Top Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements of 2020
The 20 largest personal injury recoveries from 2020, nationwide, ranked by amount, with 61 independently-sourced results to browse. Individual client results and group recoveries are both listed and labeled. Each links to the full story, the firm, and the record behind the number.
Every result on this list holds a ProvenVerdicts designation, the largest verified personal injury result of 2020 or one of the Top 20, which the firm can display with a badge from its results page. The ranking is live and moves as results are verified.
What the 2020 list shows
1 of the 7 jury verdicts in the Top 20 of 2020 is on appeal, was reduced after trial, or cannot be collected.
- It accounts for $411.7 million of the $598.9 million the 7 verdicts add up to (69 percent).
- Of those, 1 was won against a defendant who is uninsured, bankrupt, closed or in prison. See the uncollectable results
- None of the 7 verdicts are confirmed paid in full. Most never say: settlements after a verdict are usually confidential, and courts rarely record whether a judgment was satisfied.
As of November 7, 2026. Every verdict still ranks at the amount that legally stood, with its label. How outcomes are labeled
- $13.5 billionSettlementGroup recovery
PG&E Wildfire Bankruptcy: $13.5 Billion Settlement for Northern California Fire Victims
Frantz Law Group, representing roughly 5,000 victims, helped negotiate a $13.5 billion PG&E bankruptcy settlement covering tens of thousands of survivors and families from the 2015 Butte, 2017 North Bay, and 2018 Camp wildfires.
- $10.9 billionSettlementGroup recovery
Weitz and Luxenberg Helps Win $10.9 Billion Roundup Settlement for 125,000 Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Claimants
As co-lead counsel in the federal Roundup multidistrict litigation and the first firm to sue Monsanto in 2015, Weitz and Luxenberg helped negotiate a $10.9 billion settlement resolving approximately 125,000 non-Hodgkin lymphoma claims against Bayer-owned Monsanto.
Weitz & Luxenberg2020 · U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (MDL No. 2741)Read the full story → - $1.5 billion+SettlementGroup recovery
Takata Airbag MDL: Peter Prieto Steers $1.5 Billion in Settlements for Millions of Vehicle Owners
Court-appointed Chair Lead Counsel Peter Prieto of Podhurst Orseck coordinated the nation's largest automotive defect MDL, securing more than $1.5 billion in settlements from seven automakers for tens of millions of vehicle owners harmed by defective Takata airbag inflators.
Podhurst Orseck PA2020 · U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, MiamiRead the full story → - $844 millionSettlementGroup recovery
Chapecoense Soccer Team Crash: $844 Million in Judgments for 43 Families
Steven Marks and Kristina Infante of Podhurst Orseck secured a combined $844 million in wrongful-death judgments for 43 families of passengers killed when LaMia Flight 2933 crashed near Medellin, Colombia, in November 2016, killing 71 of the 77 people aboard.
After trial: Combined judgments and settlements for the families of 43 victims of a single crash, not one plaintiff's award.
- $800 millionSettlementGroup recovery
Route 91 Harvest Festival Shooting: $800 Million Settlement With MGM Resorts
Kevin Boyle of the firm served as one of three plaintiffs' co-lead counsel in the $800 million settlement with MGM Resorts for victims of the 2017 Route 91 Harvest festival mass shooting at Mandalay Bay.
- $600 millionSettlementGroup recovery
Flint Water Crisis: $600 Million Settlement for Lead-Poisoned Residents
Hunter Shkolnik of Napoli Shkolnik served as court-appointed co-liaison counsel for individual plaintiffs in the consolidated federal Flint water litigation, which produced a $600 million settlement from the State of Michigan in 2020.
Napoli Shkolnik2020 · E.D. Mich. (In re Flint Water Cases, 5:16-cv-10444, Judge Judith Levy)Read the full story → - $411.7 millionVerdictNot collectable
$411.7 Million Zoom-Trial Verdict for Paralyzed Army Veteran in 45-Vehicle Pileup, Likely Uncollectable
A Leon County jury awarded $411,726,608 to Duane Washington, a career Army sergeant left partially paralyzed in a 45-vehicle pileup on Interstate 10 near Tallahassee, in the Second Judicial Circuit's first virtual jury trial. Ben Crump tried the damages case with co-counsel Robert Cox. Liability was entered by default after defendant Top Auto Express stopped responding in the litigation, its lawyer withdrew months before trial, the one-truck Pembroke Pines carrier sat out the Zoom trial undefended, and industry observers called the record number essentially uncollectable beyond the roughly $1 million in insurance that was offered and rejected before trial.
