Top Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements of 2022

Champlain Towers Collapse: $1.021 Billion for 98 Victims in Under a Year

The families of 98 people killed in the June 2021 Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside, Florida, recovered over $1 billion through a class settlement run by a court-appointed Plaintiffs' Steering Committee, with final approval reached in under a year.

After trial: Court-approved settlement fund for the 98 wrongful death claims from the collapse; with property claims the full program totaled about $1.2 billion.

Lake and Trumbull Counties Win $650 Million Opioid Abatement Against CVS, Walgreens and Walmart

A federal jury found CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart liable for creating an opioid public nuisance in northeast Ohio, leading to a $650 million abatement judgment, the first of its kind against pharmacy chains in U.S. history.

Sterigenics Verdict: $363 Million for a Willowbrook Cancer Survivor

A Cook County jury found Sterigenics and its corporate owners liable for Sue Kamuda's breast cancer from ethylene oxide emissions and awarded $363 million, then the largest individual-plaintiff verdict in Illinois history.

After trial: After the verdict, Sterigenics and Sotera Health settled all 879 Illinois ethylene oxide claims, including this one, for $408 million in January 2023. The individual share was not separately disclosed.

$300 Million PFAS Cleanup for 400,000 North Alabama Residents in Twenty-Year 3M Class Action

A class action filed in 2002 on behalf of roughly 400,000 residents across six north Alabama counties ended in a court-approved $300 million cleanup settlement requiring 3M and co-defendants to remediate PFAS contamination throughout the Tennessee River watershed.

$275 Million Verdict for Students Poisoned by PCBs at Washington State School

A King County jury awarded $275 million to thirteen Sky Valley Education Center students and families who suffered neurological injuries from PCB-contaminated light fixtures manufactured by Monsanto.

Dallas Jury Finds Charter Liable for Murder of Customer by Its Own Technician

A Dallas jury found Charter Communications liable for the December 2019 murder of 83-year-old customer Betty Jo McClain Thomas by Roy Holden Jr., a Spectrum field technician who had serviced her home the day before, and for forging her signature on an arbitration agreement after her death. The jury awarded $375 million in actual damages and $7 billion in punitive damages. The family then remitted the punitive award down to twice the compensatory damages, in line with the due-process ratio limits the U.S. Supreme Court set in State Farm v. Campbell, and the trial court entered judgment for $1.147 billion. The family later agreed to a further remittitur to $262 million rather than keep defending the larger figure on appeal. Charter then settled confidentially for less than that, funded by its liability insurance, while its appeal to the Fifth Court of Appeals was still pending, and the appeal was dismissed at Charter's own request.

After trial: Reduced by remittitur and then settled. The family remitted the jury's $7 billion punitive award and later agreed to a $262 million judgment (January 18, 2023). See more

$230 Million Federal Judgment Over Sutherland Springs Church Shooting

In February 2022, a federal judge ordered the United States to pay $230 million to survivors and families of the 2017 Sutherland Springs church shooting after finding the Air Force 60 percent liable for failing to report the gunman's criminal history to the federal background check system.

After trial: The Justice Department settled the Sutherland Springs cases for $144.5 million in 2023.

$177 Million Verdict Against Hyatt After Security Guard Assaults Sleeping Hotel Guest

A St. Louis jury awarded $28 million in compensatory damages and $149 million in punitive damages to Shannon Dugan, a New Jersey sheriff's deputy who was sexually assaulted by a Hyatt security guard who used his master key to enter her hotel room while she slept. The Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed the full award in December 2024.

After trial: Affirmed in full by the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, on December 3, 2024.

$160 Million DeKalb County Verdict Against Sony Music Over Fatal Shooting at Underground Atlanta Concert

A DeKalb County jury awarded $160 million to the families of Ewell Ynoa and Giovan Diaz, two young men shot and killed at a 2017 rap concert at the Masquerade venue in Underground Atlanta, finding Sony Music Holdings failed to protect patrons at the show.

After trial: The award covers two families ($80 million each). Sony, which never appeared before the default judgment, moved in late December 2022 to stay enforcement, saying it had no notice of the case; no public resolution has been reported since.

Family of Two Children Killed in I-30 Truck Fire Settles With Werner for $150 Million

Before dawn on May 24, 2020, a Werner Enterprises tractor-trailer struck the rear of a passenger car stopped in a live lane of Interstate 30 near Sulphur Springs, Texas, with two children, ages 7 and 9, inside. The car caught fire and both children died. Their parents sued Werner and its driver, alleging negligent and grossly negligent operation of the tractor-trailer, negligent hiring, training, and supervision of the driver, and negligent entrustment of the truck. In July 2022, Werner announced it had agreed to pay $150 million to resolve the case without a trial, funded by the company and its insurance carriers. Goudarzi & Young, through founding partner Brent Goudarzi, represented the family.

After trial: Pre-trial settlement, so there was no verdict to appeal. Werner's SEC filing states the $150 million was funded by the company and its insurance carriers.

