Top Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements of 2022

$1.2 Billion Settlement for 98 Victims of the Champlain Towers South Collapse in Surfside, Florida

Saltz Mongeluzzi and Bendesky joined the plaintiffs' leadership team that secured a $1.2 billion settlement for the families and survivors of 98 people killed when Champlain Towers South collapsed in Surfside, Florida on June 24, 2021 -- the largest construction-disaster settlement in U.S. history.

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.

A $1.02 Billion Settlement for the Families of the Surfside Condo Collapse

After Champlain Towers South collapsed in the middle of the night and killed 98 people, Curtis Miner of Colson Hicks Eidson served as court-appointed liaison counsel for the wrongful death and personal injury claimants, part of a leadership team that reached a roughly $1.02 billion class settlement.

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 Against CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart in First U.S. Pharmacy Opioid Trial

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.

$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: The $1.147 billion judgment entered on September 19, 2022 already reflected a reduction: when the family moved for entry of judgment they voluntarily remitted the jury's $7 billion punitive award down to $750 million, twice the compensatory damages, the ratio the U.S. Supreme Court's due-process holding in State Farm v. See more

$206 Million Verdict Against Two Judges Who Sent Children to For-Profit Detention for Kickbacks

Sol Weiss served as co-lead counsel in a class action that secured $206 million in damages against two former Luzerne County judges who accepted $2.8 million in kickbacks to funnel hundreds of children into private juvenile detention facilities.

$177 Million Verdict Against Hyatt After Security Guard Assaults Sleeping Hotel Guest, Affirmed on Appeal

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.

$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 Against Former PG&E Officers and Directors for Wildfire Deaths

Steven Campora of Dreyer Babich Buccola Wood Campora joined a coalition of firms that secured a $117 million settlement from 20 former PG&E officers and directors on behalf of the PG&E Fire Victim Trust, resolving breach-of-fiduciary-duty claims tied to the 2015 Butte Fire, 2017 North Bay fires, and 2018 Camp Fire.

$100 Million Federal Jury Verdict for Man Paralyzed After Atlanta Officer Deployed Taser Without Warning

A federal jury in Atlanta awarded $100 million to Jerry Blasingame, a 65-year-old man rendered quadriplegic after an Atlanta police officer tased him without warning during a foot pursuit, though the award was ultimately reduced to $21 million following post-trial rulings and a 2026 Eleventh Circuit decision.

After trial: Reduced to roughly $21 million after post-trial motions and an Eleventh Circuit appeal.

Miami-Dade Jury Awards $95 Million After Drunk Driver Overserved at a Miami Bar Kills Daughter and Catastrophically Injures Son

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.

$85 Million Federal Jury Verdict in Lucky Phounsy In-Custody Death

A federal jury awarded $85 million against San Diego County after deputies tased, beat, and hogtied Lucky Phounsy during a 2015 mental health crisis; the county later settled for $12 million after the judge vacated the wrongful-death damages and ordered a new trial on that portion.

After trial: Verdict; the case later settled for $12 million.

$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 Addiction Treatment Center Cut His Medication and Discharged Him

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.

Billion-Dollar Tobacco Verdict Upheld at $56 Million After SJC Review

A Massachusetts jury returned a $1 billion punitive verdict against Philip Morris in 2022 over the lung cancer death of Barbara Fontaine, a case handled in part by Rubenstein Law attorney Kevin Donovan; the punitive award was later reduced to $56 million, a figure the state Supreme Judicial Court upheld in April 2026.

$49.25 Million Verdict for a Machinist Who Lost Most of His Bowel to Sepsis Left Untreated After Gallbladder Surgery

A Cook County jury awarded Joseph and Christine Browning $49.25 million after physicians at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital waited 11 days to perform exploratory surgery on a sepsis infection that destroyed most of Joseph's small bowel. Sharon L. Heath and Timothy W. Heath of Heath & Heath, P.C. represented the Brownings, and the Illinois Appellate Court affirmed the verdict in 2023.

After trial: Affirmed by the Illinois Appellate Court on September 15, 2023. The parties had stipulated to a $2 million reduction, and prejudgment interest was added.