After trial: Liability was entered by default and the damages trial went undefended; the one-truck carrier's authority was revoked and the award is considered uncollectable beyond about $1 million in insurance.
- $125 millionSettlementPaid
$125 Million Settlement for Lawyer Paralyzed by Falling Utility Pole at a Union City Bus Stop
A 43-year-old utility pole that Verizon had been told to remove in 1999 snapped and fell on attorney Maria Moser Meister at a Union City bus stop in 2017, leaving her with a severe brain injury and paralysis. In May 2020 a New Jersey judge approved a $125 million settlement, reported as the largest personal injury settlement in state history.
After trial: This was a pre-trial settlement, not a jury verdict. Verizon agreed to pay $125 million total, $118,275,000 to Maria Meister and $7 million to her husband, before the case went to trial, and an Essex County Superior Court judge approved it at a friendly hearing in May 2020.
Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman, LLC2020 · Superior Court of New Jersey, Essex CountyRead the full story → - $66.5 millionSettlementGroup recovery
$66.5 Million Settlement for 262 Patients Given Unnecessary Cardiac Procedures by Indiana Cardiologist
CohenMalad recovered $66.5 million on behalf of 262 patients who alleged that Dr. Arvind Gandhi and Cardiology Associates of Northwest Indiana implanted pacemakers and defibrillators and performed open-heart surgeries that were never medically necessary.
- $50 millionVerdict
Columbus Jury Hits DuPont With $50 Million in C-8 Cancer Case
A federal jury in Columbus found that DuPont's C-8 contamination caused Travis Abbott's testicular cancer and awarded him and his wife $50 million. After the trial court applied Ohio's cap on his wife's loss-of-consortium damages, the enforceable judgment came to about $40.3 million, which the Sixth Circuit later affirmed.
- $46 millionSettlement
$46 Million Settlement for Family of Toddler Killed by IKEA MALM Dresser
Alan Feldman of Feldman Shepherd secured a $46 million settlement against IKEA on behalf of the family of a 2-year-old boy crushed by a MALM dresser in California, reported at the time as the largest child wrongful-death settlement in U.S. history.
- $38.6 millionVerdict
A Soldier Shot in an Apartment Parking Lot, and a $38.6 Million Negligent Security Verdict
A Clark County jury returned $38,625,000 against the owner of a Las Vegas apartment complex after National Guard Specialist Dylan Salazar was shot to death in its parking lot, the second-largest wrongful death verdict in the country in 2020.
Richard Harris Personal Injury Law Firm2020 · Clark County District Court, Las Vegas, NV (Sportsman's Royal Manor)Read the full story → - $38.1 millionVerdict
Racine Jury Awards $38.1 Million Against Hyundai Over Defective Seat and Head Restraint
A Racine County jury found Hyundai's driver-seat and head-restraint design defective and awarded Edward and Susan Vanderventer $38.1 million, the largest single-plaintiff compensatory verdict in Wisconsin history, later upheld on appeal.
- $32.7 millionSettlementGroup recovery
Oakland Pays $32.7 Million to Settle Ghost Ship Warehouse Fire Lawsuits
Mary Alexander served as lead plaintiffs' counsel representing 13 of the victim families in litigation against the City of Oakland over the December 2016 Ghost Ship warehouse fire, which killed 36 people, securing a $32.7 million settlement covering 32 families and a survivor.
- $21.5 millionVerdict
Farm Laborer Paralyzed at Railroad Crossing Wins $21.5 Million Verdict in Madera County
A Madera County jury deliberated for one hour before awarding $21,513,000 to an 18-year-old farm laborer left partially paralyzed after the van he was riding in was rear-ended at a railroad crossing.
