Top New Jersey Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements

J&J Agrees to Pay at Least $5.5 Billion to Resolve 76,000 Talc-Cancer Claims

After fifteen years of litigation and three failed bankruptcy maneuvers by Johnson and Johnson subsidiaries, Ashcraft and Gerel attorneys R. Bryant McCulley and Michelle Parfitt helped negotiate a global, uncapped settlement of at least $5.5 billion covering approximately 76,000 ovarian-cancer claims.

After trial: Settlement minimum; the total is at least $5.5 billion.

Stryker Global Settlement Expected to Top $1 Billion Over Recalled Rejuvenate and ABG II Hip Stems

On Nov. 3, 2014, Howmedica Osteonics, doing business as Stryker Orthopaedics, settled the claims of about 3,000 people who had surgery to remove recalled Rejuvenate and ABG II modular hip stems. The deal was announced in the Bergen County courthouse and paired with a parallel proceeding in the federal MDL in Minnesota. It sets a base award per failed implant plus enhancements for complications, with no fixed fund, and was expected to pay out more than $1 billion. Thomas Anapol of Anapol Schwartz sat on the court-appointed Plaintiff Steering Committee for the New Jersey litigation.

After trial: The $1 billion figure is the reported expected total payout, not a fixed fund, and Stryker's liability under the program was uncapped. Payments were scheduled to begin in the summer of 2015. See more

$125 Million Settlement for Lawyer Paralyzed by Falling Utility Pole at a Union City Bus Stop

A 43-year-old utility pole that Verizon had been told to remove in 1999 snapped and fell on attorney Maria Moser Meister at a Union City bus stop in 2017, leaving her with a severe brain injury and paralysis. In May 2020 a New Jersey judge approved a $125 million settlement, reported as the largest personal injury settlement in state history.

After trial: This was a pre-trial settlement, not a jury verdict. Verizon agreed to pay $125 million total, $118,275,000 to Maria Meister and $7 million to her husband, before the case went to trial, and an Essex County Superior Court judge approved it at a friendly hearing in May 2020.

$101 Million Settlement for Workers Killed and Injured in Tropicana Casino Garage Collapse

Four construction workers were killed and more than 30 injured when five floors of a parking garage under construction at the Tropicana Casino Resort in Atlantic City collapsed in October 2003, leading to what attorneys described as the largest construction-accident settlement in U.S. history at that time.

$55 Million Verdict for Woman, 22, Who Lost Both Legs When a Jackknifing Tractor Trailer Pinned Her

An Essex County jury awarded $55 million to Angel May Rider, a young barista who lost both legs after a tractor trailer owned by Jersey City Transfer and Alert Motor Freight jackknifed on a rain-slicked stretch of I-95 and pinned her against a guardrail. Reported as the largest verdict in Essex County history, the award was affirmed in full by the New Jersey Appellate Division in May 2026.

After trial: Post-trial motions were denied in July 2024 and the New Jersey Appellate Division affirmed the judgment in full on May 18, 2026.

$30.3 Million Take-Home Asbestos Verdict for Family of Mesothelioma Victim

A Bergen County jury awarded $30,312,204 in February 2008 to the family of Mark Buttitta, who died of mesothelioma at 50 after breathing asbestos fibers his father carried home from GM parts warehouses and after his own college summers working there. Moshe Maimon of Levy Konigsberg tried the case, and the New Jersey Appellate Division affirmed the full award on April 5, 2010.

After trial: Affirmed in full by the New Jersey Appellate Division on April 5, 2010.

$30 Million Verdict Against Newark Public Schools and City of Newark for Decades of Silence on Student Abuse

An Essex County jury awarded $30 million against Newark Public Schools and the City of Newark after finding both institutions failed to stop a school aide who sexually abused a student repeatedly from 1991 to 1995, beginning when the child was ten years old.

$28.6 Million Verdict for Patient Paralyzed in Wheelchair Transfer, Kessler 96% at Fault

An Essex County jury awarded Sandra Szell $28.6 million after Kessler Institute aides mishandled a toilet-to-wheelchair transfer that fractured her spine and left her paralyzed from the chest down, though a confidential high-low agreement capped her actual recovery.

After trial: The verdict stood, but a confidential high-low agreement signed during trial governs what was actually paid, and that amount is not public. Kessler's parent company said the case was resolved during trial for a confidential sum. See more

$28 Million Settlement for Electrician Burned Over 60 Percent of His Body in Newark Panel Explosion

Carlos Gomez was burned over 60 percent of his body when an electrical panel exploded while he worked in a Newark office building in 2019. His suit against IDT Corp. and other defendants settled for $28 million, approved by the Essex County Superior Court in February 2023 and ranked by the New Jersey Law Journal as the largest reported New Jersey personal injury settlement of the court's 2022-2023 term.

After trial: A court-approved settlement, so there is no appeal and no post-trial reduction. The agreement was reached in 2022 and approved in Essex County in February 2023.

$135 Million Verdict for Girl Paralyzed by Drunk Fan Served at Giants Stadium

A Bergen County jury ordered stadium concessionaire Aramark and drunk driver Daniel Lanzaro to pay roughly $135 million after Lanzaro, served beer at Giants Stadium despite visible intoxication, crashed into the Verni family's car and left their two-year-old daughter paralyzed from the neck down. The verdict was reversed on appeal in 2006, and the case settled in 2008 for $25 million in cash and annuities.

