Top Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements of 2019

$800 Million Settlement for Route 91 Harvest Shooting Victims Against MGM Resorts

An $800 million settlement from MGM Resorts International resolved claims by more than 4,400 plaintiffs over the October 1, 2017 Route 91 Harvest Festival mass shooting in Las Vegas, one of the largest victim-compensation settlements in U.S. history.

$305 Million Settlement Ends 19-Year Lead Paint Fight Against Sherwin-Williams, ConAgra, and NL Industries

Mary Alexander & Associates served as co-counsel for seven California counties and three cities in a landmark public-nuisance action that secured a $1.15 billion trial judgment (later reduced on appeal to pre-1951 homes) and ultimately resolved in 2019 for $305 million to fund lead paint abatement across California residences.

After trial: $1.15 billion verdict; later settled for $305 million.

$260 Million Eve-of-Trial Settlement in First Federal Opioid Bellwether Case for Cuyahoga and Summit Counties

Hours before opening arguments in the first federal opioid bellwether trial, Cuyahoga and Summit counties in Ohio secured a $260 million settlement from distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson, plus manufacturer Teva.

$151.8 Million Verdict for Paralyzed Man After 1998 Ford Explorer Rollover

A Dallas County, Alabama jury awarded Travaris Smith $151.8 million after a 1998 Ford Explorer rolled twice and severed his spinal cord, finding Ford failed its own safety standards and destroyed test data to conceal the defect.

$140 Million Settlement After an 18-Wheeler Crash Left an East Texas Driver Quadriplegic

A 39-year-old man was left quadriplegic in 2017 when an 18-wheeler struck his vehicle on Highway 259 near Ore City in Upshur County, Texas. The case went to trial, where evidence showed the truck's driver, Dijuana Smith, had been involved in multiple crashes before the wreck, and where attorneys said she had violated state and federal trucking regulations. Goudarzi & Young, L.L.P., of Gilmer, Texas, represented the injured man, and the parties reached a $140 million settlement in July 2019. The firm, and later a Lawdragon profile of managing partner Brent Goudarzi, both described it as the largest settlement for a single plaintiff in American legal history. The identities of the plaintiff and the trucking company were not publicly disclosed.

$134 Million Verdict for Childhood Sexual Abuse Survivor Leads Ohio Supreme Court to Strike Damages Cap

A Cuyahoga County jury awarded $134 million to a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, and the Ohio Supreme Court later struck down a statutory damages cap as unconstitutional when applied to child victims of intentional criminal acts.

After trial: In December 2022 the Ohio Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that Ohio's statutory cap on noneconomic damages is unconstitutional as applied to child sexual-abuse survivors with catastrophic psychological injuries, reversed the appeals court, and reinstated the full $134 million jury verdict. Defendant Roy Pompa is serving life without parole for the underlying convictions, so the judgment against him individually is likely largely uncollectable.

$123 Million Verdict for Aurora Bridge Duck Boat Crash, Largest Non-Punitive PI Verdict in Washington

A King County jury awarded $123 million to 40 plaintiffs after five international students were killed and dozens injured when a Ride the Ducks amphibious vehicle suffered a catastrophic axle fracture on Seattle's Aurora Bridge in 2015.

After trial: The award covered roughly 40 plaintiffs, with individual shares ranging from about $40,000 to $25 million.

Philadelphia Jury Awards $120 Million Against J&J's Ethicon Over Eroded Pelvic Mesh

A Philadelphia jury found that Ethicon negligently designed the TVT-O pelvic mesh implanted in Susan McFarland of Altoona and returned $120 million, which Kline & Specter called the largest pelvic-mesh verdict reached to that point.

After trial: Ethicon appealed. No independent source confirms how the appeal was resolved.

Philadelphia Jury Hits J&J's Ethicon With $80 Million Over Eroded Prolift Mesh

A Philadelphia jury returned $80 million, including $50 million in punitive damages, against Johnson & Johnson and its Ethicon unit after finding the Prolift transvaginal mesh implanted in Patricia Mesigian was defective and inadequately labeled.

Brooklyn Jury Awards Paralyzed Cyclist $110.17 Million Against NYC Transit

A Brooklyn jury found the NYC Transit Authority fully at fault after a track crew dropped a railroad tie onto cyclist Robert Liciaga, severing his spine, and returned $110,174,972.38.

After trial: Judgment was entered at $69.7 million after post-trial reductions; the appeal was decided in 2024.

Schnitzer Steel Settles Fatal Crash Case for $68 Million After $280 Million Verdict

On July 18, 2016, a Schnitzer Southeast tractor-trailer crossed the center line of U.S. Highway 80 in Russell County, Alabama, and killed five members of one family in a head-on collision, including Judy Madere, 58. A Muscogee County State Court jury in Columbus, Georgia found Schnitzer Southeast and its parent, Schnitzer Steel Industries, liable and returned a $280,065,000 verdict for Madere's death on August 23, 2019, reported at the time as the largest wrongful death verdict against a trucking company. Schnitzer said it would appeal, but instead of litigating the verdict, it resolved Madere's suit together with her twin sister Trudy Hebert's separate, still pending suit from the same crash for a combined $68 million in the following fiscal quarter, according to Schnitzer's SEC filings. Three earlier suits from the same crash, brought by the estates of the two children and their mother, had already settled for $35 million combined. The individual amounts within the $68 million settlement are not public.