- $21 millionVerdict
$21 Million Verdict Against Biomet Over Defective Metal-on-Metal Hip Implant
A Missouri federal jury awarded Mary Bayes $21 million after her Biomet M2a-Magnum metal-on-metal hip implant failed catastrophically, requiring seven revision surgeries and leaving her with permanently constrained hip function.
Bachus & Schanker, Personal Injury Lawyers2020 · U.S. District Court, Eastern District of MissouriRead the full story → - $21 millionSettlement
$21 Million Settlement for Family of Mother of Three Killed by Drunk Driver in Las Vegas
Melissa Newton, a 36-year-old mother of three, was killed in May 2019 when real estate broker Scott Gragson crashed his Range Rover while drunk in The Ridges, a gated Las Vegas community. Settlement documents filed in her family's wrongful-death suit put the payout at $21 million, with $12.8 million coming from Gragson personally and $8.2 million from his insurer. Gragson pleaded guilty to DUI causing death and DUI causing substantial bodily harm.
- $20 millionSettlement
$20 Million Settlement for Family of William Green, Shot Six Times While Handcuffed in a Police Cruiser
William H. Murphy Jr. secured a $20 million settlement for the family of William Howard Green, a 43-year-old father shot six times by a Prince George's County officer while handcuffed in the front seat of a patrol car, at the time the largest such settlement ever paid by a Maryland local government.
- $18 millionVerdict
$18 Million Verdict After Driver Struck Mother and Daughter in Calabasas Crosswalk and Staged the Scene
A Los Angeles jury awarded $18 million after finding malice when a driver struck two pedestrians in a Calabasas crosswalk, killing the mother, and then moved the victims and gave misleading statements to police to alter the appearance of the scene.
El Dabe Ritter Trial Lawyers2020 · Los Angeles Superior Court (Van Nuys), Case No. BC685291Read the full story → - $13.5 millionSettlement
$13.5 Million Settlement for Family of Slain Student-Athlete Lauren McCluskey
Parker and McConkie secured a $13.5 million settlement for the family of Lauren McCluskey, a University of Utah track athlete murdered on campus after police failed to act on her repeated stalking reports.
Largest verified result of 2020 in each state
23 states have a verified personal injury result from 2020 so far. Each row is the largest individual result in that state, and links to its full story.
All 2020 verdicts and settlements
61 results, largest first
Frantz Law Group, representing roughly 5,000 victims, helped negotiate a $13.5 billion PG&E bankruptcy settlement covering tens of thousands of survivors and families from the 2015 Butte, 2017 North Bay, and 2018 Camp wildfires.
As co-lead counsel in the federal Roundup multidistrict litigation and the first firm to sue Monsanto in 2015, Weitz and Luxenberg helped negotiate a $10.9 billion settlement resolving approximately 125,000 non-Hodgkin lymphoma claims against Bayer-owned Monsanto.
Court-appointed Chair Lead Counsel Peter Prieto of Podhurst Orseck coordinated the nation's largest automotive defect MDL, securing more than $1.5 billion in settlements from seven automakers for tens of millions of vehicle owners harmed by defective Takata airbag inflators.
Steven Marks and Kristina Infante of Podhurst Orseck secured a combined $844 million in wrongful-death judgments for 43 families of passengers killed when LaMia Flight 2933 crashed near Medellin, Colombia, in November 2016, killing 71 of the 77 people aboard.
Kevin Boyle of the firm served as one of three plaintiffs' co-lead counsel in the $800 million settlement with MGM Resorts for victims of the 2017 Route 91 Harvest festival mass shooting at Mandalay Bay.
Hunter Shkolnik of Napoli Shkolnik served as court-appointed co-liaison counsel for individual plaintiffs in the consolidated federal Flint water litigation, which produced a $600 million settlement from the State of Michigan in 2020.
A Leon County jury awarded $411,726,608 to Duane Washington, a career Army sergeant left partially paralyzed in a 45-vehicle pileup on Interstate 10 near Tallahassee, in the Second Judicial Circuit's first virtual jury trial. Ben Crump tried the damages case with co-counsel Robert Cox. Liability was entered by default after defendant Top Auto Express stopped responding in the litigation, its lawyer withdrew months before trial, the one-truck Pembroke Pines carrier sat out the Zoom trial undefended, and industry observers called the record number essentially uncollectable beyond the roughly $1 million in insurance that was offered and rejected before trial.
