Top Personal Injury Settlements of 2022
The largest personal injury settlements from 2022, nationwide for one client or family, ranked by amount. Each links to the full story, the firm, and the record behind the number.
- $40.35 millionSettlement
$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.
McGowan, Hood, Felder & Phillips, LLC2022 · South Carolina; court and case caption not publicly disclosed under the parties' confidentiality agreementRead the full story → - $20 millionSettlement
$20 Million Settlement After a Coworker Called an Elevator While a 65-Year-Old Mechanic Was Standing on Top of It
Lennox Hinckson, a 65-year-old elevator mechanic, was crushed and fell roughly 60 feet at Holcim's cement plant in Holly Hill, South Carolina, after a Holcim employee called the elevator he was working on from a floor below. His estate settled wrongful death and negligence claims against Holcim for $20 million.
After trial: The case settled before trial for $20 million; there was no verdict for either side to appeal, and no further litigation has been publicly reported.
Yarborough Applegate Law Firm2022 · South Carolina Court of Common Pleas, Orangeburg CountyRead the full story → - $16 millionSettlement
$16 Million Settlement for Woman Sexually Assaulted at Rodeway Inn While Hotel Security Watched
Justin Shapiro of Leesfield and Partners secured a $16 million settlement for a 67-year-old woman who was beaten and sexually assaulted in the open hallway of a northwest Miami-Dade Rodeway Inn while hotel employees and the property's security guard stood by and did nothing.
- $12 millionSettlement
A Warehouse Visit, Falling Marble Slabs, and a $12 Million Wrongful-Death Settlement
Behzad "Al" Abedi was killed when stacked marble slabs fell on him at a Charlotte stone warehouse in 2019, and DeMayo Law Offices resolved his family's premises- and products-liability claims for $12 million.
- $12 millionSettlementPaid
City of Rochester Settles Daniel Prude Wrongful Death Suit for $12 Million
Daniel Prude, a 41-year-old Rochester man in the middle of a mental health crisis, died in March 2020 after police officers put a spit hood over his head and held him face down on the pavement until he stopped breathing. The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide from asphyxia during restraint, though a state grand jury declined to indict the officers. Elliot D. Shields of Roth & Roth, LLP filed the family's federal civil rights suit against the City of Rochester in September 2020. On October 6, 2022, a federal judge approved a $12 million settlement, split evenly between pain-and-suffering and wrongful death claims, with the city admitting no liability.
After trial: A federal judge approved the settlement on October 6, 2022. It was funded by the City of Rochester as an institutional defendant, making it a collectable, paid result rather than an award against individual officers.
Roth & Roth, LLP2022 · U.S. District Court for the Western District of New YorkRead the full story → - $11.75 millionSettlement
$11.75 Million Settlement After Jail Deputies Saw an Unconscious, Beaten 18-Year-Old on Two Walkthroughs and Kept Walking
Brian Ortiz, 18, was beaten by another inmate at Maricopa County's Fourth Avenue Jail; deputies saw him unconscious during two separate walkthroughs and did not intervene, and he did not reach a hospital until more than two hours after the assault. Maricopa County settled the resulting civil rights lawsuit for $11.75 million.
After trial: The case settled in 2022 without a trial, so there was no verdict for either side to appeal. No further litigation between the Ortiz family and Maricopa County has been publicly reported.
Scottsdale Injury Lawyers LLC2022 · U.S. District Court for the District of ArizonaRead the full story → - $11 millionSettlement
$11 Million Settlement After Highway Mowing Crew Stopped Traffic and a Log Truck Rolled Over a Traveling Couple
A highway maintenance contractor whose crew illegally blocked both lanes of Georgia Highway 4 paid $11 million after a jackknifed log truck crushed the vehicle of a married couple, killing the husband and severely injuring his wife.
- $10.8 millionSettlement
$10.8 Million Settlement for Navy Veteran Who Lost Leg in I-5 Chain-Reaction Crash
A Navy veteran lost his right leg and the use of his arm after a Navy-operated van triggered a chain-reaction crash on Interstate 5; CaseyGerry secured a $10.8 million settlement, described as the largest federal vehicle-collision settlement in San Diego history.
