documents the case as part of the public record.
Margaretha Sauer, a 93-year-old resident of Rich Mountain Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Mena, Arkansas, died in July 1998 after five and a half years in the facility's care. Her estate sued the nursing home's corporate owners for negligence, medical malpractice, breach of contract, and wrongful death, presenting evidence of chronic understaffing, untreated weight loss and dehydration, and unaddressed pressure sores. A Polk County jury returned combined judgments of $78,425,000, reported at the time as the largest verdict against an Arkansas nursing home. The Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed liability on condition of remittitur, cutting the negligence and malpractice damages to $5,000,000 and the punitive award to $21,000,000, and the United States Supreme Court denied review in November 2003, leaving the reduced judgment final.
After a neurosurgeon slipped on a wet hospital pantry floor and developed reflex sympathetic dystrophy that ended his surgical career, an Evansville jury found St. Mary's Medical Center fully at fault and awarded $16.95 million, a verdict the Indiana Court of Appeals later affirmed.
A Wayne County, Michigan jury awarded roughly $55.5 million, among the largest medical malpractice verdicts in the state at the time, against Henry Ford Health System after an emergency room physician sent home a child in respiratory distress who suffered a respiratory arrest the next morning and permanent brain damage. The trial court reduced the gross award to present value and applied Michigan's statutory cap on noneconomic damages, and the Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment in 2005.
A King County jury awarded $16.2 million to Jennifer Rufer after a faulty Abbott Laboratories pregnancy test produced false-positive readings that caused her doctors to put her through chemotherapy, a hysterectomy, and lung surgery for cancer she never had.
A Wyoming federal jury returned an $8 million verdict against SmithKline Beecham after finding that Paxil caused a Gillette man to kill three family members and himself within 48 hours of taking the drug.
A tractor-trailer going about 50 mph rear-ended the Whiting family's car at a red light, leaving Harold Whiting with permanent brain damage and a spinal cord injury. The defendants conceded negligence, and a federal jury in Hammond awarded Harold $6 million, his wife Leatrice $1.22 million for loss of consortium and their daughter $80,000. The Seventh Circuit later affirmed the denial of a new trial.
Arthur Krawitz won a $1.775 million federal jury verdict for a 59-year-old ironworker who suffered spinal and wrist fractures after falling from open steel framing at a Delaware construction site where no fall protection had been provided. The jury added $500,000 on his wife's consortium claim, which the court later reduced on remittitur.
On May 10, 1993, three high school students were coming home from school on Sullivan Road in East Baton Rouge Parish when the driver lost control in the Sparkle Drive curve on wet pavement, crossed the centerline and hit a pickup. The driver and one passenger died. The other passenger, 16-year-old Jason Adams, suffered a torn heart valve requiring open-heart surgery, permanent frontal lobe brain damage, a compound leg fracture, a crushed ankle and a fractured pelvis. A jury cleared the Parish, but the trial judge granted judgment notwithstanding the verdict because the Parish had skid tests and citizen complaints showing the road was dangerously slick and had not fixed it. The First Circuit affirmed liability, put 20 percent on the driver, and left the Adams family with $1,622,757.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.