Top Individual Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements of 2022

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

$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.

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.

$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.

$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.

Brooklyn Carpenter Left Quadriplegic After Staircase Collapse Wins $48 Million Verdict

A Kings County jury awarded about $48 million to a Polish immigrant carpenter who was rendered quadriplegic when a temporary wooden staircase gave way at a Brooklyn renovation site, finding the building owner and general contractor liable under New York Labor Law. The trial court later conditioned the pain and suffering portion on a reduction.

$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.

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 Over a Missed Ribcage Finding That Let a Child's Cancer Reach the 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

$32.4 Million Arbitration Award After KCFD Engine Killed Three at Westport Intersection

An arbitrator awarded $32.4 million to the families of three people killed when a Kansas City Fire Department engine ran a red light at 50 mph through the Westport entertainment district in December 2021; Tim Dollar of Dollar, Burns, Becker and Hershewe represented the family of Michael Elwood.

$30 Million Jury Verdict for Child Abuse Survivor Against Former Lutheran Pastor

An Erie County jury awarded $30 million to a man who was sexually abused as a child by Rev. Douglas D. Thore, a Lutheran pastor in Marilla, NY, in what was reported as the largest Child Victims Act verdict in Western New York at the time.

Newton County Jury Awards Indiana Farmer $30 Million After Semi Hits His Tractor on U.S. 41

Daniel Nelson, a farmer from Lake Village, Indiana, was driving his tractor north on U.S. 41 in Newton County on the morning of May 16, 2019, when a semitrailer that failed to slow down or change lanes struck it and threw him from the seat. He suffered head and brain injuries, a fractured pelvis and five broken ribs. Nelson and his wife, Diana, sued the trucking company, its customer and the driver, and after the case bounced between federal and state court on jurisdictional grounds, it was tried over seven days in Newton County Superior Court. On February 16, 2022, the jury deliberated about two and a half hours before awarding $25 million to Daniel Nelson and $5 million to Diana Nelson, a $30 million verdict that stood.

After trial: Counsel told The Times of Northwest Indiana that insurance would cover the verdict amount, which is the only public indication of payment; no satisfaction of judgment is available in an online record we could reach. No appeal of the verdict appears in Indiana appellate records and no appellate decision in the case has been published.

$27.6 Million Verdict for Newborn Whose E. Coli Sepsis Went Untreated at North Colorado Medical Center

A Weld County jury awarded $27.6 million to a family whose newborn daughter developed E. coli sepsis and meningitis after nursing staff failed to notify a physician despite documented signs of infection, leaving her with permanent brain injury and cerebral palsy.

After trial: About $40 million as a judgment with interest.