CaseyGerry2022 · U.S. District Court, Southern District of California (San Diego)Read the full story → - $10 millionSettlement
Lucia Mar Unified School District Pays $10 Million After Bus Driver With Prior Conviction Molested Nine-Year-Old Special-Needs Student
Lucia Mar Unified School District agreed to pay $10 million in May 2022 to settle negligence claims brought on behalf of a nine-year-old special-needs girl who was repeatedly sexually abused by a school bus driver in 2017, a driver the district had hired despite a prior peeping conviction he concealed on his application.
- $9 millionSettlement
$9 Million Settlement for Family of Teen Who Died of Heat Stroke During Football Practice
Adamson Ahdoot LLP secured a $9 million settlement for the family of a 15-year-old Jurupa Valley student who died three days after collapsing during a 104-degree football practice, after coaches failed to provide water, shade, or emergency care.
- $8 millionSettlementPaid
The Clinic Documented the Signs of Abuse on Her Infant Son and Never Told Her, and Never Told the State. He Was Beaten Nearly to Death at Six Months Old.
Alexandria Orduna brought her son to a Brewer clinic repeatedly from the time he was four days old. Staff saw and documented red-flag signs of physical abuse and never told her and never reported it to the state, as Maine law requires. At about six and a half months old he was beaten so badly he nearly died. He is permanently blind and brain-injured.
After trial: Approved by the court and final at $8,000,000. A tentative figure of $10,000,000 was announced in February 2022 and widely reported at that number; the settlement actually approved and announced in August 2022 was $8,000,000, and that is the figure that stood.
- $7.36 millionSettlement
Two Cousins Killed in Drunk-Driving Crash; Bars and Driver Pay $7.36 Million
A 21-year-old driver who was overserved at two Spartanburg bars struck and killed two cousins at over 70 mph, leading to a $7.36 million wrongful death settlement paid by the bars and the driver.
Kenneth Berger2022 · Spartanburg County Circuit Court (Case No. 2021-CP-42-01891)Read the full story → - $5.97 millionSettlement
$5.97 Million Settlement for Family After Fatal Head-On Crash With Ice Cream Truck in Osage County
Brown & Crouppen helped Zachary Patchin's family reach a $5.97 million settlement after an Ice Cream Factory box truck crossed into oncoming traffic in a no-passing zone and killed both drivers on U.S. 50 in Osage County, Missouri.
- $4 millionSettlement
Sea Girt Carpenter Rendered Quadriplegic in Rooftop Fall Receives $4 Million Settlement
After falling from a Sea Girt rooftop without a safety harness on May 4, 2017, and sustaining a complete cervical spinal cord injury that left him permanently quadriplegic, Roberto Carlos Bolanos settled his negligence claim against the general contractor for $4 million.
- $3.5 millionSettlement
Marysville School District Pays $3.5 Million to Two Former Students Abused by Art Teacher in School Darkroom
Washington Law Center secured a $3.5 million settlement against the Marysville School District after two former students came forward with claims that art teacher and cheerleading adviser Kurt Hollstein sexually abused them in a school darkroom during the mid-1980s.
- $3.25 millionSettlement
$3.25 Million Settlement With Brooklyn Center for the Family of Daunte Wright, Killed by an Officer Who Mistook Her Gun for a Taser
Ben Crump and co-counsel representing the family of Daunte Wright reached a $3.25 million settlement with the City of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, over the 2021 traffic-stop shooting in which officer Kim Potter fired her handgun after shouting "Taser." The agreement, announced in June 2022, also called for changes to the department's policing practices and ranked among the largest civil rights wrongful-death settlements in Minnesota history.
- $2.75 millionSettlement
$2.75 Million Settlement for Building Porter Who Fell 14 Feet Through Unmarked Floor Hole
A Manhattan building porter fell 14 feet through an unguarded third-floor hole after a general contractor's superintendent removed the only cover and left without any warning, resulting in three spinal surgeries and a $2.75 million settlement.
