Top Car Accident Verdicts and Settlements

$301 Billion Dram-Shop Verdict Against a Closed Bar, the Largest Jury Award Ever Recorded

On December 7, 2021, a Nueces County jury in Corpus Christi returned $1.04 billion in actual damages and $300 billion in exemplary damages, about $301.04 billion in total, against Beer Belly's Sports Bar and its owner for overserving a driver who killed Tamra Kay Kindred, 59, and her 16-year-old granddaughter in a 2017 crash. It was reported as the largest jury verdict ever recorded, and it was built to be symbolic: the bar had closed in 2019, Texas does not require bars to carry liquor liability insurance, and the family and its lawyers said openly that they expected to recover nothing and sought the number as a public statement against drunk driving. John Flood of Flood Trial Lawyers was lead counsel, with Sico, Hoelscher & Harris LLP as co-counsel; Craig Sico delivered the closing argument that asked jurors to decide how loudly their voice would be heard.

After trial: Largely symbolic award. The bar closed in 2019 and the family said it expected to collect nothing; the verdict was sought as a public statement against drunk driving.

Oakland County Jury Returns Record $896.5 Million Verdict for Boy Struck at Continental Test Track

An Oakland County jury awarded $896.5 million to a young boy who was struck by a prototype test car during a student field trip at a Continental test track, reported as the largest verdict in Michigan history. The award is pre-appeal: post-trial motions are pending, Continental never made a settlement offer, and the amount could still be reduced.

After trial: The verdict is pre-appeal: post-trial motions were pending as of September 2026 and Continental is expected to seek a reduction. Nothing has been paid.

$831 Million Dram Shop Verdict Against Shuttered New Braunfels Bar, Largest From a San Antonio Jury

A Bexar County jury awarded roughly $831 million to Blas Mendez Jr., a longtime Seguin ISD special education behavior specialist left partially paralyzed after his motorcycle hit wreckage left in the road by an 18-year-old drunk driver who had been served at Koozies Icehouse & Grill in New Braunfels. Todd A. Hunter of Hunter Trial Law tried the dram shop case with E. Chevo Pastrano and Ginna G. Pastrano of The Pastrano Law Firm. The award was reported as the largest verdict ever returned by a San Antonio jury, and the bar had already closed by the time it came in, so the family is not expected to collect most, if any, of it.

After trial: Koozies closed before trial and the family is not expected to collect most, if any, of the award; no appeal had been filed as of The Texas Lawbook's year-end report.

$262.5 Million Verdict for Odessa Man Left Quadriplegic After Bar Overserved His Attacker

An Ector County jury awarded $262.5 million to Isaac Sanchez, left quadriplegic when a drunk driver who had been served 19 drinks at Linx Bar and Grill rear-ended his motorcycle at a North Odessa intersection in June 2021.

After trial: The jury apportioned 60 percent of fault, and of the verdict, against the individual drunk driver Rogelio Lujan and 40 percent against Linx Bar & Grill, so collectability likely depends mostly on the bar's liquor liability insurance rather than the driver. No appeal or reduction has been publicly reported.

$159 Million Verdict for Woman Left Quadriplegic by Drunk Driver Doing 79 in a 40 Zone

On October 18, 2020 Ryann Early, drunk and doing about 79 mph in a 40 zone, crossed into oncoming traffic on Albert S. White Drive in Whitestown and hit Sherry Schnee head-on. She broke her neck and is quadriplegic. He went to prison. On January 11, 2024 a Boone County jury awarded her $84,000,000 and her husband $75,000,000. Early is an individual with no insurer identified, and his own lawyer said afterward he wished there were actual dollars behind the number.

After trial: The verdict stands as returned, and no appeal of the civil judgment has been reported. Collection is unlikely: Ryann Early is serving a six-year sentence and no insurer has been named. See more

$114 Million Verdict Against USAA for Bad-Faith Handling of Rear-End Crash Claim

A Clark County jury awarded Timothy Kuhn $114 million after USAA spent years stonewalling his claim from a 2018 rear-end collision it had originally conceded was not his fault.

After trial: USAA filed a notice of appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court in March 2025 challenging the judgment; as of the briefing schedule in January 2026 the appeal was still being briefed, with no ruling issued.

Austin Jury Awards $112.9 Million in Dram Shop Case Over Crash That Left a Six-Year-Old With a Brain Injury

A Travis County jury found a Wings 'N More restaurant liable for overserving a drunk driver who crashed into a family's car, awarding $112.9 million after a six-year-old girl suffered a traumatic brain injury, cardiac arrest, and the loss of vision in one eye.

$104 Million Verdict Against Illinois Tollway for I-90 Construction Zone Crash That Left a Man Paralyzed

A Cook County jury found the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority negligent for a 2016 construction zone crash on I-90 that killed one limousine passenger and left Rob Rosá paralyzed from the neck down, awarding Rosá and his spouse just over $104 million on October 9, 2025.

