Top Individual Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements of 2020

$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After trial: Liability was entered by default and the damages trial went undefended; the one-truck carrier's authority was revoked and the award is considered uncollectable beyond about $1 million in insurance.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 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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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 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.

$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 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 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.

$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.

$13.5 Million Verdict for Portland Pedestrian Who Lost His Leg to a Garbage Truck

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.

Union Carpenter Disabled by 4,160-Volt Shock at IPL Plant Wins $20 Million Jury Verdict, $12.2 Million After Fault

A Marion County jury returned a $20 million verdict, $12.2 million net after fault, for a union carpenter left permanently disabled after Indianapolis Power and Light issued a faulty dig permit that failed to account for a live 4,160-volt electrical line at its Petersburg power plant.

After trial: Net of fault: the jury awarded $20 million and allocated fault 60 percent to IPL, 30 percent to the employer Sterling Boiler and 10 percent to Simmons, so the net verdict was $12.2 million (The Indiana Lawyer). No appeal or payment has been reported.

$12 Million Settlement and Police Reforms for Family of Breonna Taylor, Killed in Botched Louisville Raid

Ben Crump, alongside Louisville co-counsel Sam Aguiar and Lonita Baker, settled the wrongful-death lawsuit brought by Breonna Taylor's mother against the City of Louisville for $12 million, the largest police-misconduct payout in the city's history, paired with a package of policing reforms the family made a non-negotiable condition of the deal.

$10 Million Federal Jury Verdict for Donnell Linton, Ejected in 2017 Amtrak Cascades Derailment

A federal jury in Tacoma awarded more than $10 million to Donnell Linton, a Renton man who was physically ejected from Amtrak Cascades Train 501 when it derailed near DuPont on December 18, 2017, while he was traveling with his minor son.

Boone County Jury Awards $9 Million to Family of Father and Son Killed by Company Truck at Stop Sign

A Boone County, Illinois jury awarded $9 million to the family of a 52-year-old father and his 22-year-old son, both killed in March 2018 when a Consolidated Materials employee drove a Ford F550 through a stop sign in Flora. The company admitted liability before trial. It was the highest jury verdict on record in the county.

After trial: The verdict was returned November 13, 2020. We found no appeal or post-trial reduction, but could not confirm whether the judgment was paid.

$8.125M Verdict After Radiologist Spent 80 Seconds on X-Ray Hiding Stage I Lung Cancer

A Cook County jury awarded $8.125 million to the estate of Althea Wright after a radiologist spent roughly 80 seconds reviewing a chest X-ray that showed a visible mass in her left lung, missing a Stage I cancer that advanced to fatal Stage III over the next 14 months.

$8 Million Verdict After 15-Year-Old Died of Cardiac Arrest at Football Practice With No Defibrillator

A jury awarded $8 million to the family of Giovani Pulido, a 15-year-old Encinal High School freshman who died of sudden cardiac arrest during spring football practice in May 2016, finding Alameda Unified School District negligent for failing to have an automated external defibrillator on campus.

Missed Appendicitis Diagnosis at Albuquerque Clinic Leads to $6.8 Million Federal Settlement

In December 2015, a physician at First Choice Community Healthcare in Albuquerque examined a 14-year-old boy for stomach pain and fever but ordered no laboratory or imaging tests. His appendix ruptured two days later, and the septic shock that followed caused a hypoxic brain injury and acute kidney injury that left him permanently disabled after eight months in the hospital. Because the federally funded clinic's staff are treated as federal employees, the family sued the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. The case settled for $6.8 million in 2020, with most of the money placed in a fund for the boy's future medical care. Robert C. Gutierrez of Will Ferguson & Associates signed the complaint as an attorney of record for the family, alongside Kathryn L. Eaton of Eaton & Eaton Law PC.

After trial: This was an FTCA claim against the United States, paid from federal funds rather than a private insurance policy or the clinic's own assets, so collectability is not in question. Most of the $6.8 million was structured into a fund for the boy's future medical care rather than disbursed as a lump sum. See more