Top Individual Delaware Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements
The 10 largest individual personal injury results in Delaware on record here, ranked by amount: one client's, one family's, or one incident's recovery, never a pooled fund. Each links to the full story, the firm, and the record behind the number.
Browse personal injury lawyers in Delaware →- $63 millionVerdictPremises Liability
Delaware Jury Returns $63 Million Verdict Against Defrocked Priest and Parish in Landmark Clergy Abuse Case
A Kent County jury awarded John Vai $63 million against defrocked priest Francis DeLuca and St. Elizabeth's Parish in Wilmington after finding both liable for childhood sexual abuse that began in the 1960s, producing what victim advocates called the largest compensatory verdict in U.S. clergy abuse history and the first time an individual parish was held accountable.
- $13 millionVerdictWrongful Death
Sussex County Jury Awards $13 Million After Alzheimer's Patient Is Found Locked in Nursing Home Freezer
Julie Bailey, a 60-year-old woman with Alzheimer's disease, was found locked in the kitchen freezer room of the Lewes Convalescent Center hours after she was admitted in December 2002, and she died on January 21, 2003. A Sussex County jury awarded $13 million in compensatory damages to her estate, her husband and her three sons in March 2005. The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the judgment in 2006.
After trial: The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the verdict in 2006 and the trial court had denied a new trial or remittitur. The punitive damages claim was settled during trial for an amount that was not reported.
- $9.13 millionVerdictReduced from $41.6 millionPaidProduct Liability
New Mexico Mechanic's Mesothelioma Death Brings $9.125 Million Judgment Against Ford
Larry Knecht, a lifelong auto mechanic in Los Alamos, New Mexico, developed mesothelioma from working with Ford's asbestos-containing brakes and clutches and died in December 2014, more than three years before his case reached trial. His widow, Paula Knecht, tried the failure-to-warn claim to a Delaware jury in 2018 against Ford, the only defendant left of the eighteen originally sued. The jury set total compensatory damages at $40,625,000, assigned Ford 20 percent of the fault among twenty compared parties, and added $1,000,000 in punitive damages, putting Ford's total liability at $9,125,000. Ford's appeal reached the Delaware Supreme Court, which sent the case back on a legal technicality about how to measure an excessive verdict, but the trial judge again found the underlying figure sound and the number held. Final judgment of $9,125,000 plus interest was entered in November 2020, and Ford dropped its remaining appeal three months later.
After trial: Reduced and paid. Ford's appeal did not change the amount because the trial judge again found no remittitur warranted, and judgment was entered November 2, 2020 for $9,125,000 plus 15 percent post-judgment interest.
- $9,000,000 plus prejudgment interest (on appeal)VerdictOn appealProduct Liability
First Shotgun-Shell Asbestos Verdict in History: $9 Million for Illinois Farmer Who Died of Mesothelioma
A Delaware jury returned a unanimous $9 million verdict on July 23, 2025, in the first case ever tried over asbestos-contaminated shotgun shells, holding DuPont and Remington's successor liable for the mesothelioma death of Eugene Schoepke, an 84-year-old Illinois farmer and lifelong hunter.
After trial: On appeal. The jury returned $9,000,000 on July 23, 2025, and judgment was entered August 1, 2025 with prejudgment interest added in an amended judgment on March 24, 2026.
Cooney & Conway and Jacobs & Crumplar2025 · Delaware Superior Court, New Castle County (asbestos docket); on appeal, Delaware Supreme CourtRead the full story → - $2.4 millionVerdictPremises Liability
Federal Jury Awards $2.4 Million to Survivor of Six-Year Clergy Abuse by Marist Brother Damian Galligan
A Delaware federal jury awarded Brian Elliott $2.4 million in November 2013 after finding Marist Brother Damian Galligan liable for repeated sexual abuse that began when Elliott was eight years old.
- $2.39 millionVerdictCar Accidents
$2.39 Million Verdict for Woman Struck at Poorly Signed Country Club Exit
Robert Pasquale secured a $2.39 million jury verdict for Cynthia Cowee after a truck struck her vehicle as she exited a Wilmington Country Club driveway onto Route 52, with the Delaware Supreme Court ultimately reinstating that award after the trial court had ordered a second trial.
