Top Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements of 2005
The 10 largest personal injury recoveries from 2005, nationwide, ranked by amount, with 12 independently-sourced results to browse. Individual client results and group recoveries are both listed and labeled. Each links to the full story, the firm, and the record behind the number.
Every result on this list holds a ProvenVerdicts designation, the largest verified personal injury result of 2005 or one of the Top 10, which the firm can display with a badge from its results page. The ranking is live and moves as results are verified.
- $65.1 millionVerdict
Miami-Dade Jury Returns $65.1 Million for a Boy Killed at a Negligently Wired Bus Shelter
A Miami-Dade jury found Eller Media liable for the 1998 electrocution of a 12-year-old boy at a bus shelter wired by unlicensed electricians and awarded $65.1 million.
- $60.9 millionVerdict
A Brain-Injured Baby at a Navy Hospital and a Record $60.9 Million Federal Tort Claims Award
A federal judge found the Navy's Jacksonville hospital liable for the brain injury of a baby born in distress and entered a $60.9 million award, then the largest Federal Tort Claims Act recovery in the country, before part of it was cut on appeal.
- $40 millionVerdict
$40 Million Verdict for Family of Boy Left with Cerebral Palsy After Five-Hour Delivery Delay
A Middlesex County jury returned the largest personal-injury verdict in Massachusetts history after finding that an obstetrician waited more than five hours to perform an emergency C-section despite clear signs of fetal distress, causing a Dracut boy to develop cerebral palsy.
- $27.4 millionVerdict
$27.4 Million Verdict Against San Francisco After MUNI Truck Kills 4-Year-Old on Mission District Sidewalk
A San Francisco jury returned what was then the largest personal-injury verdict ever against the city after a Municipal Railway repair truck ran a red light, struck another vehicle, and jumped a sidewalk, killing a four-year-old girl and injuring three others walking with her.
- $17.6 millionVerdict
$17.6 Million Verdict for Man Left an Incomplete Quadriplegic After Unauthorized Police Pursuit on the Eisenhower Expressway
A Cook County jury returned a $17,682,374 verdict for Vernon Hudson after an off-duty Chicago police officer pursuing a homicide suspect without supervisor authorization lost control of her squad car and slammed into Hudson's vehicle on the Eisenhower Expressway, leaving him an incomplete quadriplegic.
Romanucci & Blandin2005 · Circuit Court of Cook County; affirmed Ill. App. Ct. 1st Dist. (2007)Read the full story → - $10.2 millionVerdict
Duval County Jury Faults Ford Explorer Roof and Seatbelt in Fatal Rollover
A Duval County jury found that the collapsing roof and a defective seatbelt of a 2000 Ford Explorer caused a young driver's death in a Virginia rollover, returning $10,184,315 against Ford in the first verdict aimed squarely at the Explorer's roof and belt design.
- $10 millionVerdict
$10 Million Verdict for Family of Boy with Down Syndrome Killed by Pharmacy Overdose
A Florida jury awarded $10 million to the family of a 10-year-old boy with Down syndrome who died after a pharmacy dispensed more than ten times the prescribed dose of methadone.
- $9.5 millionSettlementGroup recovery
$9.5 Million Bankruptcy Settlement for Hundreds of Former ISKCON Boarding-School Students Abused in the 1970s and 1980s
Windle Turley filed a $400 million federal lawsuit in Dallas on behalf of former Hare Krishna boarding-school students who suffered rape, physical torture, and emotional abuse as children; the litigation resolved in 2005 through a California bankruptcy court settlement paying $9.5 million to hundreds of victims.
Turley Law Firm2005 · U.S. Bankruptcy Court (California); originally filed U.S. District Court, N.D. Texas, DallasRead the full story → - $9 millionSettlement
Norris v. Atsalis Brothers: $9 Million for a Driver Who Lost Both Legs When a Distracted Trucker Split His Car in Two
Steven Gursten secured $9 million for a Michigan man who lost both legs after an Atsalis Brothers work truck rear-ended and split his Saturn on I-94, a figure Michigan Lawyers Weekly reported as the state's largest pain-and-suffering recovery of the preceding decade.
- $8.2 millionVerdict
$8.2 Million Verdict After Retread Tire Blowout Kills Two Women on US-93
A Missoula County jury awarded $8.2 million, including $5.2 million in punitive damages, after Les Schwab sold a retread tire installed on the front steer axle of a cement truck that blew out on US-93 near Ronan, killing two women.
All 2005 verdicts and settlements
12 results, largest first
A Philadelphia jury in May 2005 awarded two women a combined $200 million for heart-valve injuries caused by Wyeth's fen-phen diet drugs, with Steve Kherkher of Williams Bailey (now Kherkher Garcia) leading the trial, before a judge granted Wyeth's post-trial motion and the case resolved through a confidential settlement.
A Miami-Dade jury found Eller Media liable for the 1998 electrocution of a 12-year-old boy at a bus shelter wired by unlicensed electricians and awarded $65.1 million.
A federal judge found the Navy's Jacksonville hospital liable for the brain injury of a baby born in distress and entered a $60.9 million award, then the largest Federal Tort Claims Act recovery in the country, before part of it was cut on appeal.
A Middlesex County jury returned the largest personal-injury verdict in Massachusetts history after finding that an obstetrician waited more than five hours to perform an emergency C-section despite clear signs of fetal distress, causing a Dracut boy to develop cerebral palsy.
A San Francisco jury returned what was then the largest personal-injury verdict ever against the city after a Municipal Railway repair truck ran a red light, struck another vehicle, and jumped a sidewalk, killing a four-year-old girl and injuring three others walking with her.
A Cook County jury returned a $17,682,374 verdict for Vernon Hudson after an off-duty Chicago police officer pursuing a homicide suspect without supervisor authorization lost control of her squad car and slammed into Hudson's vehicle on the Eisenhower Expressway, leaving him an incomplete quadriplegic.
A Duval County jury found that the collapsing roof and a defective seatbelt of a 2000 Ford Explorer caused a young driver's death in a Virginia rollover, returning $10,184,315 against Ford in the first verdict aimed squarely at the Explorer's roof and belt design.
A Florida jury awarded $10 million to the family of a 10-year-old boy with Down syndrome who died after a pharmacy dispensed more than ten times the prescribed dose of methadone.
Windle Turley filed a $400 million federal lawsuit in Dallas on behalf of former Hare Krishna boarding-school students who suffered rape, physical torture, and emotional abuse as children; the litigation resolved in 2005 through a California bankruptcy court settlement paying $9.5 million to hundreds of victims.
Steven Gursten secured $9 million for a Michigan man who lost both legs after an Atsalis Brothers work truck rear-ended and split his Saturn on I-94, a figure Michigan Lawyers Weekly reported as the state's largest pain-and-suffering recovery of the preceding decade.
A Missoula County jury awarded $8.2 million, including $5.2 million in punitive damages, after Les Schwab sold a retread tire installed on the front steer axle of a cement truck that blew out on US-93 near Ronan, killing two women.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.