- $2.75 millionSettlement
An Insulin-Dependent Diabetic Went Seven Days in the George County Jail Without Insulin While the Nurse Called It Meth Withdrawal. He Died. She Got 15 Years for Manslaughter; the County Paid $2.75 Million.
William Joel Dixon, 28, an insulin-dependent diabetic, was held in the George County Regional Correctional Facility in Lucedale in September 2014. For seven days he got no insulin. The jail nurse, Carmon Sue Brannan, dismissed his worsening condition as methamphetamine withdrawal. He died on September 24, 2014 of diabetic ketoacidosis. Brannan was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years. In June 2022 George County agreed to pay his estate, his mother and his children $2,750,000.
After trial: A settlement accepted by the estate on May 27, 2022 and certified as a judgment by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi on May 31, 2022, so the figure is final by construction and no cap applied.
Wetzel Law Firm2022 · U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, GulfportRead the full story → - $2 millionSettlement
Broken Jaw, $2 Million: Anthony Evans Settles Civil-Rights Claim Against City of Austin Over 2020 BLM Protest Shooting
Anthony Evans, struck in the jaw by an APD beanbag round while leaving a May 2020 protest, settled his federal civil-rights excessive-force claim against the City of Austin for $2 million, with Shawn Frazier of FVF Law serving as co-counsel alongside Jeff Edwards.
- $2 millionSettlement
Paralyzed Roofer Wins $2 Million Workers' Compensation Settlement From Statutory Employer
A roofer left paralyzed from the waist down after falling on the job for an uninsured contractor settled his Virginia workers' compensation claim for a $2 million lump sum.
Geoff McDonald & Associates, P.C.2022 · Virginia Workers' Compensation CommissionRead the full story →
All 2022 verdicts and settlements
114 results, largest first
A Gwinnett County jury awarded roughly $24 million in compensatory damages and $1.7 billion in punitive damages against Ford Motor Company for the 2014 rollover deaths of Melvin and Voncile Hill in a 2002 F-250, with James E. Butler Jr. of Butler Prather LLP as lead trial counsel; the Georgia Court of Appeals vacated the judgment in November 2024 and ordered a new trial, and Ford settled the case on confidential terms in September 2025 before a third trial could begin.
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.
Rachel Furst of Grossman Roth Yaffa Cohen served as co-chair of the plaintiffs' team that secured a $1.2 billion settlement for the families of 98 people killed when Champlain Towers South collapsed in Surfside, Florida -- the largest construction-disaster settlement in U.S. history.
Judd Rosen served as court-appointed lead attorney for the wrongful death and non-owner victim class in the Champlain Towers South collapse litigation, helping secure a $1.2 billion global settlement for the families of the 98 people killed when the Surfside, Florida condominium tower fell on June 24, 2021.
Court-appointed co-chair lead counsel Ricardo Martinez-Cid of Podhurst Orseck helped secure over $1 billion for the families of 98 people killed in the June 2021 Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside, Florida, with final approval reached in under a year.
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.
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.
A Miami federal court entered a roughly $440 million judgment against Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and MSC for using port terminals Cuba confiscated in 1960, a result the Supreme Court reinstated by a vote of 8 to 1 in 2026.
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.
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.
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.
Morgan & Morgan's John Yanchunis served as court-appointed co-lead counsel in the multidistrict litigation over Capital One's 2019 data breach, which exposed the personal information of roughly 98 million U.S. customers. The $190 million settlement won final approval in 2022 as one of the largest data breach recoveries in U.S. history.
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.
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.
Kristina Infante and the Podhurst Orseck team secured a $127.5 million settlement from the federal government on behalf of 40 survivors and families of victims killed or wounded in the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, after demonstrating the FBI received advance warnings it failed to investigate.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A federal jury found General Motors liable for defective piston rings in its 5.3-liter Vortec V8 engines and awarded $102.6 million to a class of roughly 38,000 truck and SUV owners across three states.
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.
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.
Gallagher & Kennedy's Kevin Neal and Kenneth Ralston served as Arizona's outside counsel and secured an $85 million settlement from Google over the deceptive collection of smartphone users' location data.
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.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.