Top Individual Missouri Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements
The 20 largest individual personal injury results in Missouri 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 Missouri →- $745 millionVerdictWrongful Death
$745 Million Verdict Against Nitrous Oxide Distributor and Head Shop After Crash Killed a 25-Year-Old
A St. Louis County jury returned a $745 million verdict against nitrous oxide distributor United Brands and local head shop Coughing Cardinal after finding the companies conspired to sell Whip-It! canisters as an inhalant to a driver who passed out behind the wheel and fatally struck 25-year-old Marissa Politte outside her workplace.
After trial: The verdict was not overturned. The companies settled after the verdict for $5 million, as reported by the St.
- $495 millionVerdictProduct Liability
$495 Million Verdict Against Abbott for Failing to Warn That Similac Caused NEC in Premature Infant
A St. Louis jury awarded $495 million against Abbott Laboratories after finding the company failed to warn that its Similac cow's milk formula could cause necrotizing enterocolitis in premature infants.
After trial: Abbott appealed and lost: a Missouri appeals court upheld the $495 million verdict. Rather than pay the judgment plus accrued interest, Abbott in August 2026 reached settlement agreements resolving the Gill case together with roughly 2,000 other NEC claims for an aggregate of about $670 million; the portion paid to the Gill family specifically was not disclosed.
TorHoerman Law2024 · 22nd Judicial Circuit, St. Louis, Missouri (Case No. 2322-CC01251)Read the full story → - $330.07 millionVerdictReduced from $2.23 billionNot collectableMedical Malpractice
Kansas City Jury's $2.2 Billion Verdict Over Diluted Chemotherapy
Georgia Hayes, a Kansas City area ovarian cancer patient, sued pharmacist Robert Courtney after learning he had diluted the chemotherapy drugs used in her treatment. A Jackson County jury found Courtney liable and awarded Hayes $225,571,439 in compensatory damages and $2 billion in punitive damages, the first of hundreds of similar suits against Courtney to reach trial. The trial judge later found the award excessive and cut it by remittitur to $330,071,439, and that reduced judgment stood. Hayes herself and the case reporter covering the verdict both said she was unlikely to ever collect a significant portion of it.
After trial: Reduced by remittitur. The judge cut the jury's punitive award, leaving a $330,071,439 judgment that stood, and no appellate decision disturbing it has been reported.
Ketchmark & McCreight, P.C. and Davis, Bethune & Jones, L.L.C.2002 · Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri (Kansas City)Read the full story → - $300 millionVerdictSexual Abuse
$300 Million Judgment for a Child Abused in Caretakers' Custody, the Largest Entered in Missouri in 2024
A St. Charles County judge entered a $300 million bench-trial judgment for a child, identified only as G.T., who was physically and sexually abused between the ages of three and five while in the care of Susan and James McLaurie, though one defendant died before the suit was filed and the only known insurance was a $303,000 policy.
After trial: The judgment is roughly a thousand times the only known insurance coverage; one defendant died before suit. Collection prospects are minimal.
- $177 millionVerdictSexual Abuse
$177 Million Verdict Against Hyatt After Security Guard Assaults Sleeping Hotel Guest
A St. Louis jury awarded $28 million in compensatory damages and $149 million in punitive damages to Shannon Dugan, a New Jersey sheriff's deputy who was sexually assaulted by a Hyatt security guard who used his master key to enter her hotel room while she slept. The Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed the full award in December 2024.
After trial: Affirmed in full by the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, on December 3, 2024.
Davis, Bethune & Jones, L.L.C.2022 · Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis, MissouriRead the full story → - $108.6 millionVerdictWrongful Death
$108.6 Million Wrongful-Death Verdict in Fatal Home Birth Tied to Faith-Healing Group
A Jackson County jury returned a $108.6 million verdict for the parents of a woman who died from sepsis after her husband's religious group prevented her from receiving medical care during a botched home birth.
After trial: The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, affirmed the full $108.6 million verdict in 2014, upholding both the $8.65 million compensatory award and the $100 million punitive award. The defendants, Caleb Horner, John Horner, and Amber Horner Leathers, are individuals who represented themselves at trial and on appeal, so collectability of the judgment is doubtful.
Humphrey, Farrington & McClain2012 · Jackson County Circuit Court, Lee's Summit, MORead the full story → - $105 millionVerdictProduct Liability
$105 Million Verdict After Firestone Truck Wheel Explodes, Shattering Worker's Face and Arm
A St. Louis jury awarded $105 million to tire technician Randy Dorman after a Bridgestone/Firestone RH5 multi-piece truck wheel explosively separated during inflation, fracturing his face, both arms, and wrist, while internal company documents showed Firestone engineers had tracked nearly 100 similar incidents for decades.
