Top Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements of 2017

DuPont C-8 Water Contamination: $671 Million Settlement After a String of Trial Wins

Cory Watson's Jon Conlin, a co-lead lawyer on the plaintiffs' steering committee, helped drive DuPont and Chemours to a $670.7 million global settlement resolving about 3,550 C-8 water-contamination cancer and injury claims.

Dallas Jury Awards $247 Million to Six New York Patients Over J&J's Defective Pinnacle Hip Implants

A Dallas federal jury awarded six New York patients $247 million against Johnson and Johnson and its DePuy unit, finding that the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implant system was defectively designed and that the company concealed known risks from patients and surgeons.

After trial: The Pinnacle hip claims were later resolved in a global settlement of about $1 billion in 2019.

A $160.5 Million Verdict for a Brain Injury at the Cosmopolitan's Marquee Nightclub

A Las Vegas jury awarded hedge fund manager David Moradi $160.5 million after Cosmopolitan security personnel beat him at the Marquee nightclub and left him with a traumatic brain injury, and a confidential settlement followed during deliberations on punitive damages.

After trial: The defendants settled confidentially while the jury was still deliberating punitive damages in 2017, so the $160.5 million compensatory verdict was never reduced to a final judgment. The settlement amount was not disclosed.

Record $148 Million Verdict for Dancer Paralyzed by O'Hare Shelter Collapse

A Cook County jury awarded Tierney Darden $148 million after a 750-pound pedestrian shelter toppled onto her at O'Hare and severed her spine, a record the city later settled for $115 million.

After trial: Rather than appeal, the City of Chicago and its insurer settled with Darden for $115 million after challenging the $148 million verdict.

The $227 Million Building Collapse Settlement and Mariya Plekan's $95.6 Million Award

After an unbraced brick wall toppled during a 2013 Center City demolition and crushed a Salvation Army store, Kline & Specter's Andrew J. Stern secured a $95.6 million award for survivor Mariya Plekan, the largest individual share of a record $227 million settlement.

Illinois Record Double-Amputation Verdict: $95.5 Million for Truck Driver Who Lost Both Legs After Carbon Steel Bundle Fell from Crane

A Cook County jury awarded $95.5 million to a truck driver who lost both legs when improperly loaded carbon steel bundles fell from a crane during unloading, with a 10% comparative fault reduction bringing the net award to $85.9 million, the highest double-amputation verdict in Illinois history.

After trial: $85.9 million net.

$60 Million Judgment for Three Taekwondo Athletes Abused by Coach Marc Gitelman

A Los Angeles judge awarded $60 million to three female taekwondo athletes who were sexually abused by their coach for seven years, a case that later prompted the California Supreme Court to hold that national sports governing bodies owe a legal duty to protect athletes from abuse.

Philadelphia Jury Awards $57.1 Million Against J&J's Ethicon for Pelvic Mesh That Eroded Into a Woman's Urethra

A Philadelphia jury found that Ethicon's TVT and TVT-Secur mesh slings were defectively designed and awarded Ella Ebaugh $57.1 million, including $50 million in punitive damages, then the largest verdict in the city's pelvic mesh mass tort program. Kila Baldwin of Kline & Specter tried the case.

After trial: Ethicon appealed and the appeal was briefed into 2020, but no published opinion ever decided it and the verdict was never set aside.

A Marion County Jury's $52 Million Verdict for an Ocala Family Hit at a Red Light

After a speeding BMW rear-ended a mother and her four children stopped at an Ocala red light, a Marion County jury awarded the family nearly $52 million, reported as the largest verdict in the county's history.

Jury Awards $45 Million After Emergency Room Missed a Fracture and a Chance to Report Abuse

A Gloucester County jury awarded $45 million after finding that emergency room physicians missed a two-month-old's femur fracture and never reported it as suspected abuse, three weeks before the same infant suffered a catastrophic brain injury at his father's hands.

After trial: No appellate opinion, settlement, or reduction has been found in the public record, so what was ultimately collected is not known.

A Wayne County Jury Returns Nearly $40 Million Against the Detroit Medical Center After an ER Missed a Fatal Blood Clot

A Wayne County jury found the Detroit Medical Center liable for the death of 26-year-old Terrea Holly, whose pulmonary embolism was treated as a virus and sent home from the emergency room.

$36.1 Million Verdict for Child Left With Traumatic Brain Injury After School Bus Crossing

A San Bernardino jury awarded $36.1 million to a child who suffered a traumatic brain injury and multiple fractures after being struck by a car while crossing mid-block to reach her school bus stop, finding Durham School Services 80% liable for failing to prevent the dangerous crossing.

