Top Individual Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements of 2019

$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.

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.

$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.

$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.

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.

$102.1 Million Verdict Against Live Nation for a Worker Hit by a Forklift at Jones Beach

A Manhattan jury awarded Mark Perez approximately $102.1 million against Live Nation Worldwide for the traumatic brain injury he suffered when a forklift struck the vendor booth he was building at the Jones Beach Theater, though the courts later cut the award sharply: the Appellate Division reduced pain and suffering to $20 million (still the largest such award ever sustained on appeal in New York), and court records show the case ultimately resolved for about $55 million including interest.

After trial: Reduced on appeal: in 2021 the First Department cut past and future pain and suffering to $20 million, leaving about $33.1 million in compensatory damages, which is the figure ranked. With prejudgment interest the recovery came to roughly $55 million, and it was paid.

Jury Finds Goodyear Tire Defect Caused Fatal Crash That Killed Texas City Manager

A Dimmit County, Texas jury found that a defective Goodyear tire caused a loaded cement truck to lose control and fatally strike Ramiro Munoz, the city manager of Carrizo Springs, in a June 2013 crash. The Munoz family sued Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., presenting testimony from Danville, Virginia plant workers about substandard manufacturing conditions behind the tire's tread separation. On February 22, 2019, the jury returned a $33 million verdict, finding the tire's manufacturing defect responsible for 90 percent of the cause of Munoz's death. Ammons Law Firm attorney John Gsanger tried the case for the family alongside co-counsel Brunkenhoefer P.C. Trade press covering the trial reported that Goodyear gave up its right to appeal under a confidential agreement struck before the verdict, and no appeal appears in Texas appellate court records.

After trial: Goodyear did not appeal, and no appeal of the verdict appears in Texas appellate court records. Trade-press coverage of the trial reported that before closing arguments the parties reached a confidential agreement that removed the gross-negligence question from the jury in exchange for a floor and a ceiling on damages, with Goodyear waiving its right to appeal. See more

$32 Million Verdict for Woman Sexually Assaulted at 14 by Two Hebron High School Football Players

A Denton County jury awarded $32 million in February 2019 to a woman who was sexually assaulted at age 14 after two Hebron High School football players spiked her drink at a 2012 party, neither of whom had ever faced criminal charges.

Livermore Man Diagnosed With Stage IV Lymphoma After Decades of Roundup Use Holds a $30.7 Million Judgment

Alva Pilliod mixed and sprayed Roundup on the family's Livermore-area properties from 1982 until illness stopped him in 2011, the year he was diagnosed at 69 with stage IV diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in his bones. On May 13, 2019, an Alameda County jury awarded him about $18 million in compensatory damages and $1 billion in punitive damages, alongside a separate award to his wife. Judge Winifred Smith reduced his judgment to $30,736,480, the Court of Appeal affirmed in August 2021, and the California and U.S. Supreme Courts declined review.

After trial: Reduced and paid. The jury's $1.018 billion award was reduced by the trial court to a $30,736,480 judgment that he accepted. See more

$30.55 Million Verdict After Traveling Nurse Failed to Monitor Fetal Heart Rate at MGH

A Suffolk County jury awarded $30.55 million to the family of a boy left with catastrophic brain damage after a traveling nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital abandoned continuous fetal heart-rate monitoring during a prolonged second stage of labor.

$30.1 Million TBI Verdict After Insurer Refused to Settle

A Hillsborough County jury awarded $30.1 million to a passenger left with a permanent brain injury after the truck driver's insurer refused to offer more than its $100,000 policy limit, a verdict the Florida Supreme Court unanimously preserved in 2023.

$30 Million Verdict After Trauma Surgeon Started Second Elective Surgery While Gunshot Patient Bled Out

A Tuscaloosa County jury awarded the family of Johnny Terrell Sledge $30 million after finding that the on-call trauma surgeon at DCH Regional Medical Center started a second elective operation instead of treating a gunshot wound, leaving Sledge to bleed to death in the emergency room over roughly two and a half hours.

After trial: No appeal of the verdict was found in public reporting or on the firm's own case summary.