- $82.3 millionVerdictTruck Accidents
$82.3 Million Verdict for I-70 Crash Victim Struck by Trucker Watching Videos on iPad
A Callaway County jury awarded Beth Mayhew and her husband $82.3 million after a truck driver hit their vehicle on I-70 while driving with both feet on the dashboard and holding an iPad to watch videos.
- $75 millionVerdictNot collectableCar Accidents
St. Charles County Jury Awards $75 Million to the Parents of a 21-Year-Old Killed by a Driver Fleeing Police
A St. Charles County jury awarded $75 million, including $25 million in punitive damages, to the parents of Krystofer Batsell, a 21-year-old killed when a driver fleeing police at more than 100 mph crashed into his car. The defendant is serving a 15-year prison sentence for second-degree murder, and the judgment is effectively uncollectable.
After trial: The judgment is effectively uncollectable: Richardson is imprisoned, and no insurer or institutional defendant remains in the case.
- $74.1 millionVerdictReduced from $76 millionWrongful Death
$74.1 Million Verdict for Family of Delivery Driver Crushed by Machinery at Ford Assembly Plant
A Clay County, Missouri jury awarded $76 million to the family of David Ford, a 48-year-old delivery driver crushed by moving machinery while dropping off vehicle seats at Ford Motor Company's Kansas City Assembly Plant. The Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed the verdict in full in 2019.
After trial: The jury awarded $38 million in compensatory damages and $38 million for aggravating circumstances and put 5 percent of the fault on David Ford, so the court cut the compensatory part to $36.1 million and entered judgment for $74.1 million, which the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, affirmed in full on June 25, 2019.
- $70 millionVerdictCar Accidents
$70 Million Platte County Record for Family of Boy Killed in I-29 Construction Zone Crash
A Platte County jury returned a record $70 million verdict after an eight-year-old boy died and his six-year-old sister was seriously injured when a distracted driver rear-ended their grandparents' car in a highway construction zone.
- $65 millionVerdictTruck Accidents
$65 Million Verdict for Child's Prenatal Brain Injury After UPS Truck Struck Pregnant Mother's Car
A Clay County, Missouri jury awarded $65 million to a child who suffered a permanent brain injury before birth when a UPS delivery truck struck his mother's car while she was 13 weeks pregnant. With prejudgment interest, the judgment came to roughly $75.3 million, and the Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed it in May 2025.
After trial: Affirmed in full by the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, on May 20, 2025. With prejudgment interest the judgment totals roughly $75.3 million.
- $58.6 millionVerdictProduct Liability
Missouri Jury Awards $58.6 Million to Plant Worker Whose Lungs Were Damaged by Butter Flavoring Chemicals
A Monroe County jury awarded $58.6 million, including $56.6 million in punitive damages, to James Graham, a Hannibal food plant worker who developed the irreversible lung disease bronchiolitis obliterans after years of exposure to Givaudan butter flavoring chemicals. The Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment in full in April 2026.
After trial: Affirmed in full by the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, on April 7, 2026.
- $50 millionSettlementWrongful Death
$50 Million Settlement After Supplier Ignored Pleas to Replace Dying Man's Breathing Device
Simon Law secured a $50 million wrongful death settlement after a young man with intellectual disabilities died when a national durable medical equipment supplier repeatedly ignored his mother's calls for a replacement breathing device.
- $50 millionVerdictNot collectableWrongful Death
$50 Million Wrongful Death Verdict Against the Man Who Killed MacKenna Milhon
A Greene County jury awarded Rachel Crook $50 million in a wrongful death suit against Lonnie Williams, the man convicted of murdering her 19-year-old daughter, MacKenna Milhon. Williams is serving life without parole, and the judgment almost certainly cannot be collected from him. Crook pursued the case anyway, and has applied to Missouri's Tort Victims' Compensation Fund for partial recovery.
After trial: Williams is serving life without parole and will almost certainly never pay. The family applied to Missouri's Tort Victims' Compensation Fund for partial recovery.
- $48.1 millionVerdictMedical Malpractice
$48.1 Million Verdict After Mother Pushed for 12 Hours, Leaving Infant With Permanent Brain Damage
A St. Louis County jury returned Missouri's largest reported medical malpractice verdict after finding that Mercy Hospital East Communities and its obstetrician allowed a first-time mother to push for more than 12 hours without intervention, causing the infant global hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and permanent cerebral palsy.
