Top Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements of 2011

Fayette County Jury Awards $150.37 Billion After Fatal Gasoline Attack on an 8-Year-Old

In December 2011, a Fayette County, Texas jury awarded the family of an 8-year-old Splendora boy $150.37 billion after he was doused with gasoline and set on fire by a 13-year-old neighbor in 1998, two weeks after the same neighbor sexually assaulted him. The boy survived third-degree burns over 99 percent of his body for nearly 13 years before dying in April 2011 of a skin cancer linked to his injuries. The defendant, Don Wilburn Collins, never appeared to answer the civil suit, and the jury awarded $370 million in actual damages plus roughly $150 billion in punitive damages, the largest civil verdict in U.S. history. Attorney Craig Sico, who represented the family, said from the outset that the judgment was not collectible and was intended to pressure prosecutors into reopening the long-dormant criminal case. Prosecutors did reopen the case, and Collins was later convicted of capital murder in a separate criminal proceeding.

After trial: No appeal was filed in the civil case. Collins had no assets, and the family's attorney said publicly that the judgment was symbolic and would not be paid.

$182.6 Million Verdict Against Drug Companies in Las Vegas Hepatitis C Outbreak

A Clark County jury awarded five hepatitis C patients $182.6 million against Teva, Baxter Healthcare, and McKesson after finding the companies negligently distributed oversized propofol vials to Las Vegas endoscopy clinics without adequate warnings against multi-patient reuse.

After trial: The $182.6 million verdict was made up of $20.1 million in compensatory damages and $162.5 million in punitive damages against Teva, Baxter, and McKesson. Rather than litigate its appeal, Teva agreed in February 2012 to pay roughly $250 to $285 million to settle about 120 remaining Las Vegas hepatitis C lawsuits, though the settlement's allocation to this specific verdict was not disclosed.

$104 Million Verdict for Air Force Veteran Who Contracted Hepatitis C from Reused Propofol Vials

A Clark County jury awarded retired Air Force veteran Michael Washington and his wife Josephine $104 million after finding that propofol manufacturers Teva Parenteral Medicines and Baxter Healthcare knowingly supplied oversized anesthetic vials that clinics routinely reused, spreading hepatitis C to patients.

After trial: Rather than pursue collection or fight an appeal, the Washingtons joined roughly 120 other plaintiffs in a $285 million global settlement Teva Pharmaceuticals announced in February 2012 to resolve the Nevada propofol hepatitis C litigation. The amount actually paid to them individually was not disclosed.

Diocese of Wilmington Pays $77.4 Million to 146 Clergy Abuse Survivors in Bankruptcy Settlement

Thomas Crumplar and co-counsel secured a $77.425 million trust for 146 survivors of clergy sexual abuse as part of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington's Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2011.

$73 Million Verdict Against Ford in Fatal Van Rollover Caused by Defective Goodyear Tire

A Sacramento jury awarded $73 million, including $50 million in punitive damages, after a Goodyear tire tread separation caused a Ford E-350 church van to flip four times on I-5, killing two passengers and injuring two others.

$58.6 Million Verdict Over a Delayed C-Section That Left a Norwalk Boy With Severe Cerebral Palsy

A Waterbury jury awarded Dominic and Cathy D'Attilo and their son Daniel $58.6 million after finding that obstetrician Richard Viscarello delayed a necessary cesarean section during Daniel's birth, depriving him of oxygen and leaving him with severe cerebral palsy.

After trial: No appeal of the verdict was found in public reporting; press accounts describe it as the largest medical malpractice verdict in Connecticut history at the time it was returned.

$144.5 Million Birth Trauma Verdict Against William Beaumont Hospital

An Oakland County jury awarded $144.5 million after a delayed cesarean left a Macomb Township girl with a permanent brain injury, a verdict the Michigan Court of Appeals later upheld before it was reduced to roughly $42 million.

After trial: The Michigan Court of Appeals unanimously upheld the verdict in October 2014. The trial court had already reduced the underlying judgment to about $42 million, converting future medical-cost and lost-income damages to present value and capping the noneconomic damages portion at $13.5 million under Michigan's statutory limits.

Butte County Jury Awards $30.9 Million After MasterCraft Boat Bows Under and Propeller Strikes Passenger

A Butte County jury held MasterCraft 80 percent liable for a design defect that caused the bow of a fully loaded X45 wakeboarding boat to submerge on Lake Oroville, throwing Niki Bell into the propeller and permanently destroying her left eye and part of her frontal lobe.

$30.7 Million Verdict After Three Brothers Fell Through the Ice on a Condominium Community's Lake

On the morning of March 11, 2001, three brothers went through the ice on Lake Holiday inside the Lakes of the Four Seasons, a gated condominium community in Crown Point, Indiana. One 11-year-old drowned, his 10-year-old brother was pulled out with a traumatic brain injury, and the third boy, the drowned child's twin, was rescued by a diver. At trial in February 2011 the family's lawyers showed that an overflow crib circulating water beneath the surface had thinned the ice at that spot while staying invisible from shore, and that the property owners association had posted no warning sign, put up no barrier and kept no rescue equipment at the lake. A Lake Circuit Court jury assigned all of the fault to the association and awarded $30.7 million, itemized as $25.5 million for the brain injury, $5 million for the death and $200,000 for the surviving twin. A news report at the time said an appeal was expected, and no published Indiana appellate decision in the case has since turned up.