After trial: The Tollway said it was reviewing the verdict; no post-trial ruling or appeal had been publicly reported as of late 2025.

$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.

$96.9M Verdict: Nassau County Ignored 108 Crashes Before Teen Was Catastrophically Injured

A Nassau County jury awarded $96,906,004 to a woman who suffered catastrophic brain injuries at age 15 at an intersection the county had been warned about for years, making it the second-largest verdict in Nassau County history.

$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.

$85 Million Verdict for a Pedestrian Run Over by a Manhattan Tour Bus

A Manhattan jury awarded $85 million to a writer and former New York Times columnist who was severely injured by a double-decker sightseeing bus while lawfully crossing the street.

$125 Million Verdict for Man Paralyzed by Drunk, Sleepless Driver in Oxnard

Francisco Briones, 21, was turning left on a green light on his way to a 5 a.m. warehouse shift in Oxnard on March 23, 2013, when Christopher Zink, drunk at 0.14 percent, awake for 24 hours and asleep at the wheel, ran a red light at about 50 mph and hit him. Briones' C4-5 vertebrae ruptured and he was paralyzed from the neck down. Zink pleaded guilty to felony DUI causing injury and went to prison for seven years; his insurer, Nationwide, had refused a timely policy-limits demand. On January 22, 2016, a Ventura County jury found Zink 100 percent at fault, found malice, and awarded $125,168,202, half of it punitive damages. The court rejected Zink's Proposition 213 motion to strip the pain-and-suffering award but reduced the judgment post-trial to about $85 million.

After trial: Reduced. The court denied the motion to eliminate the noneconomic damages and reduced the $125,168,202 verdict post-trial to approximately $85 million (Daily Journal, 2016). See more

St. Charles County Jury Awards $75 Million to the Parents of a 21-Year-Old Killed by a Driver Fleeing Police

A St. Charles County jury awarded $75 million, including $25 million in punitive damages, to the parents of Krystofer Batsell, a 21-year-old killed when a driver fleeing police at more than 100 mph crashed into his car. The defendant is serving a 15-year prison sentence for second-degree murder, and the judgment is effectively uncollectable.

After trial: The judgment is effectively uncollectable: Richardson is imprisoned, and no insurer or institutional defendant remains in the case.

Boone County Jury Returns $74 Million Verdict Against Eaton Asphalt in a Mother's Death

A Boone County jury found that Eaton Asphalt's improper repaving of Richwood Road created the edge drop-off that sent a flatbed truck into Amy Skiba's car, and awarded her three children $74 million.

Manhattan Jury Awards Former Cornell Student $71 Million After Driver Fell Asleep and Caused Head-On Crash

On September 28, 2017, a Manhattan jury awarded Morgan Wang $71 million against Neil Sexton, the driver who fell asleep at the wheel on state Route 79 in August 2012 on the way to Cornell University. Wang, a passenger, suffered a fractured back and a spinal cord injury. The award was $5 million for past pain and suffering, $6 million for future pain and suffering and $60 million for future medical care.

After trial: We found no reported appeal or post-trial reduction of the verdict. We could not confirm whether the judgment was finalized or collected.

$70 Million Platte County Record for Family of Boy Killed in I-29 Construction Zone Crash

A Platte County jury returned a record $70 million verdict after an eight-year-old boy died and his six-year-old sister was seriously injured when a distracted driver rear-ended their grandparents' car in a highway construction zone.

$65.75 Million Record Settlement for Attorney Brain-Injured When Seattle Ambulance Ran a Red Light

The City of Seattle and its five insurers paid $65.75 million to Brooke Taylor, a 38-year-old Susman Godfrey partner who suffered a catastrophic traumatic brain injury when a Seattle Fire Department aid unit went through a red light at Fourth Avenue and Seneca Street in April 2016 and struck her Porsche, spinning it into a signal box and a tree. Todd Gardner of Swanson Gardner Meyers negotiated the settlement, approved in King County Superior Court in late December 2018 and reported as the largest personal injury settlement in city history and likely the largest in Washington state.

A Two-Lane Pothole, a Rollover on I-55, and a $60 Million Settlement

Clifford Law Offices secured a $60 million settlement for Sarah Grasser, 31, left paraplegic when another driver swerved to avoid a deep pothole in an I-55 work zone and struck her car, rolling it into a ditch.

$60 Million Judgment Against a Drunk Driver Who Killed a Mother and Her Son on the I-15 Shoulder

On Halloween night 2021 Season Dow's car ran out of gas on Interstate 15 in Orem and she stopped on the shoulder with her hazard lights on. Kesley Pope, 22, driving her father's uninsured truck at about twice the legal blood alcohol limit, drove straight into it. Season Dow died at the scene and her 16-year-old son died in hospital. Pope is in prison. In June 2026, after a two-day civil trial, Judge Derek Pullan ordered her to pay the family $60,000,000.

After trial: Bench judgment after a two-day trial in April 2026, with damages ordered in June 2026. No appeal or post-judgment motion has been reported. See more