- $40 millionVerdictWrongful Death
Jackson County Jury Awards $40 Million to Family of Man Killed by Impaired Driver at Red Light
A Jackson County jury awarded $40 million on Nov. 1, 2023, to the family of Charles Mabie, a 52-year-old man killed when a driver on PCP, traveling over 100 mph, struck his car from behind at a red light in Independence, Missouri. The defendant had admitted liability before trial, so the jury decided only damages. The award rested on the loss of Mabie's relationship with his wife and two children.
After trial: Judgment was entered on the verdict plus $4,359,452.05 in prejudgment interest. The defendant appealed only the interest, and the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, affirmed it in October 2024 (No.
Dollar, Burns, Becker & Hershewe2023 · Jackson County Circuit Court, Independence, Missouri (Case No. 2116-CV01693, Judge Cory Atkins)Read the full story → - $38 millionVerdictProduct Liability
$38 Million Verdict for Child Born with Spina Bifida After In-Utero Depakote Exposure
A St. Louis jury returned a $38 million verdict against Abbott Laboratories for failing to adequately warn patients and physicians that Depakote, taken during pregnancy to control epilepsy, could cause severe birth defects including spina bifida.
Williams Hart & Boundas2015 · Missouri Circuit Court, City of St. Louis (Barron v. Abbott, Case No. 1222-CC-0247901; affirmed Missouri Supreme Court No. SC96151, 2017)Read the full story → - $37.5 millionVerdictCar Accidents
$37.5 Million Jury Verdict for Man Paralyzed When Semi Struck His Car on I-435
A Jackson County jury awarded $37.5 million to Steven Holdeman, who was left a paraplegic after a semi-truck rear-ended his car on Interstate 435, finding Philip Stratman 99 percent at fault for stalling his vehicle in the center lane.
- $35.25 millionVerdictWrongful Death
Fatigued Trucker's Falsified Logs Cost CenTra $35.25 Million in Wrongful Death of Kansas City Principal
A Boone County jury awarded $35.25 million to the family of Anita Gibbs, a Kansas City elementary school principal killed when a CenTra Trucking driver failed to slow for stopped traffic on Interstate 70 in 2006, after Ken McClain of Humphrey, Farrington and McClain used offensive collateral estoppel to limit the trial entirely to damages.
All Missouri verdicts and settlements
110 results, largest first
A St. Louis jury returned a $4.69 billion verdict against Johnson and Johnson on behalf of 22 women who developed ovarian cancer after years of using the company's talcum powder products, with Thomas K. Neill of Gray, Ritter and Graham, P.C. serving on the plaintiff trial team.
A St. Louis jury in July 2018 awarded 22 women and their families $4.69 billion, the largest U.S. verdict of that year, finding that asbestos in Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder products caused ovarian cancer; a Missouri appellate court upheld $2.11 billion in 2020.
A St. Louis County jury returned a $745 million verdict against nitrous oxide distributor United Brands and local head shop Coughing Cardinal after finding the companies conspired to sell Whip-It! canisters as an inhalant to a driver who passed out behind the wheel and fatally struck 25-year-old Marissa Politte outside her workplace.
A Cole County jury returned $1.56 billion in November 2023 across four plaintiffs whose claims were consolidated for one trial: three Roundup users who developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma and the wife of one of them on a loss of consortium claim. The trial court later cut the punitive awards to roughly nine times each plaintiff's compensatory damages, bringing the judgment down to about $611 million, and the Missouri appellate courts left that judgment standing.
A St. Louis jury awarded $495 million against Abbott Laboratories after finding the company failed to warn that its Similac cow's milk formula could cause necrotizing enterocolitis in premature infants.
Georgia Hayes, a Kansas City area ovarian cancer patient, sued pharmacist Robert Courtney after learning he had diluted the chemotherapy drugs used in her treatment. A Jackson County jury found Courtney liable and awarded Hayes $225,571,439 in compensatory damages and $2 billion in punitive damages, the first of hundreds of similar suits against Courtney to reach trial. The trial judge later found the award excessive and cut it by remittitur to $330,071,439, and that reduced judgment stood. Hayes herself and the case reporter covering the verdict both said she was unlikely to ever collect a significant portion of it.
A St. Charles County judge entered a $300 million bench-trial judgment for a child, identified only as G.T., who was physically and sexually abused between the ages of three and five while in the care of Susan and James McLaurie, though one defendant died before the suit was filed and the only known insurance was a $303,000 policy.
