Top Individual Indiana Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements
The 10 largest individual personal injury results in Indiana 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 Indiana →- $159,000,000 ($84,000,000 to Sherry Schnee plus $75,000,000 to her husband for loss of consortium)VerdictNot collectableCar Accidents
He Crossed the Center Line in a No-Passing Zone at 79 in a 40, Nearly Twice the Legal Limit. She Left the Crash a Quadriplegic. A Boone County Jury Returned $159 Million.
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. No appeal of the civil judgment is indicated in any source and none of Indiana's damages caps applies to a negligence claim against a private individual. Collectability is the whole story: Ryann Early is an individual serving a six-year sentence, no insurer is named in any coverage, and his own defense counsel said on the record that he wished there were actual dollars behind the award. The figure here is what the jury awarded, not what the Schnees have received. The $84,000,000 and $75,000,000 are one couple's claims from one injury, with the husband's award a derivative loss-of-consortium claim, so they are published as a single result.
- $157 millionVerdictNot collectableProduct Liability
$157 Million Jury Verdict for Widow of Man Killed by Defective Ol' Man Tree Stand
A Tippecanoe County jury awarded $157 million to the widow of Timothy Simonton, a 42-year-old Indiana man who died in October 2005 after the locking pins on an Ol' Man tree stand failed and left him hanging from a tree during a deer-scouting outing.
After trial: None of the three defendant companies, including tree stand maker TSR Inc. and its predecessor L&L Enterprises, appeared to contest the case at trial, and L&L's own registered agent said he had not been involved with the company for about a year. The defendants appear to have been out of business by the time of the 2009 verdict, making the judgment largely uncollectable.
- $42.5 millionVerdictMotorcycle Accidents
$42.5 Million Verdict for Motorcyclist Left with Severe Brain Injury After Tesla Employee Made Illegal Turn
A Marion County jury in March 2024 awarded $60.7 million to motorcyclist Christopher Dugan after a Tesla service manager crossed double yellow lines and struck him, leaving him with a permanent traumatic brain injury and a partial foot amputation; comparative fault reduced the net award to $42.5 million.
Christie Bell & Marshall2024 · Marion County Superior Court, Indianapolis, Indiana (Case No. 49D04-1705-CT-018411)Read the full story → - $32.5 millionVerdictTruck Accidents
$32.5 Million Verdict, Affirmed on Appeal, Over a Jackknifed Semi Left in the Median Without Warning Triangles
A Lake County jury awarded Kristen Zak $32.5 million after a J.B. Hunt Transport semi-truck jackknifed in the median of Interstate 65 during a snowstorm and was left without warning triangles, and the car she was riding in struck the wreck about an hour later, leaving her with permanent brain damage.
After trial: The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed the $32.5 million judgment in full. No further appeal is reported.
Schafer & Schafer LLP2015 · Lake Superior Court, Indiana (Judge Diane Kavadias Schneider); affirmed by the Indiana Court of AppealsRead the full story → - $25 millionVerdictWrongful Death
$25 Million Verdict for Widow After Drunk Driver Kills Husband on I-65
A Lake County jury awarded $25 million to Patricia Amsden after her husband Phillip was struck and killed on Interstate 65 by a driver with a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit, holding the driver, his employer, and two bars that served him accountable.
- $20 millionVerdictWorkplace Injury
Union Carpenter Disabled by 4,160-Volt Shock at IPL Plant Wins $20 Million Jury Verdict
A Marion County jury awarded $20 million to a union carpenter left permanently disabled after Indianapolis Power and Light issued a faulty dig permit that failed to account for a live 4,160-volt electrical line at its Petersburg power plant.
Yosha Law, Injury & Accident Lawyers2020 · Marion Superior Court, Indianapolis, INRead the full story → - $20 millionVerdictProduct Liability
A $20 Million Verdict Over a Prolift Mesh Implant, Affirmed by the Seventh Circuit
A federal jury in Hammond, Indiana found that Ethicon's Prolift transvaginal mesh was defectively designed and inadequately warned against, awarding Barbara and Anton Kaiser $35 million. A judge reduced the punitive damages, leaving a $20 million verdict that the Seventh Circuit affirmed in full in 2020.