The Law Offices of Doroshow, Pasquale, Krawitz & Bhaya1998 · New Castle County Superior Court (Delaware), affirmed Delaware Supreme Court 2000Read the full story → - $1.775 million to the injured ironworker (plus a $500K consortium award later reduced on remittitur)VerdictWorkplace Injury
$1.775 Million Verdict for Ironworker Who Fell From Unprotected Steel Frame at Delaware Construction Site
Arthur Krawitz won a $1.775 million federal jury verdict for a 59-year-old ironworker who suffered spinal and wrist fractures after falling from open steel framing at a Delaware construction site where no fall protection had been provided. The jury added $500,000 on his wife's consortium claim, which the court later reduced on remittitur.
After trial: This is not a reduction of the $1,775,000 the injured ironworker recovered, which stands. A separate $500,000 loss-of-consortium award to his wife was later reduced on remittitur.
The Law Offices of Doroshow, Pasquale, Krawitz & Bhaya2001 · U.S. District Court for the District of DelawareRead the full story → - $1.6 millionVerdictProduct Liability
Delaware Jury Awards $1.6 Million Over Fatal Kia Seat Belt Defect
On March 7, 2015, Ludmilla Permint was driving a 2014 Kia Soul in Sussex County when another vehicle struck it, and her husband Charles Permint, 74, seated in the front passenger seat, suffered fatal blunt chest trauma. The Permint family sued Kia Motors Corporation, Kia Motors America, and the dealership defendants, arguing a defective seat belt and restraint system let him strike the dashboard on impact. After a two-week trial in Delaware Superior Court, a jury found Kia negligent in the design of the restraint system and negligent in failing to warn of the risk, and awarded $1,600,000 in compensatory damages, apportioned among his widow, son, daughter, and granddaughter. The court denied Kia's post-trial motion for judgment as a matter of law or a new trial and the same day granted the family prejudgment interest of $647,276.67, bringing the total judgment to roughly $2.25 million.
After trial: Plus $647,276.67 in prejudgment interest and post-judgment interest at $241.10 per day; the total judgment was approximately $2.25 million.
- $1.37 millionVerdictReduced from $1.7 millionWrongful Death
Nine-Year-Old Killed on Seaford Road Leads to $1.37 Million Verdict
In April 2018, a nine-year-old girl was struck and killed by a passing car after crossing German Road in Seaford, Delaware, to check the mail. The driver, Dwayne McConnell, admitted he was inattentive and fled the scene; the girl had been in the care of her mother's boyfriend, Bryan Winder, while her mother was at work. A Sussex County jury found the girl was not negligent, split fault 90 percent to McConnell and 10 percent to Winder, and returned a verdict of $1,718,069.44 for her mother and her estate. The trial judge later set aside $350,000 of that award for the estate's conscious pain and suffering claim, leaving a judgment of $1,368,069.44 plus interest. Winder's first attempt to appeal was dismissed as premature in January 2026, without prejudice to a new appeal once a final judgment is entered.
After trial: Reduced. In December 2025 the trial court vacated the $350,000 pain and suffering award, reducing the $1,718,069.44 verdict to a $1,368,069.44 judgment plus interest.
- $1.05 millionSettlementCivil Rights
New Castle County Pays $1.05 Million to Settle Federal Suit Over Fatal 2021 Police Shooting of Lymond Moses
New Castle County police officers shot and killed Lymond Moses, 30, in a Wilmington neighborhood on January 13, 2021. His sister sued the county in federal court as administrator of his estate. In July 2023, after summary-judgment briefing and before any trial, the county agreed to pay $1.05 million, with all claims against the officers dismissed and no admission of liability.
After trial: The case settled before trial after summary-judgment briefing, so there was no verdict or appeal. The $1.05 million is the gross payment, which includes attorney fees, and the estate's net has not been reported.
All Delaware verdicts and settlements
12 results, largest first
Schochor, Federico and Staton, P.A. represented the largest single group of plaintiffs in a $123 million class-action settlement against Beebe Medical Center for institutional failures that allowed pediatrician Earl Bradley to abuse hundreds of children over 15 years.
Thomas Crumplar and co-counsel secured a $77.425 million trust for 146 survivors of clergy sexual abuse as part of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington's Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2011.
