Top California Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements
The 20 largest personal injury recoveries in California, ranked by amount, with 190 independently-sourced results to browse. Individual client results and group recoveries are both listed and labeled. Each links to the full story, the firm, and the record behind the number.
Browse personal injury lawyers in California →- $13.5 billionSettlementGroup recoveryWrongful Death
PG&E Wildfire Bankruptcy: $13.5 Billion Settlement for Northern California Fire Victims
Frantz Law Group, representing roughly 5,000 victims, helped negotiate a $13.5 billion PG&E bankruptcy settlement covering tens of thousands of survivors and families from the 2015 Butte, 2017 North Bay, and 2018 Camp wildfires.
- $10.9 billionSettlementGroup recoveryProduct Liability
Weitz and Luxenberg Helps Win $10.9 Billion Roundup Settlement for 125,000 Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Claimants
As co-lead counsel in the federal Roundup multidistrict litigation and the first firm to sue Monsanto in 2015, Weitz and Luxenberg helped negotiate a $10.9 billion settlement resolving approximately 125,000 non-Hodgkin lymphoma claims against Bayer-owned Monsanto.
Weitz & Luxenberg2020 · U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (MDL No. 2741)Read the full story → - $4.9 billionVerdictProduct Liability
$4.9 Billion Verdict Against GM for Defective Fuel Tank That Burned Six on Christmas Eve
A Los Angeles jury ordered General Motors to pay $4.9 billion after six people, including four children, were trapped and severely burned when the defectively placed fuel tank on a 1979 Chevy Malibu ruptured in a rear-end crash on Christmas Eve 1993.
After trial: The punitive award was cut to $1.09 billion after trial, about $1.2 billion in total, and the case settled confidentially while the appeal was pending.
- $4.85 billion (aggregate national settlement; Cartwright's individual client share unknown)SettlementGroup recoveryProduct Liability
Cartwright Law Firm on California Vioxx Steering Committee: $4.85 Billion National Settlement
The Cartwright Law Firm was among the first California filers against Merck over the painkiller Vioxx, and Robert Cartwright Jr. served on the California JCCP Plaintiffs' Steering Committee through the 2007 global resolution that distributed $4.85 billion across more than 45,000 claimants.
The Cartwright Law Firm2007 · California Superior Court (JCCP 4247, Los Angeles) / MDL-1657 (E.D. La.)Read the full story → - $3.3 billionSettlementGroup recoveryProduct Liability
Greene Broillet Helped Recover $3.3 Billion for Los Angeles County in the Tobacco Settlement
Acting as outside trial counsel for Los Angeles County, the firm then known as Greene, Broillet, Taylor, Wheeler and Panish helped recover approximately $3.3 billion for the county through the 1998 nationwide Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.
Greene Broillet & Wheeler1998 · Los Angeles, California (multi-state negotiation)Read the full story → - $1.7 billionSettlementGroup recoveryProduct Liability
Nearly 1,000 School Districts Settle With JUUL for $1.7 Billion Over Youth Vaping Crisis
Frantz Law Group, led by attorneys James Frantz and William Shinoff, represented nearly 1,000 public school districts across 38 states in multidistrict litigation against JUUL Labs, reaching a $1.7 billion settlement in 2023 that covered approximately 1,600 school districts, local governments, tribal entities, and individual consumers.
Frantz Law Group2023 · U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (MDL)Read the full story → - $417 million (vacated)VerdictProduct Liability
$417 Million Talc Verdict for Ovarian Cancer Plaintiff in California Bellwether Trial
An L.A. jury awarded Eva Echeverria $417 million after finding that decades of Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder use caused her ovarian cancer, though the trial judge later vacated the verdict and the Court of Appeal affirmed the vacatur.
- $305 million (settlement); $1.15 billion (verdict)SettlementGroup recoveryProduct Liability
$305 Million Settlement Ends 19-Year Lead Paint Fight Against Sherwin-Williams, ConAgra, and NL Industries
Mary Alexander & Associates served as co-counsel for seven California counties and three cities in a landmark public-nuisance action that secured a $1.15 billion trial judgment (later reduced on appeal to pre-1951 homes) and ultimately resolved in 2019 for $305 million to fund lead paint abatement across California residences.
- Confidential (aggregate >$300 million total litigation)SettlementWrongful Death
Alaska Airlines Flight 261: Confidential Settlements for 18 Families in $300 Million-Plus Litigation
Jamie Lebovitz served on the federal MDL Plaintiff's Steering Committee for the Alaska Airlines Flight 261 disaster, representing 18 families in confidential individual settlements as part of a broader litigation that recovered more than $300 million for surviving relatives of the 88 people killed.
