Top Individual Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements of 2005
The 10 largest individual personal injury results from 2005, 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.
- $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 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.
- $5 millionVerdict
$5 Million Verdict After Brain-Injured Veteran Suffocated During Prone Restraint at FINR Facility
A Hardee County jury awarded $5 million to the parents of Michael Lieux, a former Marine with a brain injury who died of positional asphyxia after FINR staff pinned him face-down using a technique the facility called 'therapeutic containment.'
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.