A Kent County jury awarded John Vai $63 million against defrocked priest Francis DeLuca and St. Elizabeth's Parish in Wilmington after finding both liable for childhood sexual abuse that began in the 1960s, producing what victim advocates called the largest compensatory verdict in U.S. clergy abuse history and the first time an individual parish was held accountable.
Julie Bailey, a 60-year-old woman with Alzheimer's disease, was found locked in the kitchen freezer room of the Lewes Convalescent Center hours after she was admitted in December 2002, and she died on January 21, 2003. A Sussex County jury awarded $13 million in compensatory damages to her estate, her husband and her three sons in March 2005. The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the judgment in 2006.
Larry Knecht, a lifelong auto mechanic in Los Alamos, New Mexico, developed mesothelioma from working with Ford's asbestos-containing brakes and clutches and died in December 2014, more than three years before his case reached trial. His widow, Paula Knecht, tried the failure-to-warn claim to a Delaware jury in 2018 against Ford, the only defendant left of the eighteen originally sued. The jury set total compensatory damages at $40,625,000, assigned Ford 20 percent of the fault among twenty compared parties, and added $1,000,000 in punitive damages, putting Ford's total liability at $9,125,000. Ford's appeal reached the Delaware Supreme Court, which sent the case back on a legal technicality about how to measure an excessive verdict, but the trial judge again found the underlying figure sound and the number held. Final judgment of $9,125,000 plus interest was entered in November 2020, and Ford dropped its remaining appeal three months later.
A Delaware jury returned a unanimous $9 million verdict on July 23, 2025, in the first case ever tried over asbestos-contaminated shotgun shells, holding DuPont and Remington's successor liable for the mesothelioma death of Eugene Schoepke, an 84-year-old Illinois farmer and lifelong hunter.
A Delaware federal jury awarded Brian Elliott $2.4 million in November 2013 after finding Marist Brother Damian Galligan liable for repeated sexual abuse that began when Elliott was eight years old.
Robert Pasquale secured a $2.39 million jury verdict for Cynthia Cowee after a truck struck her vehicle as she exited a Wilmington Country Club driveway onto Route 52, with the Delaware Supreme Court ultimately reinstating that award after the trial court had ordered a second trial.
Arthur Krawitz won a $1.775 million federal jury verdict for a 59-year-old ironworker who suffered spinal and wrist fractures after falling from open steel framing at a Delaware construction site where no fall protection had been provided. The jury added $500,000 on his wife's consortium claim, which the court later reduced on remittitur.
On March 7, 2015, Ludmilla Permint was driving a 2014 Kia Soul in Sussex County when another vehicle struck it, and her husband Charles Permint, 74, seated in the front passenger seat, suffered fatal blunt chest trauma. The Permint family sued Kia Motors Corporation, Kia Motors America, and the dealership defendants, arguing a defective seat belt and restraint system let him strike the dashboard on impact. After a two-week trial in Delaware Superior Court, a jury found Kia negligent in the design of the restraint system and negligent in failing to warn of the risk, and awarded $1,600,000 in compensatory damages, apportioned among his widow, son, daughter, and granddaughter. The court denied Kia's post-trial motion for judgment as a matter of law or a new trial and the same day granted the family prejudgment interest of $647,276.67, bringing the total judgment to roughly $2.25 million.
In April 2018, a nine-year-old girl was struck and killed by a passing car after crossing German Road in Seaford, Delaware, to check the mail. The driver, Dwayne McConnell, admitted he was inattentive and fled the scene; the girl had been in the care of her mother's boyfriend, Bryan Winder, while her mother was at work. A Sussex County jury found the girl was not negligent, split fault 90 percent to McConnell and 10 percent to Winder, and returned a verdict of $1,718,069.44 for her mother and her estate. The trial judge later set aside $350,000 of that award for the estate's conscious pain and suffering claim, leaving a judgment of $1,368,069.44 plus interest. Winder's first attempt to appeal was dismissed as premature in January 2026, without prejudice to a new appeal once a final judgment is entered.
New Castle County police officers shot and killed Lymond Moses, 30, in a Wilmington neighborhood on January 13, 2021. His sister sued the county in federal court as administrator of his estate. In July 2023, after summary-judgment briefing and before any trial, the county agreed to pay $1.05 million, with all claims against the officers dismissed and no admission of liability.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.