Nurenberg Paris Heller & McCarthy2003 · U.S. District Court, N.D. California (MDL-00-1343)Read the full story → - $235 millionSettlementGroup recoveryProduct Liability
$235 Million Settlement Against Altria Over Juul Youth Vaping Campaign
Beasley Allen led thousands of individual plaintiffs and hundreds of school districts to a $235 million settlement with Altria Group, which had invested in Juul and its marketing of flavored e-cigarettes to minors.
- $198.17 millionVerdictWrongful Death
$198 Million Verdict for Family of Two Brothers Killed in Westlake Village Crosswalk
A Los Angeles jury awarded $198.17 million to the Iskander family after two young brothers were struck and killed in a Westlake Village crosswalk, with Nick Movagar of M&Y Personal Injury Lawyers serving as co-counsel alongside Brian Panish.
M&Y Personal Injury Lawyers2026 · Los Angeles County Superior Court, Van Nuys Courthouse East (Case No. 21STCV01600)Read the full story → - $135 millionVerdict
Riverside County Jury Returns $135 Million Verdict Against Moreno Valley Unified for Ignoring Decades of Complaints About a Predatory Teacher
A Riverside County jury found Moreno Valley Unified School District 90 percent at fault for keeping teacher Thomas Lee West in the classroom for two decades despite molestation complaints, awarding $135 million to two former students he abused.
- $122.5 million (global settlement; firm share for 14 of 124 claimants)SettlementGroup recoveryPremises Liability
$122.5 Million Settlement for 124 Survivors of Police Activities League Volunteer Eric Uller
McGee Lerer Ogrin represented 14 of the 124 survivors whose claims were resolved in a $122.5 million settlement with the City of Santa Monica over decades of child sexual abuse by a PAL volunteer the city failed to stop.
- $117 millionSettlementGroup recoveryWrongful Death
$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.
- $111.7 millionSettlementGroup recoveryMedical Malpractice
GJEL Secures $111.7 Million for Patients Who Underwent Needless Heart Surgery at Redding Medical Center
Gillin, Jacobson, Ellis and Larsen recovered $111.7 million for 186 patients who underwent medically unjustified cardiac procedures at Tenet Healthcare's Redding Medical Center, the largest single-firm share of a $395 million mass settlement.
- $106 millionVerdictWrongful Death
San Diego Jury Returns $106 Million in the Fentanyl Murder of Greg de Villers
A San Diego jury held former county toxicologist Kristin Rossum and San Diego County responsible for the 2000 fentanyl killing of Greg de Villers, awarding his family $106 million in a wrongful death case tried by John Gomez.
- $105 millionVerdictMedical Malpractice
San Diego Jury Awards $105 Million Against "pH Miracle" Author Robert O. Young
A San Diego jury found Robert O. Young, author of the best-selling book "The pH Miracle," liable for $105 million after he treated Dawn Kali's breast cancer with baking soda infusions and told her to skip conventional care, an award a judge later cut to about $25.9 million.
- $85 million verdict (settled $12 million)VerdictWrongful Death
$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.
- $79.8 million (reduced to $29.4 million on appeal)VerdictProduct Liability
Retired Officer Wins $79.8 Million After Defective Ethicon Stapler Causes Permanent Colostomy
A jury awarded Florence Kuhlmann $79.8 million after an Ethicon PPH03 hemorrhoid stapler from a defective, recalled lot misfired during surgery, occluding her rectum and leaving her with a permanent colostomy.
Alexander Law Group2015 · Alameda County Superior Court (Case No. RG 13675753); affirmed in part on appeal, First District, Case No. A147945Read the full story → - $74.5 millionVerdictMedical Malpractice
$74.5 Million for a Girl Born with Cerebral Palsy After Her OB Ignored Hours of Warning Signs at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center
A San Luis Obispo jury awarded $74.5 million to the family of a girl who was born with cerebral palsy in April 2009 after her obstetrician failed to respond to deteriorating fetal heart-rate tracings and did not order emergency delivery at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center.
All California verdicts and settlements
190 results, largest first
David Casey Jr. of CaseyGerry was appointed by Judge Charles Breyer as the sole San Diego attorney on the 22-member Plaintiffs' Steering Committee overseeing MDL 2672, the consolidated clean-diesel emissions fraud litigation that produced a $14.7 billion settlement against Volkswagen.
Frantz Law Group, representing roughly 5,000 victims, helped negotiate a $13.5 billion PG&E bankruptcy settlement covering tens of thousands of survivors and families from the 2015 Butte, 2017 North Bay, and 2018 Camp wildfires.
As co-lead counsel in the federal Roundup multidistrict litigation and the first firm to sue Monsanto in 2015, Weitz and Luxenberg helped negotiate a $10.9 billion settlement resolving approximately 125,000 non-Hodgkin lymphoma claims against Bayer-owned Monsanto.
A Los Angeles jury ordered General Motors to pay $4.9 billion after six people, including four children, were trapped and severely burned when the defectively placed fuel tank on a 1979 Chevy Malibu ruptured in a rear-end crash on Christmas Eve 1993.