A 43-year-old utility pole that Verizon had been told to remove in 1999 snapped and fell on attorney Maria Moser Meister at a Union City bus stop in 2017, leaving her with a severe brain injury and paralysis. In May 2020 a New Jersey judge approved a $125 million settlement, reported as the largest personal injury settlement in state history.
As court-appointed lead plaintiffs' counsel, Morgan & Morgan's John Yanchunis negotiated the $117.5 million settlement resolving claims from Yahoo's 2013-2016 data breaches, the largest theft of personal data in history, touching roughly 3 billion accounts worldwide. Judge Lucy Koh approved the fund in 2020 after rejecting an earlier version as inadequate.
CohenMalad recovered $66.5 million on behalf of 262 patients who alleged that Dr. Arvind Gandhi and Cardiology Associates of Northwest Indiana implanted pacemakers and defibrillators and performed open-heart surgeries that were never medically necessary.
Roughly 700,000 Texas auto insurance policyholders shared a $52 million class settlement after a federal lawsuit showed Farmers Group charged long-term customers higher premiums than new customers for coverage that was functionally identical.
A federal jury in Columbus found that DuPont's C-8 contamination caused Travis Abbott's testicular cancer and awarded him and his wife $50 million. After the trial court applied Ohio's cap on his wife's loss-of-consortium damages, the enforceable judgment came to about $40.3 million, which the Sixth Circuit later affirmed.
Alan Feldman of Feldman Shepherd secured a $46 million settlement against IKEA on behalf of the family of a 2-year-old boy crushed by a MALM dresser in California, reported at the time as the largest child wrongful-death settlement in U.S. history.
Geoff McDonald and co-counsel represented roughly 7,600 universal life policyholders hit with steep cost-of-insurance increases by Banner Life and William Penn, securing a $22.5 million cash fund inside a settlement the court valued at more than $40 million.
A Clark County jury returned $38,625,000 against the owner of a Las Vegas apartment complex after National Guard Specialist Dylan Salazar was shot to death in its parking lot, the second-largest wrongful death verdict in the country in 2020.
A Racine County jury found Hyundai's driver-seat and head-restraint design defective and awarded Edward and Susan Vanderventer $38.1 million, the largest single-plaintiff compensatory verdict in Wisconsin history, later upheld on appeal.
Mary Alexander served as lead plaintiffs' counsel representing 13 of the victim families in litigation against the City of Oakland over the December 2016 Ghost Ship warehouse fire, which killed 36 people, securing a $32.7 million settlement covering 32 families and a survivor.
A Madera County jury deliberated for one hour before awarding $21,513,000 to an 18-year-old farm laborer left partially paralyzed after the van he was riding in was rear-ended at a railroad crossing.
A Missouri federal jury awarded Mary Bayes $21 million after her Biomet M2a-Magnum metal-on-metal hip implant failed catastrophically, requiring seven revision surgeries and leaving her with permanently constrained hip function.
Melissa Newton, a 36-year-old mother of three, was killed in May 2019 when real estate broker Scott Gragson crashed his Range Rover while drunk in The Ridges, a gated Las Vegas community. Settlement documents filed in her family's wrongful-death suit put the payout at $21 million, with $12.8 million coming from Gragson personally and $8.2 million from his insurer. Gragson pleaded guilty to DUI causing death and DUI causing substantial bodily harm.
William H. Murphy Jr. secured a $20 million settlement for the family of William Howard Green, a 43-year-old father shot six times by a Prince George's County officer while handcuffed in the front seat of a patrol car, at the time the largest such settlement ever paid by a Maryland local government.
A Los Angeles jury awarded $18 million after finding malice when a driver struck two pedestrians in a Calabasas crosswalk, killing the mother, and then moved the victims and gave misleading statements to police to alter the appearance of the scene.
Scott Busch was crossing a Portland crosswalk with the right-of-way when a McInnis Waste Systems garbage truck struck him and severed his leg; a jury awarded $13.5 million, and the Oregon Supreme Court struck down the state's $500,000 noneconomic damages cap as applied to his case.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.