After trial: The Seventh Circuit affirmed the $20 million judgment in full on January 14, 2020, rejecting Ethicon's design-defect and failure-to-warn arguments on appeal. No further appeal has been reported.
- $16.95 millionVerdictSlip & Fall
Indiana Jury Awards Neurosurgeon $16.95 Million After Career-Ending Fall on a Hospital Pantry Floor
After a neurosurgeon slipped on a wet hospital pantry floor and developed reflex sympathetic dystrophy that ended his surgical career, an Evansville jury found St. Mary's Medical Center fully at fault and awarded $16.95 million, a verdict the Indiana Court of Appeals later affirmed.
- $5.6 millionSettlementWrongful Death
$5.6 Million Settlement After 23-Year-Old Mother Died in Indiana Jail While Staff Ignored 20 Hours of Medical Distress
Jackson County, Indiana agreed to pay $5.6 million to the family of Ta'Neasha Chappell, a 23-year-old Louisville mother who died in jail custody in July 2021 after nearly 20 hours of ignored medical pleas.
Sam Aguiar Injury Lawyers2025 · Southern District of Indiana (federal civil rights lawsuit)Read the full story → - $3.7 million settlementSettlementPaidCivil Rights
His Mother Called 911 for Help With a Mental Health Crisis. Six Officers Came, He Was Tased and Held Face Down, and He Was Dead Within the Hour.
Gladys Whitfield called 911 on April 25, 2022 asking for help for her son, who was experiencing a mental health crisis. Six Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers responded. Herman Whitfield III was tased and restrained face down until he stopped responding. He was pronounced dead at a hospital within the hour. The coroner ruled it a homicide.
After trial: This is a settlement, not a verdict, and no court found liability; the city expressly did not admit wrongdoing. The amount is reported as $3.7 million by WFYI, on the basis of a copy of the settlement document obtained by FOX59. Two caveats on precision. Our own earlier research notes carried the figure as $3,750,000 and described payment in installments running through January 2028, but neither the exact figure nor the installment schedule appears in the reporting we can cite, so we publish the reported $3.7 million and flag the discrepancy rather than assert a number to the dollar. Separately, the criminal case is a different proceeding with a different standard of proof: the two charged officers were acquitted on all counts in 2024, and the Marion County Coroner's homicide ruling is a medical determination of manner of death, not a finding of criminal or civil liability. On the cap, the Indiana Tort Claims Act limits recovery against governmental entities on state-law claims, but does not apply to claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
Waples & Hanger2026 · Federal civil rights and wrongful death action against the City of Indianapolis and six IMPD officersRead the full story →
All Indiana verdicts and settlements
32 results, largest first
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.
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.
A Tippecanoe County jury awarded $157 million to the widow of Timothy Simonton, a 42-year-old Indiana man who died in October 2005 after the locking pins on an Ol' Man tree stand failed and left him hanging from a tree during a deer-scouting outing.
CohenMalad recovered $66.5 million on behalf of 262 patients who alleged that Dr. Arvind Gandhi and Cardiology Associates of Northwest Indiana implanted pacemakers and defibrillators and performed open-heart surgeries that were never medically necessary.
Cohen & Malad's Irwin Levin secured a $62 million class action settlement in 2017 after proving the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles had knowingly overcharged 5.5 million drivers across more than 100 fee categories for over a decade.
Irwin Levin of CohenMalad served as court-appointed co-lead class counsel in a multidistrict antitrust case against seven central Indiana ready-mixed concrete companies, securing approximately $59 million in combined settlements for construction-industry buyers who paid inflated prices during a four-year price-fixing conspiracy.
Robert T. Dassow of Hovde Dassow + Deets served as local liaison counsel for the plaintiffs steering committee in the Biomet M2A Magnum metal-on-metal hip implant MDL, helping coordinate a settlement valued at least $56 million, with individual awards paid from a program that ultimately resolved roughly 2,800 claims nationwide.