A Los Angeles jury ordered General Motors to pay $4.9 billion after a 1979 Chevrolet Malibu's rear-mounted fuel tank ruptured and burned six occupants in a rear-end crash, the largest US personal-injury verdict at the time.
The Cartwright Law Firm was among the first California filers against Merck over the painkiller Vioxx, and Robert Cartwright Jr. served on the California JCCP Plaintiffs' Steering Committee through the 2007 global resolution that distributed $4.85 billion across more than 45,000 claimants.
Acting as outside trial counsel for Los Angeles County, the firm then known as Greene, Broillet, Taylor, Wheeler and Panish helped recover approximately $3.3 billion for the county through the 1998 nationwide Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.
Frantz Law Group, led by attorneys James Frantz and William Shinoff, represented nearly 1,000 public school districts across 38 states in multidistrict litigation against JUUL Labs, reaching a $1.7 billion settlement in 2023 that covered approximately 1,600 school districts, local governments, tribal entities, and individual consumers.
Stuart Talley of Kershaw Talley Barlow secured an $800 million settlement for nearly 79,000 households who alleged CalPERS broke its promise to hold long-term care insurance rates stable, then hit policyholders with repeated premium increases totaling more than 160 percent over a decade.
An L.A. jury awarded Eva Echeverria $417 million after finding that decades of Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder use caused her ovarian cancer, though the trial judge later vacated the verdict and the Court of Appeal affirmed the vacatur.
In multidistrict litigation before Judge Andrew J. Guilford, CaseyGerry served as class counsel in a $393.5 million settlement resolving allegations that Wells Fargo secretly loaded unnecessary collateral protection insurance onto auto loan accounts, pushing hundreds of thousands of borrowers into delinquency and causing roughly 27,000 wrongful vehicle repossessions.
Mary Alexander & Associates served as co-counsel for seven California counties and three cities in a landmark public-nuisance action that secured a $1.15 billion trial judgment (later reduced on appeal to pre-1951 homes) and ultimately resolved in 2019 for $305 million to fund lead paint abatement across California residences.
Jamie Lebovitz served on the federal MDL Plaintiff's Steering Committee for the Alaska Airlines Flight 261 disaster, representing 18 families in confidential individual settlements as part of a broader litigation that recovered more than $300 million for surviving relatives of the 88 people killed.
Beasley Allen led thousands of individual plaintiffs and hundreds of school districts to a $235 million settlement with Altria Group, which had invested in Juul and its marketing of flavored e-cigarettes to minors.
Tom Cartmell served as lead trial counsel for San Francisco Unified School District in the first JUUL bellwether trial against Altria; after plaintiffs rested, Altria agreed to pay $235 million to resolve roughly 6,000 pending e-vapor claims nationwide.
A San Diego jury awarded $223 million to a securities broker whose malpractice attorney had allowed his fraud claims against Prudential Securities to be silently released in a class action settlement, with James P. Frantz representing the broker in the ensuing litigation.
A Los Angeles County jury ordered Rebecca Grossman and former Major League pitcher Scott Erickson to pay $198.17 million for the deaths of two brothers, ages 11 and 8, struck in a marked crosswalk near their home.
A Los Angeles jury awarded $198.17 million to the Iskander family after two young brothers were struck and killed in a Westlake Village crosswalk, with Nick Movagar of M&Y Personal Injury Lawyers serving as co-counsel alongside Brian Panish.
An Alameda County jury ordered Walmart to pay $172 million to roughly 116,000 California employees who were systematically denied legally required meal breaks, part of a 26-state wage campaign that Frank Azar helped launch.
As co-lead class counsel, Kenneth McClain helped secure a $145 million settlement, approved by a federal judge in October 2024, for roughly nine million Kia and Hyundai owners whose vehicles lacked standard engine immobilizers.
A Riverside County jury found Moreno Valley Unified School District 90 percent at fault for keeping teacher Thomas Lee West in the classroom for two decades despite molestation complaints, awarding $135 million to two former students he abused.
McGee Lerer Ogrin represented 14 of the 124 survivors whose claims were resolved in a $122.5 million settlement with the City of Santa Monica over decades of child sexual abuse by a PAL volunteer the city failed to stop.
Gayle Blatt served on the five-member Plaintiffs' Executive Committee that secured a $117.5 million settlement in multidistrict litigation arising from the largest data breach in history, covering roughly 3 billion Yahoo accounts compromised between 2013 and 2016.
As court-appointed lead plaintiffs' counsel, Morgan & Morgan's John Yanchunis negotiated the $117.5 million settlement resolving claims from Yahoo's 2013-2016 data breaches, the largest theft of personal data in history, touching roughly 3 billion accounts worldwide. Judge Lucy Koh approved the fund in 2020 after rejecting an earlier version as inadequate.