Top Individual Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements of 2022

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.

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

$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.

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.

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.

$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.

$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.

$65 Million Verdict for Child Sex Abuse Survivor Against Former Buffalo YMCA Counselor

An Erie County jury awarded $65 million to a woman who was sexually abused over seven years as a child by former Buffalo YMCA counselor James B. Jackson, in one of the largest verdicts under New York's Child Victims Act.

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.

Family of Student Killed in Seattle Crane Collapse Recovers $54.15 Million

A tower crane being disassembled in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood collapsed onto a city street in high wind on April 27, 2019, crushing an Uber carrying 19-year-old Seattle Pacific University student Sarah Wong and killing her. A King County jury found Northwest Tower Crane Service 45 percent at fault and Omega Morgan Sarens 30 percent at fault, and set the damages for Wong's death at more than $72 million as part of a verdict topping $150 million for five victims of the collapse. Because the remaining 25 percent of the fault went to Morrow Equipment, which had settled and was not a trial defendant, the two trial defendants were jointly and severally liable only for their combined 75 percent share, which left the Wong family $54.15 million under the judgment. Todd Gardner represented the Wong family at trial. Omega Morgan appealed on four grounds, and the Washington Court of Appeals affirmed in 2023.

After trial: Reduced and affirmed. The jury set damages above $72 million, but the two trial defendants were liable only for the 75 percent of fault assigned to them, leaving a $54.15 million judgment, which the Washington Court of Appeals affirmed in 2023 in an unpublished opinion. See more

$52 Million for One Survivor in Verdict Against Union School District Over Teacher Abuse

A Santa Clara County jury awarded $65 million to one of two plaintiffs, $102.5 million in total, against Union School District after finding it failed for years to act on repeated warnings about music teacher Samuel Neipp's sexual abuse of students at Dartmouth Middle School.

After trial: The jury awarded this survivor $65 million, all for pain and emotional distress, and found the district 80 percent responsible. The teacher was not a defendant, so under California's Proposition 51 the district owes its share, $52 million. See more

$49.25 Million Verdict for Machinist Who Lost Most of His Bowel to Sepsis 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.

$45.3 Million Verdict for Army Veteran Left Brain Damaged by a Breathing Tube Placed in His Esophagus

A Cook County jury awarded $45.3 million to Steven Butts, a 30-year-old Army veteran who suffered permanent brain damage after an Advocate Trinity Hospital ER doctor paralyzed him for intubation, placed the breathing tube in his esophagus, and left him without oxygen for about 11 minutes; the verdict and roughly $2.8 million in prejudgment interest were affirmed on appeal in 2024.

After trial: Affirmed by the Illinois Appellate Court on March 8, 2024, with roughly $2.8 million in prejudgment interest added to the judgment.

$42.5 Million Verdict for EMT and Aspiring Firefighter Critically Injured in Left-Turn Motorcycle Crash

A Pierce County jury awarded $44.7 million to an EMT and volunteer firefighter left with permanent injuries after an SUV driver turned left through an uncontrolled intersection and into his path, a verdict Washington courts later upheld in full.

After trial: The jury awarded just over $44.7 million and put 5 percent of the fault on Simon, so under Washington's comparative fault rule the judgment is about $42.5 million, and the Court of Appeals affirmed in 2025. The entered judgment figure is not public.

Cook County Jury Returns Record $42.4 Million Verdict Against Advocate Condell in Baclofen Withdrawal Death

A Cook County jury found Advocate Condell Medical Center responsible for the death of a 47-year-old quadriplegic father who suffered fatal baclofen withdrawal while waiting for a delayed surgery to replace his medication pump, and the verdict was later affirmed on appeal.

$40.35 Million Confidential Settlement After Missed Ribcage Finding Let Child's Cancer Reach Spinal Canal

A South Carolina family reached a confidential $40.35 million settlement, structured under a high-low agreement, after radiologists reading a newborn's early chest X-rays missed a ribcage deformity that turned out to be a sign of neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer that grew into the child's spinal canal and caused permanent paralysis before it was caught.

After trial: The settlement is confidential. No court, case number, or plaintiff name has been made public, and the claim that this is the largest personal injury settlement in South Carolina history comes from the firm rather than from independent verification.

Libby Asbestos Worker Wins $36.5 Million Verdict Against Mill's Insurer

Ralph Hutt worked 18 months at W.R. Grace's asbestos-contaminated vermiculite mill in Libby, Montana in the late 1960s and developed asbestosis decades later. A Cascade County jury found the mill's workers' compensation insurer, Maryland Casualty Company, breached an independent duty to warn him about hazards it tracked through undisclosed chest X-rays, and awarded $36.5 million in February 2022. The trial judge completed Montana's mandatory review of the punitive portion in January 2023 and declined to reduce it, calling the insurer's conduct reprehensible. Maryland Casualty appealed, but the appeal ended in a confidential settlement in 2024, so the verdict itself, not any later court reduction, is what stood.

After trial: Maryland Casualty appealed the judgment to the Montana Supreme Court (DA 23-0151). The parties reached a confidential settlement in mediation, and the appeal was dismissed with prejudice by stipulation on July 17, 2024, so no appellate court ever ruled on the verdict or the punitive award. See more

$35.3 Million Verdict for 81-Year-Old Backseat Passenger Rear-Ended by Tractor-Trailer on the 10 Freeway

A Los Angeles jury awarded $35,285,942 to an 81-year-old man who suffered a spinal fracture and permanent injuries after a tractor-trailer rear-ended the vehicle he was riding in on Interstate 10.