Top Individual Civil Rights Verdicts and Settlements

She Was 18 and Driving to Take the ACT. An Off-Duty Moore Police Sergeant Doing Nearly 100 in a 50 Hit Her Broadside. A Federal Jury Returned $126 Million, and Oklahoma Law Let $90,125,000 of It Stand.

On December 14, 2019 Emily Gaines, an 18-year-old Moore High School senior, was driving to take the ACT when Sgt. Kyle Lloyd of the Moore Police Department, off duty and rushing a key to another officer's patrol car for a department event, hit her broadside at 95 to 100 mph in a 50 zone. She died at the scene. On April 1, 2026 a federal jury returned $126,000,000. The court entered $90,000,000 against Lloyd, who is in prison, and cut the $36,000,000 against the City to $125,000 under Oklahoma's Governmental Tort Claims Act.

After trial: Reduced by statute, not by a court's view of the evidence. The jury's $126,000,000 verdict of April 1, 2026 was entered on April 6, 2026 as $90,000,000 against Kyle Lloyd on the Section 1983 claim and $125,000 against the City of Moore, because the Oklahoma Governmental Tort Claims Act (51 O.S. 154, in the version governing a 2019 incident) caps a city's liability at $125,000 per claimant for a non-property claim. The Act does not reach the federal claim against the officer individually, and Oklahoma's general noneconomic cap was struck down in Beason v. I.E. Miller Services in 2019 and would not have applied to a federal claim anyway. The City said it disagrees with the scope-of-employment finding and would consider appealing; as of September 2026 we have found no notice of appeal by either defendant, and if one is filed this entry will be re-tagged. Collectability: Lloyd is serving a prison sentence and no insurer is identified for the $90,000,000, so the amount ranked here is what the court ordered against him, not what the family has received. The $125,000 against the City is the only portion with an identified payer.

$45 Million New Haven Settlement for Randy Cox, Paralyzed in the Back of a Police Van, the Largest Police-Misconduct Settlement in U.S. History

Ben Crump, with Connecticut co-counsel Louis Rubano and R.J. Weber, secured a $45 million settlement from the City of New Haven for Richard "Randy" Cox, who was left paralyzed from the chest down after being thrown headfirst into the wall of a police transport van while handcuffed. At announcement it was described as the largest settlement ever reached in a U.S. police-misconduct case, surpassing the George Floyd settlement.

He Turned Himself In on a Warrant and Begged for a Doctor for Twelve Days. Jail Video Caught the Nurse Mocking Him. He Died of Septic Shock.

Terral Ellis II, 26, walked into the Ottawa County Jail voluntarily on an outstanding warrant. He developed bronchopneumonia and spent twelve days asking for medical care for seizures, sweating and pain. Jail video captured staff and the jail nurse mocking him. He died of septic shock on October 22, 2015.

After trial: Affirmed in full. The jury returned $33,000,000 in compensatory damages on September 8, 2023 after an eight-day trial in the Northern District of Oklahoma, No. 4:17-cv-00325. Ottawa County filed several post-judgment motions, all denied, and the Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court in full on April 21, 2026 in Nos. 24-5035 and 24-5080, in a published opinion by Judge Rossman joined by Chief Judge Holmes and Judge McHugh. We publish the $33,000,000 compensatory award. Local reporting puts the amount owed at roughly $40,000,000 once post-judgment interest is included, and we do not publish that figure as the award. Collection is a live question rather than a doubt about liability: the judgment is against a county, and in August 2026 Ottawa County put a sales-tax increase to its voters to fund it. On caps: the Oklahoma Governmental Tort Claims Act limits recovery against a county on state-law claims, but this was a Fourteenth Amendment deliberate-indifference claim against the Sheriff in his official capacity under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which the Act does not reach.

$33 Million Verdict for Physician Handcuffed During LAPD Traffic Stop in Budget Rental Car

A Haitian-American urological surgeon was subjected to a felony-level takedown on the Santa Monica Freeway after LAPD ran the plates on his rental car and received a stolen-vehicle alert caused by Budget Rent-A-Car's own plate error.

An Inmate Serving Double Life Buzzed Himself Out of His Own Locked Pod and Into Another. He Beat and Choked a Man for Three and a Half Minutes While No Staff Came.

