Top Individual Florida Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements
The 20 largest individual personal injury results in Florida 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 Florida →- $1.02 billionSettlementWrongful Death
A $1.02 Billion Settlement for the Families of the Surfside Condo Collapse
After Champlain Towers South collapsed in the middle of the night and killed 98 people, Curtis Miner of Colson Hicks Eidson served as court-appointed liaison counsel for the wrongful death and personal injury claimants, part of a leadership team that reached a roughly $1.02 billion class settlement.
After trial: Court-approved settlement fund for the 98 wrongful death claims from the collapse; with property claims the full program totaled about $1.2 billion.
- $1 billionVerdictTruck Accidents
Nassau County Jury Returns $1 Billion in I-95 Crash That Killed UNF Freshman Connor Dzion
A Nassau County jury found two trucking companies responsible for the 2017 chain-reaction crash on I-95 near Yulee that killed 18-year-old Connor Dzion, returning a $1 billion verdict that Curry Pajcic won for the teen's parents.
After trial: Most of the award fell on a carrier that did not defend the case and carried a $1 million policy; the bulk of the verdict is uncollectable.
- $844 millionSettlementWrongful Death
Chapecoense Soccer Team Crash: $844 Million in Judgments for 43 Families
Steven Marks and Kristina Infante of Podhurst Orseck secured a combined $844 million in wrongful-death judgments for 43 families of passengers killed when LaMia Flight 2933 crashed near Medellin, Colombia, in November 2016, killing 71 of the 77 people aboard.
After trial: Combined judgments and settlements for the families of 43 victims of a single crash, not one plaintiff's award.
- $330 millionVerdictWrongful Death
Hernando County Jury Awards $330 Million in DUI Wrongful Death of 13-Year-Old
A Hernando County jury returned a $330 million verdict for Angela Stone after a drunk driver ran a stop sign and fatally struck a minivan carrying her 13-year-old daughter.
After trial: The verdict is against an individual drunk driver and is largely uncollectable.
- $262 millionSettlementWrongful Death
ValuJet Flight 592: $262 Million for 110 Everglades Crash Victims
Steven Marks of Podhurst Orseck served as lead liaison counsel for the state-court plaintiffs and on the federal MDL Plaintiffs' Steering Committee, helping recover more than $262 million across insurance settlements for the families of the 110 people killed in the May 1996 crash.
After trial: Combined settlements for the families of the 110 people killed in the crash.
- $243 millionVerdictWrongful Death
Federal Jury Returns $243 Million Verdict Against Tesla in First Autopilot Wrongful Death Trial
A Miami federal jury found Tesla 33% liable for a 2019 Key Largo crash that killed a 22-year-old woman and severely injured her boyfriend, awarding $243 million including $200 million in punitive damages in the first federal trial over a fatal Autopilot accident.
After trial: The trial court upheld the verdict in February 2026; Tesla has appealed to the Eleventh Circuit.
- $216.8 millionVerdictMedical Malpractice
$216.8 Million Verdict for Stroke Patient Misdiagnosed as Sinusitis
A Hillsborough County jury awarded $216.8 million to Allan Navarro after an emergency room misdiagnosed his stroke as sinusitis, leaving him permanently paralyzed. It was the largest medical malpractice verdict in Florida history at the time.
After trial: The case settled confidentially in March 2007, before appellate review.
- $200 millionVerdictWrongful Death
Jury Awards $200 Million to Children of Slain Tampa-Area Doctor in Civil Murder Case Against His Wife
A Pinellas County civil jury found Rebecca Schwartz liable for the 2014 murder of her husband, kidney specialist Dr. Steven Schwartz, and awarded his three children $200 million in one of the largest wrongful death verdicts in Florida history.
After trial: The judgment is against an individual defendant; collection is doubtful.
- $141.5 millionVerdictTruck Accidents
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.
- $127.5 millionSettlementWrongful Death
$127.5 Million DOJ Settlement for Parkland Families After FBI Failed to Act on Tip About the Shooter
Stuart Grossman, Neal Roth, and Alex Arteaga-Gomez of Grossman Roth Yaffa Cohen represented families in the $127.5 million federal settlement arising from the FBI's failure to follow up on a tip warning that Nikolas Cruz was planning a school shooting five weeks before the February 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre.
- $120 millionVerdictCar Accidents
$120 Million Verdict for Man Paralyzed When Gainesville Utility Truck Ran a Stop Sign
A Morgan & Morgan trial team won a $120 million Alachua County verdict for Jacob Rodgers, paralyzed at 20 when a Gainesville Regional Utilities driver ran a stop sign and broadsided the pickup he was riding in. After appeals and remittitur cut the judgment to $18.3 million, the case settled for $11 million, most of it paid through a Florida legislative claims bill that became law in 2025.