After trial: Settled. Schnitzer's counsel said after the August 23, 2019 verdict that it planned to appeal, but the company settled this suit and a related one for a combined $68 million in the first quarter of its 2020 fiscal year, substantially covered by insurance. See more

$69.6 Million Verdict for Navy Veteran Paralyzed in Kroger Parking Lot Shooting

A DeKalb County jury awarded $81 million in total damages to LaQuan Taylor, a Navy veteran shot at least 11 times during a robbery in a Kroger parking lot. After apportioning 14 percent of the fault to the two assailants, the judgment against Kroger came to $69,660,000.

After trial: The jury awarded $81 million and put 14 percent of the fault on the two gunmen, who were not defendants, leaving $69.66 million against Kroger. The trial court reduced the judgment to $61.4 million in June 2020. See more

$60 Million Verdict for San Antonio Man Hurt When Drunk Driver Blew a Red Light at 78 MPH

A Bexar County jury returned a $59.8 million verdict, later converted to a $60.09 million judgment, for 23-year-old Armando Guerrero III after a drunk driver ran a red light at nearly twice the posted speed limit on Southwest Military Drive.

A Classroom Flame Demonstration, a Fireball, and a $59.17 Million Verdict

After a methanol "rainbow" demonstration erupted into a fireball and burned 16-year-old Alonzo Yanes over more than 30 percent of his body, Gair Gair Conason won a $59.17 million verdict against the New York City Department of Education and his chemistry teacher.

$58.5 Million Verdict for Families Whose Donated Relatives Were Sold by Body Broker

A Maricopa County jury awarded $58.5 million to families who donated deceased relatives' bodies believing they would be used for medical research, only to learn the Biological Resource Center of Arizona had dismembered and sold the remains to brokers worldwide.

$1.04 Billion Roundup Verdict for Livermore Retiree With Brain Lymphoma

Alberta Pilliod, a retired teacher and school administrator from Livermore, sprayed Roundup on the couple's properties for nearly 30 years and was diagnosed in April 2015 with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in her central nervous system, which recurred in her brain in 2016. On May 13, 2019, an Alameda County jury awarded her about $37.2 million in compensatory damages and $1 billion in punitive damages, alongside a separate award to her husband. Judge Winifred Smith reduced her judgment to $56,005,830, the Court of Appeal affirmed in August 2021, and the California Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court both declined to disturb it.

After trial: Reduced and paid. The jury's $1.0372 billion award was reduced by the trial court to a $56,005,830 judgment that she accepted. See more

$101 Million Birth Injury Verdict Against West Suburban Medical Center

A Cook County jury returned a $101 million verdict against West Suburban Medical Center after staff ignored fetal monitoring for six hours during labor, though a pre-verdict high-low agreement limited the family's recovery to $50 million.

After trial: Before the verdict, Tenet Healthcare and the family had signed a high-low agreement capping any recovery at $50 million in exchange for the hospital's promise not to appeal. When the jury returned $101 million, the agreement reduced the payout to $50 million and the case ended without an appeal.

$47 Million Consolidated Settlement After Soulard Boiler Explosion Killed Four People

Tom Neill of Gray, Ritter and Graham represented the family of one victim killed when a 3,000-pound pressurized steam vessel exploded at Loy-Lange Box Company in St. Louis's Soulard neighborhood, launching the tank into a neighboring laundry and killing four people total; consolidated wrongful-death, injury, and property suits settled for more than $47 million.

Philadelphia Jury Awards $41 Million Over Ethicon Pelvic Mesh That Led to Nine Surgeries

A Philadelphia jury found on January 31, 2019 that three Ethicon pelvic mesh products were defective and awarded Suzanne Emmett, a Lancaster County woman, and her husband $41 million against Ethicon and Johnson & Johnson. The award included $15 million in compensatory damages to Emmett, $1 million to her husband for loss of consortium and $25 million in punitive damages. Emmett had needed nine surgeries. Ethicon said it would appeal.

After trial: Ethicon said it would appeal the verdict. We found no appellate opinion, post-trial ruling or settlement report, so the final outcome and any collection are unconfirmed.

Santa Fe Jury Awards $40.5 Million After Student Trucker's Head-On Crash Kills Motorist

On February 23, 2017, a Werner Enterprises student driver on his eighth day behind the wheel crossed four lanes of Interstate 10 and the median outside Las Cruces, New Mexico, and struck Kathryn Armijo's vehicle head-on, killing her. Her estate sued Werner, the driver, and the driver's trainer over inadequate training and supervision, and a Santa Fe County jury returned a $40.5 million verdict on October 11, 2019, including $10 million in punitive damages. David Harris, a partner at Sico Hoelscher Harris LLP, was plaintiff co-counsel for the estate. No appeal of the verdict has surfaced, and Werner, a large publicly traded and insured motor carrier, is treated as having satisfied the judgment.

After trial: No appeal of the verdict has been reported, and New Mexico had no damages cap for a case like this in 2019, so the $40.5 million appears to have stood as returned. Werner is a large insured carrier, but no source confirms the date or fact of payment.