$127.5 Million DOJ Settlement for Parkland Families After FBI Failed to Act on Tip About the Shooter

Stuart Grossman, Neal Roth, and Alex Arteaga-Gomez of Grossman Roth Yaffa Cohen represented families in the $127.5 million federal settlement arising from the FBI's failure to follow up on a tip warning that Nikolas Cruz was planning a school shooting five weeks before the February 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre.

Bibb County Jury Awards $118 Million Over the Videotaped Beating of a Disabled Man at a Georgia Care Home

A Bibb County State Court jury awarded $118 million, including $90 million in punitive damages, to Joseph Cason Jr. and his mother Betty Gill after surveillance video showed care home employees striking the severely disabled man at least 69 times. The December 2022 verdict against the Total Care defendants was the largest in the court's history.

After trial: Collection and post-trial outcomes are not publicly documented; the defendants are small local companies and individuals.

$117 Million Settlement With Former PG&E Officers and Directors Over California Wildfires

Walkup shareholder Michael A. Kelly served on the plaintiffs' leadership team that secured a $117 million settlement from former PG&E officers and directors over wildfires that ranked among the deadliest in California history.

King County Verdict Holds Two Crane Companies to $111 Million for the South Lake Union Collapse

A King County jury returned a $150 million verdict against two crane subcontractors whose safety failures caused the April 2019 South Lake Union crane collapse, which killed four people and injured three others.

After trial: The jury found $150 million in damages and put 25 percent of the fault on the crane owner, Morrow Equipment, which was not at trial, so the two companies at trial owe the other 75 percent: $54 million to the Wong family, $39 million to the Justad family and $9 million each to two injured survivors, $111 million in all. The Washington Court of Appeals affirmed in August 2023.

$95 Million Verdict After Drunk Driver Overserved at Miami Bar Killed a Woman and Injured Her Brother

A Miami-Dade jury returned a $95 million verdict, among the largest motor-vehicle awards in the history of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, for the family of a young woman killed and her brother catastrophically injured when a drunk driver traveled the wrong way on I-95 in December 2015 after being overserved at a Miami bar.

$84.1 Million for 125 Massachusetts Municipalities in National Opioid Litigation

Peter Merrigan of Sweeney Merrigan Personal Injury Lawyers represented 125 Massachusetts cities and towns in claims against Johnson and Johnson and the three largest opioid distributors, recovering $84.1 million in aggregate from the national opioid settlements.

$82 Million Verdict Against Monsanto for PCB Exposure at the Sky Valley Education Center

A King County jury returned an $82 million verdict against Monsanto in December 2022 for a family exposed to PCBs at the Sky Valley Education Center in Monroe, Washington, awarding $20.5 million in compensatory damages and $61.5 million in punitive damages to one member of the family. The firm described it as the largest verdict against Monsanto for an individual plaintiff in any PCB case.

After trial: Monsanto's appeal was pending at the Washington Court of Appeals; Bayer's August 2025 Sky Valley settlement excluded cases already on appeal, and no final appellate decision in this case has been reported.

$77.5 Million Verdict for Family of Man Killed on I-85 Days After Treatment Center Cut His Medication

A DeKalb County jury awarded more than $77.5 million to the family of Nicholas Carusillo, a 29-year-old with bipolar disorder who was taken off lithium at Metro Atlanta Recovery Residences over his providers' objections, discharged over a phone rule violation, and killed on Interstate 85 less than three days later. MARR appealed in May 2024, and the case settled confidentially in 2025 after the Georgia Court of Appeals remanded it for settlement approval.

After trial: MARR appealed in May 2024; in April 2025 the Georgia Court of Appeals remanded the case for approval of a confidential settlement.

$75 Million Verdict for Man Left Locked In After ER and Radiology Missed His Brain Stem Stroke

A Fulton County State Court jury awarded $75 million to Jonathan Buckelew, who suffered a brain stem stroke after a chiropractic neck adjustment at age 32 and was left with locked-in syndrome when an emergency physician and a radiologist failed to diagnose it for a full day. The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment in March 2025.

After trial: Affirmed by the Georgia Court of Appeals on March 10, 2025. The verdict stands.

Nine Sandy Hook Families Collect $73 Million From Remington's Insurers Over Rifle Marketing

On December 14, 2012, a 20-year-old gunman used a Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle made by Remington to kill 20 first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Nine of the victims' families sued Remington in 2014, arguing that its marketing of the AR-15-style rifle to young, violence-prone men was an unfair trade practice that fell outside the federal immunity gun makers enjoy. The Connecticut Supreme Court let that claim proceed in 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene, and after Remington went through bankruptcy twice its four insurers agreed on February 15, 2022 to pay the families the full $73 million available under five policies. Remington also had to release thousands of pages of internal marketing documents.

After trial: The $73,000,000 was paid by Remington's four insurers under five policies, and the payment was approved by the bankruptcy court administering the Remington estate. The figure is an aggregate for nine families and is not itemised in any public source, so it is published as a firm-level aggregate rather than one family's recovery.