$33.4 Million Verdict After Gunman Kills Three Lawyers at 500 West Madison

A Cook County jury awarded $33.4 million to the estates of three lawyers shot and killed at a downtown Chicago office tower after finding the building's security company failed to stop a known threat from reaching the 38th floor.

$28 Million Verdict for Family of Duke Energy Lineman Killed by Rotted Pole Utilimap Failed to Inspect

A Hamilton County jury returned a verdict of nearly $28 million against Utilimap Corp. after the firm's inspectors skipped a rotted utility pole that collapsed and killed Duke Energy lineman Keith Jester in 2014.

Dallas Jury Awards $26.5 Million to Paraplegic Worker After General Contractor Ignored Its Own Fall-Protection Rules

A Dallas County jury returned a $26.5 million verdict for Fernando Canales, a construction decker left paraplegic after a two-story fall, finding that general contractor RJC Midwest bore full responsibility for failing to train subcontractors on the proper use of fall-protection equipment.

Cory Watson Secures $25 Million Verdict Against Nissan Over Infiniti Brake Defect

A Los Angeles jury found a defective brake sensor in a 2004 Infiniti QX56 caused the 2012 Hollywood crash that killed a mother and her two daughters, and the $25 million verdict was later upheld on appeal.

Her Doctors Saw at Least Three Signs of a Heart Infection, Called It Something Else, and Stopped Her Antibiotics After Four Days. She Had a Stroke. A Federal Judge Found Recklessness and Refused to Cap the Award at $400,000.

Phyllis Rivers, pregnant, was treated at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage. Her doctors noted at least three indicators of infective endocarditis, rejected that diagnosis in favor of pregnancy-induced vasculitis, stopped her antibiotics after four days and sent her home. Untreated, the infection caused a stroke that left her paralyzed. After a bench trial under the Federal Tort Claims Act the court entered a $22,000,000 judgment against the United States and found the doctors reckless, which lifted Alaska's $400,000 malpractice cap. The Ninth Circuit affirmed in 2018.

After trial: A bench judgment under the Federal Tort Claims Act, entered October 27, 2017, and affirmed by the Ninth Circuit on August 28, 2018 (No. 17-36024). See more

Former Yeshiva Student Wins $21.7 Million Judgment Against the Rabbi Who Abused Him as a Teenager and the School That Employed Him

E.M. was a boarding student at the Yeshiva of New Haven from 2001 to 2005, and from age 14 to 17 the school's rabbi and chief administrator, Daniel Greer, sexually abused him on a frequent, sometimes weekly basis. In May 2017 a federal jury in Connecticut awarded E.M. $15 million against Greer and the school, and on June 6, 2017 the court entered a $21,749,041.10 judgment after adding $5 million in punitive damages and $1.75 million in offer-of-compromise interest. The Second Circuit affirmed in full on March 3, 2020, rejecting the argument that the award was excessive. Greer was separately convicted and sent to prison; by 2021 less than $240,000 of the judgment had been collected, and E.M.'s collection suits against Greer's real-estate nonprofits were resolved privately in 2024.

After trial: The judgment was affirmed in full by the Second Circuit on March 3, 2020 and is final. Collection is the open question: Greer was imprisoned in December 2019, less than $240,000 had been collected by late 2021 according to the New Haven Independent, and E.M.'s foreclosure and reverse-veil-piercing suits against Greer's nonprofits were resolved by private agreement in April 2024 after the nonprofits borrowed $12.25 million against their properties. See more

Walkup's $20 Million Partial Settlement for the Berkeley Balcony Collapse Families

Walkup attorney Matthew Davis represented the families of five Irish students killed and seven survivors injured when a Berkeley apartment balcony sheared off in 2015, reaching a partial settlement of more than $20 million on confidential terms.

After trial: Partial; full terms confidential.

$17 Million Verdict for a Wall Township Girl Left Brain Injured After She Was Taken Off a Ventilator Too Soon

A Monmouth County jury awarded $17 million in October 2017 to a Wall Township family whose seven-year-old daughter suffered permanent brain damage in 2008 after a pediatric pulmonologist removed her from a ventilator before she was weaned off sedation and no one confirmed she was breathing on her own. The case was tried by Paul A. Lauricella of McLaughlin & Lauricella, P.C., the firm whose lawyers joined Feldman Shepherd in 2024.

After trial: The hospital said it would appeal, and the New Jersey Supreme Court denied leave to appeal in September 2018. Nothing in the public record shows the award reduced, reversed, or retried.