Top Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements of 2010

9/11 First Responders Win $712.5 Million Settlement for WTC Toxic Dust Injuries

Paul Napoli served as court-appointed co-liaison counsel for nearly 10,000 firefighters, police officers, and construction workers who developed respiratory diseases after working at Ground Zero, securing a settlement worth up to $712.5 million against the city and its contractors.

$505 Million Verdict Against Teva and Baxter for Propofol Vials That Spread Hepatitis C Across Las Vegas

A Clark County jury awarded Henry and Lorraine Chanin $505 million against Teva Parenteral Medicines and Baxter Healthcare after finding that both companies supplied oversized propofol vials to Las Vegas endoscopy clinics, enabling the reuse that infected Henry Chanin with hepatitis C.

After trial: Settled after the verdict: the $505 million award stood until February 2012, when the case was resolved as part of Teva's global propofol settlement before the Nevada Supreme Court ruled. The amount paid to the Chanins was not made public.

Family Awarded $82.5 Million After Fatal Hood County Gas Plant Explosion

A Harris County jury found Hanover Compression L.P. (later Exterran Energy Solutions L.P.) grossly negligent in the 2007 explosion of a hot oil heater at a Quicksilver Resources natural gas plant in Hood County, Texas, that killed 27-year-old plant worker Joshua Wade Petrie. The jury assigned Hanover 90 percent of the responsibility and Quicksilver 10 percent, and in June 2010 awarded Petrie's widow, his three young children and his father a combined $82.5 million, a total that included $25 million in punitive damages against Hanover. Rob Ammons and Bennett Midlo of The Ammons Law Firm represented the family. Quicksilver, as Petrie's employer, carried workers' compensation coverage and was not itself on the hook for the damages award.

After trial: Hanover, found 90 percent at fault, is liable for all compensatory damages under Texas law, but $25 million of the award is exemplary and Texas caps exemplary damages; the signed judgment is not public.

$65 Million Settlement for Children Lead-Poisoned in New Orleans Public Housing

Joseph Bruno served as class counsel in a long-running class action on behalf of children who suffered lead poisoning from hazardous paint in Housing Authority of New Orleans units, securing a settlement fund of roughly $65.5 million.

Delaware Jury Returns $63 Million Verdict Against Defrocked Priest and Parish in Landmark Clergy Abuse Case

A Kent County jury awarded John Vai $63 million against defrocked priest Francis DeLuca and St. Elizabeth's Parish in Wilmington after finding both liable for childhood sexual abuse that began in the 1960s, producing what victim advocates called the largest compensatory verdict in U.S. clergy abuse history and the first time an individual parish was held accountable.

I-35W Bridge Collapse: $52.4 Million Settlement Against URS Corp for Negligent Inspection

James Schwebel represented 34 victims in a three-year lawsuit against engineering firm URS Corp, whose negligent inspection of the Minneapolis I-35W bridge preceded its August 2007 collapse, killing 13 people and injuring 145 others.

$52.3 Million Cigarette Design Verdict Survives Eight Years of Appeals and a Post-Trial Recalculation

A federal jury found that R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company had defectively designed Salem cigarettes and awarded Barbara Izzarelli nearly $8 million; punitive damages and years of accruing interest, upheld on appeal and left standing when the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, eventually brought the total to $52.3 million.

After trial: The Second Circuit affirmed the verdict in 2017 after certifying a question of state law to the Connecticut Supreme Court; the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in February 2018. See more

$43.5 Million Verdict Against Nursing Home Operator Whose Neglect Killed an 80-Year-Old Resident

A Floyd County jury awarded $43.5 million to the family of Morris Ellison, an 80-year-old man who suffered malnourishment, severe dehydration, and an untreated broken hip before dying at a Rome, Georgia nursing home whose operator had diverted Medicare and Medicaid funds from patient care.

$40.8 Million Verdict for Brooklyn Man Left in Wheelchair After Verizon Van Struck Him at Intersection

A Kings County jury awarded $40,876,000 to Matthew Falcone Jr., who suffered a traumatic brain injury, facial fractures, and permanent left-side paralysis after a Verizon New York truck struck him at a Brooklyn intersection in 2006.

Fatigued Trucker's Falsified Logs Cost CenTra $35.25 Million in Wrongful Death of Kansas City Principal

A Boone County jury awarded $35.25 million to the family of Anita Gibbs, a Kansas City elementary school principal killed when a CenTra Trucking driver failed to slow for stopped traffic on Interstate 70 in 2006, after Ken McClain of Humphrey, Farrington and McClain used offensive collateral estoppel to limit the trial entirely to damages.