CohenMalad partner David Cutshaw co-led a $55 million Indiana Patient's Compensation Fund settlement for 282 patients who underwent unnecessary or damaging sinus surgeries performed by Dr. Mark Weinberger, a Merrillville ENT who later fled the country and was found hiding in the Italian Alps.
A Marion County jury in March 2024 awarded $60.7 million to motorcyclist Christopher Dugan after a Tesla service manager crossed double yellow lines and struck him, leaving him with a permanent traumatic brain injury and a partial foot amputation; comparative fault reduced the net award to $42.5 million.
A Lake County jury awarded Kristen Zak $32.5 million after a J.B. Hunt Transport semi-truck jackknifed in the median of Interstate 65 during a snowstorm and was left without warning triangles, and the car she was riding in struck the wreck about an hour later, leaving her with permanent brain damage.
Cohen & Malad's Irwin Levin secured a $30 million class action settlement in 2013 after proving the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles had been charging drivers as much as $6 too much per license for six years.
A Lake County jury awarded $25 million to Patricia Amsden after her husband Phillip was struck and killed on Interstate 65 by a driver with a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit, holding the driver, his employer, and two bars that served him accountable.
Cohen and Malad, co-counsel in a class action on behalf of more than 2,000 Indiana homeowners, secured a $24 million settlement against builder Trinity Homes and parent Beazer Homes after faulty brick construction allowed widespread water intrusion and mold growth.
A Marion County jury awarded $20 million to a union carpenter left permanently disabled after Indianapolis Power and Light issued a faulty dig permit that failed to account for a live 4,160-volt electrical line at its Petersburg power plant.
A federal jury in Hammond, Indiana found that Ethicon's Prolift transvaginal mesh was defectively designed and inadequately warned against, awarding Barbara and Anton Kaiser $35 million. A judge reduced the punitive damages, leaving a $20 million verdict that the Seventh Circuit affirmed in full in 2020.
After a neurosurgeon slipped on a wet hospital pantry floor and developed reflex sympathetic dystrophy that ended his surgical career, an Evansville jury found St. Mary's Medical Center fully at fault and awarded $16.95 million, a verdict the Indiana Court of Appeals later affirmed.
Jackson County, Indiana agreed to pay $5.6 million to the family of Ta'Neasha Chappell, a 23-year-old Louisville mother who died in jail custody in July 2021 after nearly 20 hours of ignored medical pleas.
Gladys Whitfield called 911 on April 25, 2022 asking for help for her son, who was experiencing a mental health crisis. Six Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers responded. Herman Whitfield III was tased and restrained face down until he stopped responding. He was pronounced dead at a hospital within the hour. The coroner ruled it a homicide.
An Allen County jury awarded a Fort Wayne woman $2,670,000 after finding that Dr. Shashi Ahuja mishandled a relatively new medical device during a procedure and left a polymer fragment in an artery in her right leg, leaving her with a disfigured and largely unusable lower leg.
A Morgan County jury awarded $1,250,075 to a plumbing contractor who suffered severe burns after a Carmel High School maintenance employee ignited a pool heater's pilot light over the contractor's explicit objection, triggering a gas explosion that blew the roof off the building.
A Richmond obstetrician ordered a contraction stress test instead of the recommended non-stress evaluation as a 34-week fetus showed distress, and a Wayne County jury held him responsible for the baby's death.
A Marion County jury awarded $6 million to the estate of Michael Rex Fergerson, who died after an IndyGo bus driver pulled away from a stop too early and ran over him; the Indiana Supreme Court reinstated the verdict in 2025 after the Court of Appeals had reversed it.
The mother of M. Shane Satterfield, 38, recovered $640,000 from Decatur County's liability insurer after he died of untreated alcohol withdrawal while serving a drunk-driving sentence at the county jail.
Roughly two dozen women sued after a Clark County jail officer sold cell keys to male detainees, and the county's insurer paid $328,000 to settle the federal suits that Wagner Reese helped bring.