After trial: Under Florida comparative fault rules the court entered an $18.3 million judgment, and in November 2023 an appeals court ordered a new trial. Recovery from the city above $200,000 also requires a legislative claims bill.
- $100 millionVerdictWrongful Death
$100 Million Verdict for Family of Former Florida Senator's Son Shot Dead in Negligently Secured Condo
A Miami-Dade jury awarded $100 million to former Florida state senator Daphne Campbell for the death of her son Jason, shot while sleeping at the Monte Carlo Condominium after an intruder walked in through failed security. Morgan & Morgan attorneys Thomas Hasty, Grant Gillenwater, Chuck Fernandez, and Patrick Chucri tried the negligent security case with co-counsel from Ver Ploeg & Marino.
- $100 millionVerdictMedical Malpractice
$100 Million Verdict for Toddler Permanently Injured by Doctor Who Operated Ten Days After License Was Revoked
A Palm Beach County jury awarded $100 million to a toddler left permanently injured after Dr. Berto Lopez performed a circumcision ten days after the Florida Board of Medicine revoked his license.
- $95 millionVerdictCar Accidents
Miami-Dade Jury Awards $95 Million After Drunk Driver Overserved at a Miami Bar Kills Daughter and Catastrophically Injures Son
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.
- $90.8 millionVerdictProduct Liability
$90.8 Million Verdict Against R.J. Reynolds for Widow of Lifelong Smoker Who Died of Lung Cancer
Morgan & Morgan trial lawyers Keith Mitnik and Gregory Prysock won a $90.8 million jury verdict against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco for Lyantie Townsend, whose husband Frank died of lung cancer after smoking since age 13. The award, $10.8 million compensatory plus $80 million punitive, was later reduced through appeals to a final judgment of $25.5 million, which stood.
- $80 millionVerdictWrongful Death
$80 Million Federal Judgment for Cuban Workers Forced Into Slave Labor at Curaçao Drydock
Stuart Grossman and Seth Miles won an $80 million federal default judgment for three Cuban nationals who were trafficked to Curaçao and compelled to work 16-hour shifts repairing ships for a fraction of a cent per hour under the Alien Tort Claims Act.
Grossman Yaffa Cohen2008 · U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida (Miami)Read the full story → - $76.8 millionVerdictWrongful Death
Tampa Jury Awards $76.8 Million to Family of Mother Killed by Driver Released From DUI Arrest Hours Before Crash
A Hillsborough County jury awarded $76.8 million in compensatory damages to the family of Dana Maria Rivera, a 36-year-old mother of four killed on February 28, 2025, when Nicholas Betancourt, released from a DUI arrest that same morning, crossed the center line on Gunn Highway in Odessa while impaired by cocaine and methamphetamine.
- $65.1 millionVerdictWrongful Death
Miami-Dade Jury Returns $65.1 Million for a Boy Killed at a Negligently Wired Bus Shelter
A Miami-Dade jury found Eller Media liable for the 1998 electrocution of a 12-year-old boy at a bus shelter wired by unlicensed electricians and awarded $65.1 million.
- $64.5 millionVerdictWorkplace Injury
Hillsborough Jury Awards $64.5 Million to Worker Crushed by Collapsing Building at Mosaic Mine Site
A Hillsborough County jury returned a $64.5 million verdict for Robert Matthews, a young construction worker left permanently disabled after an 11,000-pound prefabricated building shifted and collapsed on him at a Mosaic fertilizer company mine site.
- $60.9 millionVerdictMedical Malpractice
A Brain-Injured Baby at a Navy Hospital and a Record $60.9 Million Federal Tort Claims Award
A federal judge found the Navy's Jacksonville hospital liable for the brain injury of a baby born in distress and entered a $60.9 million award, then the largest Federal Tort Claims Act recovery in the country, before part of it was cut on appeal.
All Florida verdicts and settlements
87 results, largest first
C. Steven Yerrid, the youngest of Florida's 11-lawyer 'Dream Team,' added racketeering and conspiracy charges that tripled the damages ceiling, helping the state secure what was then the largest civil settlement in American history against the tobacco industry.
Michael C. Maher's firm, Maher, Gibson & Guiley, P.A., was one of eleven private law firms appointed to the state's Peoples' Trial Advocates in Florida's Medicaid cost-recovery lawsuit against the major cigarette manufacturers, which produced an $11.3 billion settlement, the largest tobacco recovery by a single state in U.S. history at the time.
Wayne Hogan served on the private-counsel team that secured a then-record $11.3 billion settlement from five major cigarette manufacturers, reimbursing Florida's Medicaid program for decades of smoking-related medical costs.
Court-appointed Chair Lead Counsel Peter Prieto of Podhurst Orseck coordinated the nation's largest automotive defect MDL, securing more than $1.5 billion in settlements from seven automakers for tens of millions of vehicle owners harmed by defective Takata airbag inflators.
