Top Maryland Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements

$190 Million Settlement for 8,000 Patients Secretly Recorded by Johns Hopkins Gynecologist

More than 8,000 women reached a $190 million class-action settlement against Johns Hopkins Hospital after gynecologist Dr. Nikita Levy secretly filmed patients during examinations over a 25-year career.

$54 Million Settlement for Gambrills Families Whose Drinking Wells Were Poisoned by Coal Ash

Hassan Murphy co-led the class action against Constellation Energy after fly ash from a coal plant fouled private drinking wells in a Gambrills neighborhood, producing a $54 million package that connected affected homes to public water and established a $9.5 million resident trust fund.

$44 Million Verdict for Man Left Quadriplegic by Baltimore Police Officer

William H. Murphy Jr. won a $44 million Baltimore jury verdict after a police officer threw handcuffed Albert Mosley headfirst into a concrete jail cell wall, rendering him a permanent quadriplegic; the city refused to pay and the case ultimately settled for $1 million.

After trial: The $44 million judgment stood. Baltimore declined to indemnify the officer, whom the jury found acted with malice, and the case later settled for $1 million, as former City Solicitor George Nilson confirmed in 2018.

$37 Million Settlement for 273 Patients Who Received Unnecessary Heart Stents at St. Joseph Medical Center

Murphy Falcon and Murphy served as lead class counsel in a $37 million settlement on behalf of 273 patients who underwent medically unnecessary cardiac stent procedures performed by Dr. Mark Midei at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson, Maryland.

$34.33 Million Verdict for Ruth's Chris Workers Poisoned by Carbon Monoxide at Pier Five Hotel

After a 13-week trial, a Baltimore City jury awarded $34.33 million to 20 Ruth's Chris Steakhouse workers and three of their spouses after the workers suffered permanent brain damage when carbon monoxide from Pier Five Hotel's boiler system flooded their workplace over several months in early 2008.

$105 Million Verdict in Off-Duty Officer's Murder of Tristin Little Sr.

A Baltimore City jury returned a $105 million wrongful-death verdict against off-duty Officer Rodney Price, who shot Tristin Little Sr. more than a dozen times with his service weapon in March 2001; the trial court later reduced the award to approximately $26.99 million.

After trial: The trial court reduced the jury's $105 million verdict to a $26,989,000 judgment against former officer Rodney Price personally. In 2006 Maryland's Court of Special Appeals ruled Price was not acting within the scope of his employment when he killed Little, so Baltimore City had no duty to pay the judgment, and it is largely uncollectable from Price, who is serving a life sentence.

$34 Million Verdict for Infant Brain-Damaged by Unjustified 23-Week C-Section

A Baltimore County jury found that University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center performed an unjustified emergency cesarean section on a mother showing no confirmed signs of labor, delivering her son at 23 weeks and causing severe brain damage that will require lifelong care.

After trial: Post-cap; $34 million jury verdict.

Paralyzed Worker's $35.94 Million Verdict Against Pepco

A Montgomery County, Maryland jury in October 2014 returned a verdict against Pepco for a construction worker who was shocked by a transformer he had been told was de-energized and left paralyzed from the neck down. The jury awarded about $35.94 million, and Maryland's cap on noneconomic damages cut the $15 million noneconomic portion to $770,000, leaving about $21.71 million.

After trial: Maryland's noneconomic damages cap reduced the $15 million noneconomic award to $770,000, leaving about $21.71 million. Pepco filed post-trial motions, and the case was later reported to have settled for a confidential amount. See more

Baltimore Landlords Pay $21.5 Million After Hiring Unvetted Worker Who Attacked and Burned Two Tenants

A Baltimore City jury returned a $21.5 million verdict against two landlord companies whose failure to conduct any background check on a maintenance worker allowed a convicted sex offender to rape, slash, and set two tenants on fire.

$20.6 Million Verdict for Premature Infant With Cerebral Palsy After Delayed C-Section in Baltimore

A Baltimore City jury returned a $21 million verdict against MedStar Harbor Hospital after physicians failed to perform a timely emergency cesarean section during a premature delivery, causing a newborn to suffer oxygen deprivation and permanent spastic diplegic cerebral palsy.

$20 Million Settlement for Family of William Green, Shot Six Times While Handcuffed in a Police Cruiser

William H. Murphy Jr. secured a $20 million settlement for the family of William Howard Green, a 43-year-old father shot six times by a Prince George's County officer while handcuffed in the front seat of a patrol car, at the time the largest such settlement ever paid by a Maryland local government.