At CoreCivic's Crossroads Correctional Center in Shelby, Montana, an inmate serving a double life sentence let himself out of his own locked pod and into Nathaniel Lake's, then beat and choked him for more than three and a half minutes with no staff intervention. Lake was in a coma for 33 days and has a permanent brain injury.

After trial: Treat this as a verdict on appeal, not as money received. A unanimous jury in the District of Montana, Great Falls Division, returned $27,750,000 on April 24, 2025, widely reported as $28 million, and no reduction has been reported. CoreCivic stated on April 25, 2025 that it would appeal on several legal grounds. We found no post-trial ruling and no appellate decision as of September 3, 2026. The action was originally filed in Toole County District Court in December 2021 and reached federal court from there; the docket number was not obtained because CourtListener and govinfo were both rate-limited during this research. On caps, the single most important structural fact is that none applies, because CoreCivic is a private corporation: MCA section 2-9-108's $750,000 per claim and $1.5 million per occurrence limit is available only to governmental entities, as is the correctional-facility immunity in the same section, which in any event excepts serious bodily injury. An identical injury in a state-run Montana prison would have been capped at $750,000. The liability finding is federal, under 42 U.S.C. section 1983 and the Eighth Amendment, so Montana's punitive cap in section 27-1-220(3) would not govern any punitive component, and no punitive and compensatory split was reported.

$27 Million Minneapolis Settlement for the Family of George Floyd, the Largest Pretrial Civil Rights Wrongful-Death Settlement in U.S. History

Ben Crump, with co-counsel Antonio Romanucci and L. Chris Stewart, negotiated a $27 million settlement between the family of George Floyd and the City of Minneapolis, announced by the family's lawyers as the largest pretrial settlement of a civil rights wrongful-death claim in American history. The city council approved the payment unanimously in March 2021, while jury selection in Derek Chauvin's murder trial was underway blocks away.

Army Veteran Paralyzed at Police Traffic Stop Wins $20 Million Settlement from Yuba City

Gregory Gross, an Army veteran, was left paralyzed after Yuba City officers slammed him to the ground during a 2020 traffic stop, breaking his neck; Moseley Collins secured a $20 million settlement in July 2023.

Minneapolis Pays $20 Million to the Family of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, Killed in Her Own Alley by the Officer She Had Called for Help

Justine Ruszczyk Damond called 911 to report a woman screaming behind her house, then walked out in her pajamas to meet the squad car. Officer Mohamed Noor shot her from the passenger seat. Minneapolis settled with her family for $20 million in May 2019, more than four times the largest police payout in the city's history.

After trial: Settlement agreed and approved; the civil case is final and was paid in full. The family directed $2 million of the $20 million to the Minneapolis Foundation's Fund for Safe Communities. Officer Noor's separate criminal conviction for third-degree murder was reversed by the Minnesota Supreme Court in September 2021, which had no effect on the settlement.

Arrested for Cursing in a Doughnut Shop, He Was Pepper-Sprayed, Slammed Head-First Into the Floor and Left 90 Minutes Where No Camera Could See. The Coroner Called It Homicide. A Monroe Jury Returned $42.75 Million; the Court Cut It to $16.7 Million, and Both Sides Are Appealing.

Erie Moore Sr., 57, a mill worker with no criminal record, was arrested on October 12, 2015 for disturbing the peace at a Monroe doughnut shop and taken to Richwood Correctional Center, a private jail LaSalle Corrections ran for the city. Over about 36 hours guards pepper-sprayed him repeatedly, struck him on the head, slammed him head-first into the floor, and left him roughly 90 minutes in an area with no cameras and no medical check. He died on November 14, 2015 of a brain hematoma; the parish coroner ruled it a homicide. On October 20, 2025 a federal jury awarded his three children $42,750,000. In May and June 2026 the court remitted it to $16,741,148.84 with a further fault reduction, and both sides appealed.

