Top Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements of 2016

Dallas Jury Awards $1.04 Billion Against J&J Over Defective Pinnacle Hip Implants

A Dallas federal jury awarded $1.04 billion to six California patients harmed by Johnson and Johnson's metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants, with W. Mark Lanier leading an eight-week trial that produced one of the largest product-liability verdicts of 2016.

After trial: Reduced to about $543 million under punitive damages caps; the Pinnacle claims later resolved in a roughly $1 billion global settlement in 2019.

Dallas Federal Jury Awards More Than $1 Billion Over DePuy Pinnacle Hip Implants

Khaldoun Baghdadi was on the plaintiffs' trial team that won a federal jury verdict topping $1 billion for six California patients harmed by DePuy's metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants, an award the trial judge later cut to about $543 million.

After trial: The trial judge reduced the $1.04 billion verdict to roughly $540 million in January 2017, ruling the jury's punitive damages award was unconstitutionally excessive. In May 2019 Johnson & Johnson established a nationwide settlement program that resolved about 95 percent of the roughly 6,000 pending Pinnacle hip claims rather than litigate them individually, and this verdict was absorbed into that broader resolution.

The Amtrak 188 Derailment and the $265 Million Fund for Its Victims

After Amtrak Train 188 derailed in Philadelphia in May 2015, killing eight and injuring more than 200, Kline & Specter's Thomas R. Kline led the plaintiffs' negotiations that produced a $265 million settlement fund for the victims.

$125 Million Verdict, Reduced to About $85 Million, for a 21-Year-Old Left Quadriplegic When a Drunk, Sleepless Driver Ran a Red Light in Oxnard

Francisco Briones, 21, was turning left on a green light on his way to a 5 a.m. warehouse shift in Oxnard on March 23, 2013, when Christopher Zink, drunk at 0.14 percent, awake for 24 hours and asleep at the wheel, ran a red light at about 50 mph and hit him. Briones' C4-5 vertebrae ruptured and he was paralyzed from the neck down. Zink pleaded guilty to felony DUI causing injury and went to prison for seven years; his insurer, Nationwide, had refused a timely policy-limits demand. On January 22, 2016, a Ventura County jury found Zink 100 percent at fault, found malice, and awarded $125,168,202, half of it punitive damages. The court rejected Zink's Proposition 213 motion to strip the pain-and-suffering award but reduced the judgment post-trial to about $85 million.

After trial: The trial court denied Zink's Proposition 213 (Civil Code section 3333.4) motion to eliminate the $42.5 million in noneconomic damages, holding that Briones' $35,000 DMV financial-responsibility deposit and Zink's DUI conviction preserved his right to general damages. The court then reduced the $125,168,202 verdict post-trial to approximately $85 million, per the Daily Journal's 2016 Top Verdicts listing; we could not confirm from public sources which component was reduced (the arithmetic suggests the punitive award). See more

Jackson County Courthouse Asbestos Exposure Settles for $80 Million

Two former Jackson County Courthouse employees sued U.S. Engineering Co. and Jackson County over asbestos dust that spread through the courthouse during a mid-1980s renovation, after a co-worker died of mesothelioma. A trial judge refused to certify a class, and in March 2015 the Missouri Court of Appeals reversed that ruling and reinstated the case. A jury had been selected for an October 2016 trial in Jackson County Circuit Court when the parties settled for $80 million, funded by U.S. Engineering's insurers rather than county tax dollars. The settlement set aside $25 million for attorneys' fees and litigation costs and put the remainder into a medical monitoring fund covering diagnostic testing for up to 7,500 people who worked in or spent significant time in the courthouse. Louis C. Accurso represented the plaintiffs.

After trial: This is a class settlement, not itemized damages to named plaintiffs: the $80 million is a lump sum, split between attorneys' fees and litigation costs ($25 million) and a 30-year medical monitoring fund for up to 7,500 eligible former courthouse workers, jurors, jail inmates and attorneys, administered through the University of Kansas Medical Center. Reporting says the fund was paid through U.S. See more

$60.7 Million Settlement for Child Left with Brain Injury After Touching Downed FirstEnergy Power Line

A 12-year-old Cleveland girl suffered a profound brain injury and partial limb loss after touching an energized, downed Cleveland Electric Illuminating power line that had been left unrepaired for days following Hurricane Sandy; her family settled all claims for $60.7 million, the largest individual personal injury settlement in Ohio history.

$55 Million Verdict for Fox Sports Broadcaster Secretly Filmed at Nashville Marriott

A Davidson County jury awarded Fox Sports reporter Erin Andrews $55 million after finding that the Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt negligently disclosed her room location to a stalker who altered a peephole to film her without consent.

A Record $53 Million Cook County Verdict for a Delayed Delivery

Geoffrey Fieger and Jack Beam won the largest birth-injury verdict in Cook County history against the University of Chicago Medical Center, after a mother in fetal distress was left without an obstetrician for hours before an emergency cesarean.