After trial: A contemporaneous news report said the property owners association was expected to appeal the verdict, meaning the family would not see the money right away. No published Indiana Court of Appeals opinion in this case turned up in a search of the state's appellate records, so it is not publicly confirmed whether an appeal was filed, whether the case was later resolved privately, or whether the full $30.7 million was ultimately paid.

$25 Million Settlement for Families of 45 Patients Who Died at Memorial Medical Center After Hurricane Katrina

Joseph Bruno led a class-action lawsuit against Tenet Healthcare after 45 patients died at Memorial Medical Center during Hurricane Katrina, securing a $25 million settlement in 2011.

$23 Million Verdict for Truck Driver Who Lost a Leg and Suffered Brain Injury After I-295 Collision

A Richmond jury awarded $23 million to a commercial truck driver who suffered a traumatic brain injury, crushed pelvis, and right-leg amputation when a Moen Inc. tractor-trailer parked in the emergency lane of I-295 pulled back into traffic and was struck by his rig at highway speed.

$20.6 Million Verdict After Defective Pool Slide Kills Massachusetts Mother

A Salem jury awarded $20.6 million, including $18 million in punitive damages, after a defective Banzai inflatable pool slide sold by Toys R Us collapsed and killed a 29-year-old woman in Andover, Massachusetts; the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld the full verdict in 2013.

$17 Million Verdict for Driver Hit by Dump Truck Merging Onto a 65 mph Highway Around a Road Grader

Ariel Anderson, 23, was driving home from work on U.S. 67/167 near Jacksonville when a highway contractor's dump truck merged into her lane at about 30 mph. It had entered at an angle to get around a road grader, so neither driver could see the other. The jury found the contractor had not posted the warning signs the project required.

After trial: No Arkansas appellate opinion, remittitur, new trial or appeal has been reported. The contractor is still operating, but the exact resolution and payment are not public.

Las Vegas Jury Awards $15.88 Million to Worker Crushed by Rolling Forklift

A Clark County jury awarded $19,854,217 to Thomas Novick, a construction worker run over by a 14,000-pound rough-terrain forklift, in a case tried by John Shook of Shook & Stone.

After trial: The jury put 20 percent of the fault on Novick, so under Nevada law his recoverable damages from the forklift driver and his employer are about $15.88 million of the $19.85 million awarded.

$15.4 Million Verdict for DUI Crash Passenger With Skull Fractures and Permanent Brain Damage

A Broward County jury awarded $15.4 million to Dwight Grant, a 22-year-old backseat passenger who suffered skull fractures and permanent frontal-lobe brain damage when a drunk driver with a BAC of .21 rear-ended the stopped car at a drawbridge in Pompano Beach.

$15.2 Million Verdict for Family of Lorillard Smoker Who Died of Lung Cancer

A Duval County jury awarded $15.2 million, $3.9 million compensatory and $11.3 million punitive, to the daughter of a lifelong Lorillard smoker who died of lung cancer, with Terrell Hogan attorneys representing the family.

$11.7 Million Verdict for Family of Man Killed on Gravel-Covered Road in Contra Costa County Resurfacing

A jury awarded $11.7 million to the family of William Tindall, killed on Marsh Creek Road while stopping to help another motorist during a county road resurfacing project that had already claimed a life five days earlier.

$10 Million Settlement for Toddler Who Lost Both Feet and a Hand After 5-Hour Wait in Sacramento ER

A two-year-old girl lost both feet, her left hand, and the fingers of her right hand after Methodist Hospital staff left her untreated in the ER for five hours with a Streptococcus A infection; Moseley Collins secured a $10 million settlement, among the largest medical malpractice recoveries in California history.

Courthouse Employee's Asbestos Death Settles for $10 Million

Nancy Lopez worked at the Jackson County Courthouse in Kansas City for 27 years, where she was an administrative assistant to a judge, before she died of mesothelioma in October 2010 at 56. She had sued U.S. Engineering Co. and Jackson County, alleging the contractor mishandled asbestos wrapped pipes and air handling units during a 1983 and 1984 courthouse renovation and let asbestos dust spread through the building. Her family settled the wrongful death claim on November 18, 2011 for $10 million, with Jackson County's share reported at $400,000, after the case had been set for a lengthy jury trial. Her attorney, Lou Accurso, said it was the largest asbestos settlement in Missouri history at the time. The settlement did not cover a separate class action later brought by other courthouse employees.

After trial: A state-record Missouri asbestos settlement at the time; U.S. Engineering Co. paid the bulk and Jackson County paid $400,000.

All-Female Jury Awards $9.3 Million After Dallas Prep School Expelled Student Abused by Her Teacher

A Dallas County jury found Episcopal School of Dallas grossly negligent and awarded $9.3 million after the school forced out a 16-year-old student who had been sexually abused by her history teacher, rather than protecting her.