Top Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements of 2024

$4.037 Billion Settlement for Maui Wildfire Victims

Leavitt, Yamane and Soldner represented Maui wildfire survivors and victims' families in the $4.037 billion global settlement resolving approximately 450 lawsuits arising from the August 2023 Lahaina fire.

After trial: Global, multi-firm.

$1.956 Billion for USS Cole Victims: Carlson Law Firm's Second Iran Judgment

A federal court in Washington, D.C. awarded $1.956 billion to 114 survivors and Gold Star family members in Carlson Law Firm's second successful default-judgment lawsuit holding Iran liable for the October 2000 USS Cole bombing.

$725.5 Million Verdict Against ExxonMobil for a Mechanic's Leukemia, Reported as the Largest Benzene Award in U.S. History

A Philadelphia jury awarded $725.5 million to former Mobil service station mechanic Paul Gill, who developed acute myeloid leukemia after years of cleaning car parts with benzene-containing gasoline and solvents, in what was reported as the largest benzene verdict in U.S. history; the court later added over $90 million in delay damages while ExxonMobil's appeal remains pending.

After trial: Post-trial motions were denied in September 2024 and delay damages brought the judgment to roughly $816 million. ExxonMobil's appeal to the Pennsylvania Superior Court is pending.

$550 Million Wrongful-Death Verdict After Driver Hit 107 mph on Drugs and Alcohol

A Clark County jury awarded $550 million -- $50 million compensatory and $500 million punitive -- to Nimfa Escobia after her husband Marcial was killed by a driver traveling 107 mph while impaired by alcohol, methamphetamine, ecstasy, and marijuana.

After trial: Nevada caps punitive damages at three times compensatory damages, which exposes the $500 million punitive portion of this verdict to reduction toward roughly $150 million if that cap is applied on appeal; no appellate ruling has been reported yet. The verdict is against an individual driver, Kevin Raspperry, whose insurer had already paid policy limits to the vehicle's owner rather than to him, so the judgment against him personally is largely uncollectable.

$495 Million Verdict Against Abbott for Failing to Warn That Similac Caused NEC in Premature Infant

A St. Louis jury awarded $495 million against Abbott Laboratories after finding the company failed to warn that its Similac cow's milk formula could cause necrotizing enterocolitis in premature infants.

After trial: Abbott appealed and lost: a Missouri appeals court upheld the $495 million verdict. Rather than pay the judgment plus accrued interest, Abbott in August 2026 reached settlement agreements resolving the Gill case together with roughly 2,000 other NEC claims for an aggregate of about $670 million; the portion paid to the Gill family specifically was not disclosed.

Kline & Specter Wins $2.25 Billion Roundup Cancer Verdict, Later Cut to $400 Million

A Philadelphia jury found that Monsanto failed to warn that Roundup could cause cancer and awarded John McKivison $2.25 billion. The trial judge later reduced the award to $400 million.

After trial: The trial judge cut the verdict by more than 80 percent, to $400 million ($50 million compensatory and $350 million punitive). The plaintiff appealed the reduction and Monsanto appealed the liability finding.

$300 Million Judgment for a Child Abused in Caretakers' Custody, the Largest Entered in Missouri in 2024

A St. Charles County judge entered a $300 million bench-trial judgment for a child, identified only as G.T., who was physically and sexually abused between the ages of three and five while in the care of Susan and James McLaurie, though one defendant died before the suit was filed and the only known insurance was a $303,000 policy.

After trial: The judgment is roughly a thousand times the only known insurance coverage; one defendant died before suit. Collection prospects are minimal.

Jury Awards $360 Million to Three Former Patients Abused by Cumberland Hospital Medical Director

A Richmond Circuit Court jury awarded $360 million to three former adolescent patients who were sexually abused by Dr. Daniel Davidow, the medical director of Cumberland Hospital for Children, during what he called routine femoral pulse exams.

After trial: A judge reduced the September 2024 jury verdict from $360 million to just over $241 million. More than 40 plaintiffs in the broader Cumberland Hospital litigation reached a confidential settlement in August 2026, ending the six-year case.

Alabama Secures $220 Million From Opioid Distributors Cardinal Health and Cencora

Beasley Allen, representing Alabama on contingency, secured $220 million from opioid distributors Cardinal Health and Cencora after roughly 18 months of litigation, with every dollar directed to statewide opioid abatement programs.

Bexar County Jury Awards $210 Million in Wrongful Death of Andreen McDonald

A Bexar County civil jury awarded $210 million to the family of Andreen McDonald, killed by her husband in 2019, in what is reported to be the largest personal injury verdict in county history.