After trial: On appeal by both sides, so nothing here is final. The October 20, 2025 verdict was $42,750,000 ($19,500,000 compensatory including $6,000,000 in wrongful-death damages to each of three children, plus $23,250,000 punitive), with fault 88 percent to the defendants, 10 percent to the City of Monroe and 2 percent to the decedent. On May 7, 2026 (Doc. 737) the court remitted wrongful-death damages to $3,080,382.95 per plaintiff and cut punitive damages to $6,000,000 as constitutionally excessive. On June 17, 2026 (Doc. 756) it stated the revised judgment as $16,741,148.84 and held the 12 percent comparative-fault reduction also applies to the remitted wrongful-death award, giving $2,710,737.99 per plaintiff, and set aside the plaintiffs' earlier acceptance so they could accept or reject that figure; a rejection would mean a new trial on wrongful-death damages alone. Both sides have noticed appeals to the Fifth Circuit. The figure ranked here is the court's own stated revised judgment; after the 12 percent reduction the total is lower, roughly $15.6 million by arithmetic, and it may change again. Collectability: no payment has been reported, so the disclosure stays at not public. Attribution: Nelson W. Cameron's website is no longer online, so his practice is a record-only entry here with no profile page.

Her Father Called for Help With Her Addiction. She Died of Dehydration in the Jail, and the Physician Assistant Did Not Come Until She Had Been Dead Twelve Hours.

Madison Jensen, 21, was booked into the Duchesne County Jail in 2016 after her father contacted authorities for help with her heroin addiction and suicidal thoughts. Over four days of withdrawal she could not keep food or water down. She died of severe dehydration. The jury found the county had failed to train its staff or set any protocol for inmate medical problems.

After trial: On appeal, and this figure is not final. The jury returned $15,007,508.45 on April 18, 2025, allocated $14,957,508.45 against Duchesne County and $50,000 against Nurse Jana Clyde. Duchesne County commissioners were publicly weighing an appeal when the verdict came in and they filed one: Estate of Madison Jody Jensen v. Duchesne County, Tenth Circuit No. 25-4060, docketed May 16, 2025. Because this is a claim under 42 U.S.C. 1983, Utah's Governmental Immunity Act cap in Utah Code 63G-7-604 does not apply and the full figure was enterable, but the appeal is live and the number should be read as a verdict rather than a recovery. The same case had already been to the Tenth Circuit once before trial, as Estate of Madison Jody Jensen v. Clyde, No. 20-4024 (Mar. 2, 2021).

Scott County Pays $12.2 Million After Jail Staff Let an Infection Go Untreated Until Both of a Man's Arms Had to Be Amputated

Terrance Winborn was booked into the Scott County Jail on a suspected DUI. A bacterial infection went untreated in custody until it caused septic shock, a heart attack and gangrene, and surgeons amputated both of his arms below the elbows. The county and its insurer settled his Section 1983 claim for $12.2 million.

After trial: Settlement paid and the lawsuit dismissed; final. Split $10.2 million from Scott County and $2 million from the Minnesota Counties Intergovernmental Trust. Counsel described it as the largest settlement of its kind in Minnesota to date, a characterization we have not independently confirmed.

$12 Million Settlement and Sweeping Police Reforms for the Family of Breonna Taylor, Killed in a Botched Louisville Raid

Ben Crump, alongside Louisville co-counsel Sam Aguiar and Lonita Baker, settled the wrongful-death lawsuit brought by Breonna Taylor's mother against the City of Louisville for $12 million, the largest police-misconduct payout in the city's history, paired with a package of policing reforms the family made a non-negotiable condition of the deal.

$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.

$10 Million Settlement From the City of Columbus for the Family of Andre Hill, an Unarmed Man Shot by Police While Holding His Cellphone

A legal team led by Ben Crump negotiated a $10 million settlement between the City of Columbus and the family of Andre Hill, an unarmed 47-year-old Black man fatally shot by officer Adam Coy while walking out of a garage holding his cellphone. The city council's May 2021 approval made it the largest settlement in Columbus history.

He Broke His Neck Shortly After Booking and Was Paralysed From the Chest Down. He Was Left Naked on a Cell Floor for Days. A Federal Judge Called the Cell His Burial Crypt.

Elliott Earl Williams, 37, was arrested in Owasso on an obstruction complaint in October 2011. Shortly after booking at the Tulsa County Jail he suffered a severe neck injury that paralysed him from the chest down. He was left on the floor of a medical-unit cell, unable to move, for days, and died of complications of the untreated injury and dehydration.