Prince George's County Jury Awards $18.65M After Hospital Delays Cost 23-Year-Old Her Leg

A Prince George's County jury found University of Maryland Capital Region Health liable for the amputation of Jamie White's leg after two surgeries were delayed for hours following a 2020 slip-and-fall, cutting off oxygen to her limb for an irreversible stretch of time.

Harford County Jury Awards $13.3 Million After Hospital Staff Ignored Fetal Distress Signals for 17 Hours

A Harford County jury returned a $13.3 million verdict against Upper Chesapeake Medical Center and its attending obstetrician after nursing staff failed to recognize fetal distress signals during a 17-hour induced labor, leaving a boy born in 2004 with permanent brain damage and intellectual disability.

Mesothelioma Verdict From Childhood Asbestos Exposure Affirmed by Maryland's Highest Court

In 1972, an eight-year-old girl spent months in her family's Montgomery County, Maryland basement while her father applied and sanded a Georgia-Pacific joint compound during a home renovation. She developed mesothelioma decades later and died at 34, shortly after a jury awarded her and her husband $9,188,000, including $4,800,000 in non-economic damages. Georgia-Pacific appealed on causation and on whether Maryland's 1986 cap on non-economic damages limited the award. The Court of Special Appeals affirmed, and the Court of Appeals of Maryland affirmed again on June 11, 2002, holding that the cap did not apply because her exposure ended before the cap took effect.

After trial: Affirmed. Georgia-Pacific's appeals failed, and on June 11, 2002 the Maryland Court of Appeals held the 1986 cap on noneconomic damages did not apply, so the full $9,188,000 verdict stood. See more

Prince George's County Pays Mother of Paralyzed Traffic-Stop Victim in Federal Civil Rights Suit

In March 2023, Prince George's County, Maryland agreed to pay $7.5 million to Rena Ward, the mother of Demonte Ward-Blake, and his estate. Ward-Blake was paralyzed after a county police officer slammed him, handcuffed, onto the pavement during an October 2019 traffic stop. The federal civil rights and wrongful death suit was settled without any admission of wrongdoing by the county.

After trial: The case settled before trial, so there was no verdict and no appeal in the civil action. Strong's separate criminal conviction was appealed. See more

Baltimore Pays Family of Freddie Gray $6.4 Million After Fatal Spinal Injury in Police Van

Freddie Gray, 25, suffered a fatal spinal injury while being transported in a Baltimore police van after his arrest on April 12, 2015, and died a week later. In September 2015 the city agreed to pay his family $6.4 million, and the Board of Estimates approved the payment unanimously on September 9. The city admitted no liability, and the money was paid in two installments from the city's settlement reserve.

After trial: The Board of Estimates unanimously approved the settlement on September 9, 2015, with payment in two installments from the city's legal settlement reserve. The city did not admit liability. See more

$5.8 Million Verdict for Family of Attorney Who Died of Untreated Melanoma

A Montgomery County jury found a Maryland dermatology practice liable for the death of 47-year-old attorney Richard Semsker, whose melanoma went untreated for two years.

$5.5 Million Verdict After Pacing Wire Removal Kills Bypass Patient

A Prince George's County jury awarded $5.5 million after a 53-year-old woman bled to death when improperly placed cardiac pacing wires lacerated her bypass graft upon removal five days after open-heart surgery.

Federal Judge Awards $5.26 Million to Mother Brain-Damaged After Missed Chiari Malformation at Andrews AFB

After a February 2006 bench trial under the Federal Tort Claims Act, a federal judge in Maryland found that providers at Malcolm Grow Medical Center missed Ruth Lawson's Chiari Type I malformation during her second pregnancy, leaving her permanently and severely brain-damaged. The court entered a $5,264,657.01 judgment in September 2006, after cutting her $1.8 million noneconomic award to Maryland's $590,000 statutory cap.

After trial: The court valued noneconomic damages at $1.8 million and cut them to Maryland's $590,000 cap, so the $5,264,657.01 judgment is the ranked figure. In March 2007 the court denied the government's motions to offset future Tricare benefits or place the future-care award in a reversionary trust. See more

Security Guard Loses Leg After ER Dismisses Artery Injury as Knee Strain: $5.2 Million Verdict

A Baltimore City jury awarded $5.2 million after Saint Agnes Hospital emergency staff sent Kevin Tolson home with a knee-strain diagnosis, missing a torn popliteal artery that led to an above-the-knee amputation two days later.

After trial: (verdict); $1.5 million recovered.