A St. Charles County jury awarded $247.3 million to six women sexually assaulted by an unlicensed massage therapist at Oasis Foot Spa & Massage in St. Peters, finding the spa and its owner liable for hiring him without any background check and ignoring an early complaint. The Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment in full in 2024.
A St. Louis jury awarded $28 million in compensatory damages and $149 million in punitive damages to Shannon Dugan, a New Jersey sheriff's deputy who was sexually assaulted by a Hyatt security guard who used his master key to enter her hotel room while she slept. The Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed the full award in December 2024.
A St. Louis jury awarded $462 million against trailer maker Wabash National after its defective rear-impact guard failed and allowed a car to slide beneath a trailer on I-55, killing Taron Tailor, 30, and Nicholas Perkins, 23, in 2019.
A four-day trial ended with a $109.2 million verdict against LaFarge North America after Simon Law proved the supplier knowingly sold Gleeson Asphalt base rock that did not meet the grade it was labeled and paid for.
A Jackson County jury returned a $108.6 million verdict for the parents of a woman who died from sepsis after her husband's religious group prevented her from receiving medical care during a botched home birth.
A St. Louis jury awarded $105 million to tire technician Randy Dorman after a Bridgestone/Firestone RH5 multi-piece truck wheel explosively separated during inflation, fracturing his face, both arms, and wrist, while internal company documents showed Firestone engineers had tracked nearly 100 similar incidents for decades.
A Callaway County jury awarded Beth Mayhew and her husband $82.3 million after a truck driver hit their vehicle on I-70 while driving with both feet on the dashboard and holding an iPad to watch videos.
Two former Jackson County Courthouse employees sued U.S. Engineering Co. and Jackson County over asbestos dust that spread through the courthouse during a mid-1980s renovation, after a co-worker died of mesothelioma. A trial judge refused to certify a class, and in March 2015 the Missouri Court of Appeals reversed that ruling and reinstated the case. A jury had been selected for an October 2016 trial in Jackson County Circuit Court when the parties settled for $80 million, funded by U.S. Engineering's insurers rather than county tax dollars. The settlement set aside $25 million for attorneys' fees and litigation costs and put the remainder into a medical monitoring fund covering diagnostic testing for up to 7,500 people who worked in or spent significant time in the courthouse. Louis C. Accurso represented the plaintiffs.
A St. Charles County jury awarded $75 million, including $25 million in punitive damages, to the parents of Krystofer Batsell, a 21-year-old killed when a driver fleeing police at more than 100 mph crashed into his car. The defendant is serving a 15-year prison sentence for second-degree murder, and the judgment is effectively uncollectable.
A Clay County, Missouri jury awarded $76 million to the family of David Ford, a 48-year-old delivery driver crushed by moving machinery while dropping off vehicle seats at Ford Motor Company's Kansas City Assembly Plant. The Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed the verdict in full in 2019.
A Platte County jury returned a record $70 million verdict after an eight-year-old boy died and his six-year-old sister was seriously injured when a distracted driver rear-ended their grandparents' car in a highway construction zone.
A Clay County, Missouri jury awarded $65 million to a child who suffered a permanent brain injury before birth when a UPS delivery truck struck his mother's car while she was 13 weeks pregnant. With prejudgment interest, the judgment came to roughly $75.3 million, and the Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed it in May 2025.
A Monroe County jury awarded $58.6 million, including $56.6 million in punitive damages, to James Graham, a Hannibal food plant worker who developed the irreversible lung disease bronchiolitis obliterans after years of exposure to Givaudan butter flavoring chemicals. The Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment in full in April 2026.
A St. Louis County jury awarded $55.4 million to more than 400 investors in InnerPoint Energy Corp. after Simon Law proved that company insiders, including descendants of Anheuser-Busch co-founder Eberhard Anheuser, concealed a rising Michigan energy asset while telling shareholders their investments were worthless.
Maurice Graham of Gray, Ritter and Graham secured a $55 million class action settlement in Doyle v. Fluor for Herculaneum, Missouri homeowners whose properties were contaminated by lead emissions from the Doe Run smelter.
Simon Law secured a $50 million wrongful death settlement after a young man with intellectual disabilities died when a national durable medical equipment supplier repeatedly ignored his mother's calls for a replacement breathing device.
A Greene County jury awarded Rachel Crook $50 million in a wrongful death suit against Lonnie Williams, the man convicted of murdering her 19-year-old daughter, MacKenna Milhon. Williams is serving life without parole, and the judgment almost certainly cannot be collected from him. Crook pursued the case anyway, and has applied to Missouri's Tort Victims' Compensation Fund for partial recovery.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.