Top Personal Injury Settlements of 2020

$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.

$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.

$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.

$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.

$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.

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

$6 Million Policy-Limits Settlement for Pedestrian with Severe Brain Injuries During COVID-19 Lockdown

Justin Shapiro of Leesfield and Partners secured a $6 million policy-limits settlement for a client who suffered multiple skull fractures and brain hemorrhages after being struck in a crosswalk, completing the resolution during the Florida COVID-19 shutdown of 2020.

$5 Million Judgment After HVAC Company's Driver With Seven Prior DUIs Killed Cheryl Miller

BSR Ventures, doing business as Advanced Heating and Cooling, agreed to a $5 million judgment after its employee, who had seven prior DUI convictions including two felonies, crossed the center line on U.S. 93 and killed Cheryl Miller in a head-on crash.

$5 Million Settlement for Worker Struck and Killed by Industrial Truck at Joint Base Charleston

Joye Law Firm recovered $5 million for the estate of a Goodwill custodian killed when a terminal tractor with broken headlights made an illegal U-turn and struck her in a Joint Base Charleston parking lot.

$4.4 Million Dram Shop Settlement for Boy With Brain Injury and Partial Paralysis After Drunk Crash

Christopher DiGirolamo secured $4.4 million for a Wayne boy who suffered a traumatic brain injury and partial paralysis when a drunk driver rear-ended his family's minivan, with $950,000 coming from the bar that served the driver under New Jersey's Dram Shop Act.

$3.6 Million Settlement After Drunk Driver Rear-End Crash and Employer Dispute

A South Carolina man rear-ended by a drunk driver who fled the scene recovered $3.6 million after the driver's employer disputed vehicle ownership and scope of employment, with cervical fusion and knee surgery documented.

Audi SUV Strikes Visiting Pedestrian on Charleston Sidewalk; Permanent Brain Damage Settles for $3.5 Million

A St. Louis man who suffered permanent bilateral brain damage after an Audi SUV ran him over on a Charleston sidewalk in 2017 settled the resulting federal lawsuit for $3.5 million in July 2020.

$3.375 Million Settlement: Painting Foreman Falls 12 Feet from Defective Ladder at Manhattan High-Rise

A 42-year-old union painting foreman fell roughly 12 feet after being directed to climb the top half of a broken extension ladder at a 56-story Manhattan construction site, suffering spinal fractures and ultimately two surgeries.

$3 Million Settlement for Mentally Ill Oregon Prisoner Who Died From Untreated Flu

Bryan Dawson secured a $3 million settlement for the estate of Michael Barton, a mentally ill Oregon State Penitentiary inmate whose untreated influenza escalated to sepsis and death in February 2018, marking the largest settlement in Oregon Department of Corrections history.

Family of Journalist Who Died Hours After Childbirth Settles Harlem Hospital Malpractice Case for $3 Million

Amy Lam, a 34-year-old journalist, died roughly 11 hours after giving birth at home in West Harlem on August 1, 2016, after she was taken to Harlem Hospital Center because her placenta had not been expelled. At least five physicians treated her over about 10 hours, she received more than 20 blood transfusions, and her aorta dissected and ruptured in the operating room, leaving her with no blood volume. Her family, represented by medical malpractice attorney Susan Karten, sued in 2017, naming Harlem Hospital, New York City Health + Hospitals and five physicians, including Dr. Thomas J. Byrne, who performed a hysterectomy on Lam in the hours before her death. Attorneys for the hospital wrote in court records that what happened to her was a rare and unforeseeable lethal event, while Karten and her experts argued that her life could have been saved had the doctors moved sooner to find the source of the bleeding. The case settled for $3 million in 2020, with New York City Health + Hospitals as the only settling defendant.

After trial: Settled in 2020 for $3 million, paid by New York City Health + Hospitals, with no trial and no appeal. The individual physicians named in the complaint were not part of the settlement.

$2.5 Million Settlement After Box Truck Strikes Pedestrian From Behind on Rural NC Highway

A 53-year-old pedestrian hit from behind by a box truck at about 35 mph and thrown more than 34 feet, leaving him with a traumatic brain injury and multiple fractures, settled his claim for $2.5 million.

Demolition worker crushed by scaffolding at Aqueduct racetrack: $1.5 million settlement

A Local 12A demolition worker crushed by collapsing scaffolding during the teardown at Queens' Aqueduct racetrack recovered $1.5 million in a mediated settlement, a result the New York Law Journal ranked among its top 2020 settlements.

$1.25 Million Presuit Settlement for Family of 84-Year-Old Killed in Orlando Hit-and-Run

Justin Shapiro of Leesfield and Partners negotiated a $1.25 million presuit settlement for the family of an 84-year-old man fatally struck by a hit-and-run driver in Orlando, despite the vehicle owner and the driver both invoking the Fifth Amendment and refusing to cooperate with their insurer.

$375,000 Settlement: Electrician Fell From Cracked A-Frame Ladder, Ankle Fusion

A 30-year-old electrician fell from a structurally compromised A-frame ladder at a New York construction site and later underwent ankle fusion surgery; the firm settled the case for $375,000 at mediation.