After trial: Paid, and the figure published is the money received rather than the verdict. The jury returned $10,250,000, being $10,000,000 in compensatory damages against Sheriffs Glanz and Regalado and $250,000 in punitive damages against Glanz individually. The Tenth Circuit affirmed liability and the awards on August 20, 2019 in Burke v. Regalado, 935 F.3d 960, Nos. 18-5042 and 18-5043, remanding only on whether the defendants could set off the estate's earlier settlement with the jail's medical provider. Instead of litigating the setoff the parties settled, and Tulsa County paid the estate $10,000,000 in 2019. We publish $10,000,000 as the recovery and the $10,250,000 verdict as the gross. On caps: this was a federal claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, so the Oklahoma Governmental Tort Claims Act limits on county liability did not apply.

$10 Million Settlement After a 26-Year-Old Woman Died of Dehydration During Untreated Heroin Withdrawal in the Washington County Jail

The parents of Madaline Pitkin, who died in the Washington County Jail in Hillsboro, Oregon in 2014 while going through untreated heroin withdrawal, recovered a $10 million settlement from Washington County and its jail medical contractor, Corizon Health, after a federal judge approved the deal in December 2018.

After trial: The case settled before trial. A federal judge approved the $10 million settlement, split between Washington County and Corizon Health, on December 7, 2018.

Connecticut Pays $9 Million, Its Largest Settlement Ever to One Person, for the Videotaped Abuse of a Patient at Its Maximum-Security Psychiatric Hospital

W.S., a profoundly mentally ill man committed to Whiting Forensic Hospital in Middletown, Connecticut since 1995, was kicked, hit, doused with liquids, pelted with food, made to wear a diaper on his head and sexually humiliated by the nurses and aides paid to care for him. Hospital cameras captured more than 50 incidents in 24 days in early 2017. Nearly 40 employees were fired, ten were arrested, nine were convicted and eight went to prison. His brother and conservator sued the state in 2018, and in June 2022, after the legislature signed off, Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis approved a $9 million settlement that his lawyer said was the largest the state had ever paid a single person. The state also waived more than $8 million in custody charges and agreed to keep him under constant video monitoring.

After trial: The $9,000,000 was approved by the legislature's Judiciary Committee in April 2022 and by Judge Barbara Bellis on June 28, 2022, and is paid by the State of Connecticut. The settlement also waived more than $8,000,000 in state custody charges and imposed ongoing video monitoring. Separate settlements by a former Whiting official and by the individual federal-court defendants were for undisclosed amounts and are not included in the ranked figure.

Jailers Beat a Handcuffed Man on Camera in the Intake Room, Then Left Him on the Floor for Seven Hours. A Federal Jury Awarded $6 Million.

Nathan Ling was handcuffed in the intake room of the Campbell County jail when officers beat him, breaking bones in his face and an arm, collapsing a lung and causing permanent brain damage. He was left on a concrete floor for about seven hours without treatment. A federal jury found the county liable for failing to train its jailers to intervene.

After trial: The $6,000,000 is a federal Section 1983 verdict, so Tennessee's statutory cap on noneconomic damages does not apply to it and no reduction was available on that ground. One Sixth Circuit appeal appears on the record, No. 24-5051, but it was an interlocutory appeal noticed by Deputy Dakota Williams and docketed on January 16, 2024, before the trial verdict; it was terminated on January 22, 2024 on the parties' stipulation under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 42(b), with no mandate issuing. We found no appeal of the verdict itself and no post-trial ruling reducing it.

Jury Awards $29 Million Against Oregon's Child Welfare Agency Over a Hotline Call That Went Nowhere, but a State Damages Cap Cuts It to $4.2 Million

A Multnomah County jury found the Oregon Department of Human Services liable for a child's catastrophic brain injury after a hospital's hotline report of suspected abuse was mishandled and the child was returned home, where he suffered suboxone poisoning and severe abuse nine days later, awarding $29 million that Oregon's tort claims cap reduces to $4.2 million.

After trial: Oregon's public-body tort claims cap limits what the family can actually recover to $4.2 million, regardless of the jury's $29 million verdict. No appeal has been reported as of this writing.

$4.05 Million From Maricopa County After a Man in Mental Health Crisis Was Restrained Face-Down and Left Unattended in a Jail Cell

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors approved a $4,050,000 settlement with the family of Akeem Terrell, a 31-year-old man who died in a county jail cell on New Year's Day 2021 after Phoenix police and sheriff's detention officers restrained him face-down and then left him motionless on the floor without checking on him.

After trial: This settlement resolves the claims against Maricopa County only. The City of Phoenix separately settled its own portion of the case for $800,000; the two payments involved different defendants and different conduct and should not be combined into a single figure.