$34.33 Million Verdict for Ruth's Chris Workers Poisoned by Carbon Monoxide at Pier Five Hotel

After a 13-week trial, a Baltimore City jury awarded $34.33 million to 20 Ruth's Chris Steakhouse workers and three of their spouses after the workers suffered permanent brain damage when carbon monoxide from Pier Five Hotel's boiler system flooded their workplace over several months in early 2008.

$30 Million Verdict Against Foster Agency That Cleared a Serial Abuser

A Santa Clara County jury awarded $30 million to a man who endured years of sexual abuse as a foster child, finding the Giarretto Institute 75 percent responsible for licensing and failing to monitor the Mountain View home where the abuse occurred.

After trial: The jury put 75 percent of the fault on the Giarretto Institute and 25 percent on the foster parent. Whether a judgment was entered against him is not public; if not, the institute's share is $22.5 million.

$90.8 Million Verdict Against R.J. Reynolds for Widow of Lifelong Smoker

Morgan & Morgan trial lawyers Keith Mitnik and Gregory Prysock won a $90.8 million jury verdict against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco for Lyantie Townsend, whose husband Frank died of lung cancer after smoking since age 13. The award, $10.8 million compensatory plus $80 million punitive, was later reduced through appeals to a final judgment of $25.5 million, which stood.

After trial: Reduced through appeals to a final judgment of $25.5 million, which stood.

Tire Tread Separation Rollover Leaves Driver a Quadriplegic, Jury Awards $23.4 Million

Cynthia Castillo lost control of her 1997 Ford Explorer near Rancho Cucamonga, California, on March 23, 2007, after the tread separated from the left rear tire and the SUV rolled down an embankment, leaving her a quadriplegic. She sued Ford Motor Co. in San Bernardino County Superior Court, arguing the Explorer's design turned a routine tire failure into a rollover. In February 2010, a jury returned a unanimous verdict for Castillo of $23.4 million, split between medical care and future needs and her pain and suffering. The Associated Press named her attorney, Brian Brandt, as the lawyer who argued the case for the plaintiff.

Kandiyohi County Jury Awards $23.2 Million to Child Left with Cerebral Palsy After Delayed Cesarean

A Kandiyohi County jury awarded $23.2 million on February 9, 2010, to a Paynesville family whose daughter was born without breathing after a labor induction and a delayed cesarean at Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar. She has spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, seizures and cortical impairment. The jury put 80 percent of the fault on Affiliated Community Medical Centers and 20 percent on the hospital. It was described at the time as the largest medical malpractice award in Minnesota state history.

After trial: No appeal was filed. Minnesota Lawyer reported that a separate private settlement resolved the case, so the amount actually paid is not public and may differ from the verdict.

$24.3 Million Verdict for Girl Run Over by Father's Big Rig, $22.5 Million Under High-Low Agreement

A Sacramento jury awarded $24.3 million, then reduced to $22.5 million under a High-Low Agreement, to a 14-year-old girl who was crushed beneath the rear wheels of her father's big rig and faced at least 19 more surgeries.

After trial: Reduced from $24.3 million to $22.5 million under a high-low agreement.

$22.2 Million Verdict for Woman Paralyzed After Spinal Hematoma at Southern Tennessee Medical Center

A federal jury in Chattanooga awarded $22.2 million to a Franklin County couple after an epidural catheter placed for post-surgical pain control triggered a spinal bleed that left 62-year-old Bette Donathan permanently paralyzed from the waist down.

$18.5 Million Verdict for Boy With Cerebral Palsy After Delayed C-Section, $16.75 Million Under High-Low

A boy born at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in 1998 developed cerebral palsy after doctors waited too long to perform a cesarean section despite clear signs of fetal distress. In April 2010, an Essex County jury awarded $18.5 million, and the family recovered $16.75 million under a high-low agreement reached during deliberations.

After trial: A high-low agreement placed during deliberations capped the recovery at $16.75 million, which the family received; the agreement foreclosed any appeal.

Tripler Army Medical Center Delivery Errors Yield $11 Million Federal Settlement for Brain-Damaged Infant

Davis Levin Livingston secured an $11 million federal settlement, requiring U.S. Attorney General approval, after Tripler Army Medical Center's cascading delivery-room errors, including a misplaced oxygen tube left in place for more than forty minutes, caused a newborn to develop spastic quadriplegia and cerebral palsy.

San Diego Jury Holds Pizza Hut Liable for $10.8 Million After Delivery Driver's Head-On Crash

A San Diego jury returned a $10.8 million verdict against Pizza Hut after one of its delivery drivers drifted across a center divide and hit a mother and daughter head-on, leaving the daughter with a permanent brain injury.