After trial: Andre McDonald is serving a 20-year sentence for manslaughter plus 5 years for evidence tampering in the underlying criminal case, and his criminal appeal was denied in August 2024. The civil verdict is against an incarcerated individual defendant, and no confirmed outcome of a civil appeal has been reported.

Champaign County Jury Awards $535 Million Against Psychiatric Facility for Rape of 13-Year-Old Patient

A Champaign County jury returned a $535 million verdict -- the largest known single-plaintiff verdict in Illinois history -- against a psychiatric facility that failed to prevent the rape of a 13-year-old female patient by another adolescent resident.

After trial: The verdict was reduced to $180 million on post-trial motion, and the case then settled out of court.

$162 Million Settlement Over the 2021 I-85 Van Rollover and Fire

John Foy & Associates was one of about a dozen co-counsel firms in the $162 million settlement for victims of a 2021 I-85 van rollover and fire in Gwinnett County that killed seven women from a sober living home.

Nassau County Jury Returns $141.5 Million Against Log-Truck Company

A Nassau County jury awarded $141.5 million, including $125 million in punitive damages, against K&N Logging after an unvetted driver's 80,000-pound log truck plowed into stopped school-zone traffic and left a young child with permanent brain damage.

After trial: The verdict is largely uncollectable. K&N Logging had stopped operating at least two years before trial, its owner was a school janitor running a small side business, and defense counsel said there are no assets to satisfy the judgment and no insurance policy covering punitive damages.

Wayne County Jury Awards $120.9 Million in Birth Injury Case Against Henry Ford Hospital

A Wayne County jury found Henry Ford Hospital negligent for a delay of over two hours in executing an ordered emergency C-section, awarding $120.9 million to a Detroit mother and her son, who was left with severe cerebral palsy and requires full-time care.

$462 Million Verdict Against Trailer Maker Wabash in a Fatal St. Louis Underride Crash

A St. Louis jury found trailer manufacturer Wabash National 65 percent at fault and awarded $462 million, most of it punitive, after a defective rear underride guard let a car slide beneath a trailer and kill two young fathers; a judge later cut the total to about $119.5 million.

After trial: Post-trial the award was cut to roughly $119.5 million, about $108 million in punitive damages and $11.5 million compensatory.

$101 Million Bad-Faith Verdict Against Progressive After Crosswalk TBI

A Clark County jury awarded $101 million against Progressive -- $1 million compensatory and $100 million punitive -- after the insurer delayed paying Hal Goldblatt's medical bills for months following a 2022 crosswalk collision that caused a traumatic brain injury.

$100 Million Verdict for Infant Maimed in Circumcision by a Doctor Whose License Had Already Been Revoked

A Palm Beach County jury awarded $100 million against former OB/GYN Berto Lopez, who performed a catastrophic circumcision on a 10-day-old boy ten days after the Florida Board of Medicine revoked his license, though the unlicensed doctor skipped the trial and collection remains doubtful.

After trial: Default-style verdict against an unlicensed, unrepresented doctor with no known assets; the judgment is held in trust for the child but is considered uncollectable.

$98.65 Million Verdict for Family of Botham Jean, Shot in His Own Apartment by Off-Duty Dallas Officer

A federal jury awarded $98.65 million to the family and estate of Botham Jean after finding that former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger used excessive force and violated his constitutional rights when she entered his apartment and shot him in 2018.

$900 Million Verdict, Cut to $90 Million by the Trial Judge, for an Employee Raped by the Owner of FilmOn and Hologram USA

On June 17, 2024, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury unanimously awarded $900 million, $100 million compensatory and $800 million punitive, to a former employee of Alkiviades "Alki" David's companies who was sexually harassed and raped by him between 2016 and 2019. Liability had already been established before trial, so the jury sat only on damages, and the defense table was empty. In September 2024 the trial judge ruled that the award shocked the conscience and conditionally granted a new trial unless the plaintiff accepted $90 million, $10 million compensatory plus $80 million punitive. David filed a notice of appeal at the end of September 2024 and has said publicly that none of the women who have won verdicts against him will ever be paid.

After trial: In September 2024 the trial court conditionally granted the defendant's motion for a new trial on damages unless the plaintiff accepted a reduction from $900 million to $90 million ($10 million compensatory plus $80 million punitive), finding the compensatory award excessive because the jury heard net-worth and prior-verdict evidence before setting it. David filed a notice of appeal on or about September 30, 2024 (Mealey's). See more

Kline & Specter Wins $78 Million Roundup Cancer Verdict for Abington Man

A Philadelphia jury awarded William Melissen $78 million, including $75 million in punitive damages, after finding that Monsanto's Roundup weed killer was a cause of his non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Kline & Specter, with co-counsel Arnold & Itkin, tried the case, the sixth Roundup trial heard by a Philadelphia jury and the fourth to go against the company.