$52 Million Judgment After 11-Hour Delay Before Emergency Cesarean Leaves Newborn With Cerebral Palsy

A Cook County jury found that staff at University of Chicago Medical Center let a newborn boy go without an emergency cesarean section for roughly 11 hours despite a non-reassuring fetal heart tracing, leaving him with severe hypoxic brain damage and cerebral palsy. On June 29, 2016, after nearly a month of trial, the jury awarded the family $53 million, broken down across past and future medical costs, lifelong caretaking, lost earning capacity, and pain and suffering. The hospital sought a mistrial over alleged misconduct by plaintiff's counsel; a Cook County judge denied that motion in December 2016 and instead trimmed the award by $950,000, entering judgment at $52,050,000. The hospital said it would appeal further, and no independent source confirms what became of that appeal.

After trial: The trial court denied University of Chicago Medical Center's motion for a mistrial in December 2016 and reduced the jury's $53 million verdict by $950,000, entering judgment at $52,050,000 in early January 2017. The hospital said at that time it intended to appeal further. See more

$50 Million Settlement for Three Families After IKEA MALM Dressers Fatally Crush Toddlers

Feldman Shepherd secured a combined $50 million settlement from IKEA on behalf of three families whose toddler sons were fatally crushed by MALM dressers, a result that preceded a nationwide recall of approximately 29 million chests and dressers.

$46.5 Million Verdict Against Monsanto in First PCB Cancer Case Tried to Verdict in St. Louis

A St. Louis jury found Monsanto liable for polychlorinated biphenyl contamination that caused non-Hodgkin lymphoma in three plaintiffs, awarding $46.5 million in the first PCB cancer case of its kind tried to verdict in St. Louis.

$45 Million for Four Children Who Lost Their Mother in a Drunk-Driver Crash at a Boyle Heights Taco Truck

A Los Angeles jury awarded $45 million to the four children of Claudia Fernandez after a drunk driver, whose vehicle owner negligently handed over her keys, struck and killed her at a Boyle Heights taco truck in 2012.

Hernando County Jury Awards $41.9 Million After Applebee's Serves Underage Drinkers Whose Passenger Is Left Quadriplegic

A Hernando County jury awarded $41.9 million to Patrick Osmond, who was rendered quadriplegic when a pickup truck crashed after Applebee's served him and his companions a pitcher of beer despite none of them being 21.

Jury Awards $38 Million to Seattle Commuter Cyclist Disabled by Valet Driver Taking Illegal Shortcut

A King County jury awarded $38 million to Thyce Colyn, a commuter cyclist who suffered permanent brain damage and a shattered pelvis after a Standard Parking valet driver struck him while cutting illegally across 8th Avenue in downtown Seattle.

$37.5 Million Jury Verdict for Man Paralyzed When Semi Struck His Car on I-435

A Jackson County jury awarded $37.5 million to Steven Holdeman, who was left a paraplegic after a semi-truck rear-ended his car on Interstate 435, finding Philip Stratman 99 percent at fault for stalling his vehicle in the center lane.

A Hospital's Delayed C-Section Left an Infant With Permanent Brain Damage. A Gwinnett County Jury Returned $30.5 Million.

A Gwinnett County jury awarded $30.5 million in November 2016 after finding that Gwinnett Medical Center and an attending physician failed to act on an ultrasound showing abnormal fetal blood flow at 35 weeks, delaying an emergency C-section long enough to deprive a newborn of oxygen and cause permanent spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy.

$30 Million Settlement After Surgeon Performed 25 Experimental Procedures on an Infant

Romanucci and Blandin recovered $30 million for a family whose infant son suffered permanent brain damage and cerebral palsy after a pediatric surgeon at Rush University Medical Center performed 25 experimental surgeries, severing the child's pulmonary artery during the final operation.

Bronx Jury Awards $183 Million After City's Removal of Safety Ropes Trapped Six Firefighters in 2005 Blaze

A Bronx jury in February 2016 awarded $183 million to five FDNY firefighters and the families of those killed after the city was found 80% liable for removing personal safety ropes years before a 2005 Bronx tenement fire that forced six firefighters to jump from a fourth-floor window.

After trial: The families settled for $29.5 million in September 2016 rather than risk an appellate reduction.

Los Angeles Jury Awards $29 Million to Pedestrian Hit in Crosswalk

A Los Angeles jury awarded $29,062,351 to Javier Perez, who was 16 when a doctor's car struck him in a crosswalk and left him with a brain injury, finding the driver entirely at fault despite no witnesses or video.

$24 Million Settlement for Woman Paralyzed in I-680 Crash Triggered by Good Samaritan Pursuit

A 27-year-old Bay Area woman suffered permanent paralysis after an Acura dealership employee, acting as a self-appointed Good Samaritan, forced her vehicle off I-680 and into a catastrophic rollover; the case settled for $24 million, the largest personal-injury settlement in Northern California for 2016.