Court-appointed co-chair lead counsel Ricardo Martinez-Cid of Podhurst Orseck helped secure over $1 billion for the families of 98 people killed in the June 2021 Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside, Florida, with final approval reached in under a year.
Rachel Furst of Grossman Roth Yaffa Cohen served as co-chair of the plaintiffs' team that secured a $1.2 billion settlement for the families of 98 people killed when Champlain Towers South collapsed in Surfside, Florida -- the largest construction-disaster settlement in U.S. history.
Saltz Mongeluzzi and Bendesky joined the plaintiffs' leadership team that secured a $1.2 billion settlement for the families and survivors of 98 people killed when Champlain Towers South collapsed in Surfside, Florida on June 24, 2021 -- the largest construction-disaster settlement in U.S. history.
Judd Rosen served as court-appointed lead attorney for the wrongful death and non-owner victim class in the Champlain Towers South collapse litigation, helping secure a $1.2 billion global settlement for the families of the 98 people killed when the Surfside, Florida condominium tower fell on June 24, 2021.
After Champlain Towers South collapsed in the middle of the night and killed 98 people, Curtis Miner of Colson Hicks Eidson served as court-appointed liaison counsel for the wrongful death and personal injury claimants, part of a leadership team that reached a roughly $1.02 billion class settlement.
A Nassau County jury found two trucking companies responsible for the 2017 chain-reaction crash on I-95 near Yulee that killed 18-year-old Connor Dzion, returning a $1 billion verdict that Curry Pajcic won for the teen's parents.
Steven Marks and Kristina Infante of Podhurst Orseck secured a combined $844 million in wrongful-death judgments for 43 families of passengers killed when LaMia Flight 2933 crashed near Medellin, Colombia, in November 2016, killing 71 of the 77 people aboard.
Todd Smith served as co-lead counsel on the economic loss track of the Takata airbag MDL, helping secure a combined $702.7 million class settlement from Honda ($605 million) and Nissan ($97.7 million), approved by Judge Federico Moreno in March 2018.
A Miami federal court entered a roughly $440 million judgment against Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and MSC for using port terminals Cuba confiscated in 1960, a result the Supreme Court reinstated by a vote of 8 to 1 in 2026.
Aaron Podhurst served as lead class counsel in a $410 million settlement resolving claims that Bank of America systematically manipulated the order of debit card transactions to drive up overdraft fees charged to more than 13 million customers.
A Hernando County jury returned a $330 million verdict for Angela Stone after a drunk driver ran a stop sign and fatally struck a minivan carrying her 13-year-old daughter.
Steven Marks of Podhurst Orseck served as lead liaison counsel for the state-court plaintiffs and on the federal MDL Plaintiffs' Steering Committee, helping recover more than $262 million across insurance settlements for the families of the 110 people killed in the May 1996 crash.
A Miami federal jury found Tesla 33% liable for a 2019 Key Largo crash that killed a 22-year-old woman and severely injured her boyfriend, awarding $243 million including $200 million in punitive damages in the first federal trial over a fatal Autopilot accident.
A Hillsborough County jury awarded $216.8 million to Allan Navarro after an emergency room misdiagnosed his stroke as sinusitis, leaving him permanently paralyzed. It was the largest medical malpractice verdict in Florida history at the time.
A Pinellas County civil jury found Rebecca Schwartz liable for the 2014 murder of her husband, kidney specialist Dr. Steven Schwartz, and awarded his three children $200 million in one of the largest wrongful death verdicts in Florida history.
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.
Kristina Infante and the Podhurst Orseck team secured a $127.5 million settlement from the federal government on behalf of 40 survivors and families of victims killed or wounded in the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, after demonstrating the FBI received advance warnings it failed to investigate.
Stuart Grossman, Neal Roth, and Alex Arteaga-Gomez of Grossman Roth Yaffa Cohen represented families in the $127.5 million federal settlement arising from the FBI's failure to follow up on a tip warning that Nikolas Cruz was planning a school shooting five weeks before the February 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre.
A Morgan & Morgan trial team won a $120 million Alachua County verdict for Jacob Rodgers, paralyzed at 20 when a Gainesville Regional Utilities driver ran a stop sign and broadsided the pickup he was riding in. After appeals and remittitur cut the judgment to $18.3 million, the case settled for $11 million, most of it paid through a Florida legislative claims bill that became law in 2025.
A Miami-Dade jury awarded $100 million to former Florida state senator Daphne Campbell for the death of her son Jason, shot while sleeping at the Monte Carlo Condominium after an intruder walked in through failed security. Morgan & Morgan attorneys Thomas Hasty, Grant Gillenwater, Chuck Fernandez, and Patrick Chucri tried the negligent security case with co-counsel from Ver Ploeg & Marino.