After trial: The New Jersey Appellate Division reversed the verdict in August 2006. On remand the case settled in 2008 for $25 million in cash and annuities.

Driver Left a Ventilator-Dependent Quadriplegic in a Stop Sign Crash Wins $21.36 Million Judgment

James McAlonan was left a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic after Mildred Tracy drove through a stop sign in Harrison Township, New Jersey, and his Toyota Echo struck the side of her Ford Explorer. The trial judge granted McAlonan judgment against Tracy on negligence and proximate cause, the jury cleared codefendant Toyota on a companion airbag design claim, and the jury awarded $30,514,352.25. Because McAlonan was not wearing his seatbelt, the jury assigned him 30 percent comparative fault, and the court molded the verdict to a $21,360,046.65 judgment against Tracy. The Appellate Division affirmed in 2011, rejecting McAlonan's appeal of the defense verdict for Toyota. Mati Jarve, now of Jarve Granato Starr, tried and argued the case for McAlonan.

After trial: Reduced and affirmed. The New Jersey Appellate Division affirmed on January 3, 2011. See more

Paralyzed Electrical Apprentice Reaches $21 Million Settlement Over Newark Arena Fall

Nicholas Dephillips, a 21-year-old apprentice electrician, fell about 15 feet through a drop ceiling while installing wiring for a helipad atop Newark's Prudential Center in January 2019, fracturing his cervical spine and leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. He sued his employer, Mehl Electric, general contractor Phelps Construction Group, and the arena in Superior Court of New Jersey, Essex County. In September 2021, before trial, he settled with Mehl Electric and its insurance carriers for $21 million, a figure his attorney called the largest construction site accident settlement in New Jersey at the time. His claims against Phelps went to trial in 2025, where a jury apportioned Phelps 36 percent of the liability, adding to his overall recovery from the incident.

After trial: The $21 million is the September 2021 settlement with Mehl Electric only, and it is final. A jury later found total damages of $20,080,976 against the remaining defendants on March 14, 2025, for a further $7,229,151 recovery from Phelps. See more

New Jersey Court Awards Fire Ball Ride Survivor Keziah Lewis $20 Million

A New Jersey court entered a $20 million judgment for Keziah Lewis, half of it punitive, against ride maker KMG for the 2017 Ohio State Fair Fire Ball failure that left her with catastrophic injuries.

Improperly Installed Scaffolding, Four Injured Workers, and a $19.675 Million Essex County Settlement

When improperly installed scaffolding collapsed at a Bordentown, New Jersey construction site and injured four workers, John Ratkowitz of Ginarte Gonzalez and Winograd secured a $19.675 million multi-party settlement that awarded $15 million to Luis Yanza, who sustained a traumatic brain injury leaving him with permanent, severe cognitive deficits.

$19.2 Million Settlement for Elizabeth Gas Explosion That Killed Three Members of One Family

A gas explosion at a converted multi-family house in Elizabeth, New Jersey on November 11, 2015 badly burned six members of the Henderson family and, over the following weeks and months, killed three of them. The family sued the gas utility and the property owner, alleging an improperly capped gas line caused the blast. On February 11, 2019, a Union County Superior Court judge approved a $19.2 million settlement, reached in mediation, apportioned among three estates and three surviving claimants.

After trial: This was a mediated settlement approved by the court, not a litigated verdict, and no appeal followed. The $19.2 million figure is the total recovery before the deduction of court-approved attorney fees, funeral expenses and Medicaid liens; the percentages above apply to the net amount after those deductions.

Chemo Drug Mix-Up Leaves Leukemia Patient Paralyzed, Jury Awards $18.56 Million

A pharmacist three months into her probationary period at a New Jersey hospital let a spinal-toxic chemotherapy drug mix into a leukemia patient's intrathecal dose during what was supposed to be his final treatment, leaving him permanently paralyzed from the waist down. A Middlesex County jury found the pharmacist at fault and held the hospital liable for her conduct, while clearing the oncologist who gave the injections. Jurors awarded the patient $18,564,000, including $17.5 million for pain and suffering. Defense counsel told the New Jersey Law Journal that a high-low agreement entered before trial would reduce what the patient actually recovers; the figure was not reported.

After trial: A pre-trial high-low agreement caps what Weck actually recovers below the jury's $18,564,000 figure. The agreement's terms were not reported, so the amount collected is not public. See more

$18 Million Against Two ER Doctors Who Missed a Fracture and a Chance to Report Abuse

A Gloucester County jury awarded $45 million after finding that emergency room physicians missed a two-month-old's femur fracture and never reported it as suspected abuse, three weeks before the same infant suffered a catastrophic brain injury at his father's hands.

After trial: The jury awarded $45 million and put 60 percent of the fault on the child's father, who was not a defendant, so under New Jersey's rule that a defendant under 60 percent at fault pays only its own share, the two doctors owe 40 percent, $18 million. No appellate opinion, settlement or reduction has been found in the public record.

$17.65 Million Verdict Against Trucking Company Whose Impaired Driver Caused Fatal Route 440 Pileup

A Monmouth County jury awarded John Fiore $6.5 million in compensatory damages and $11.15 million in punitive damages after a drug-impaired Highlight Motor Freight driver caused a multivehicle crash on Route 440 in Perth Amboy that killed another motorist and left Fiore unable to work.

After trial: No appeal or reduction had been publicly reported as of 2026.

$17 Million New Jersey Birth Injury Settlement Structured to Pay Out Roughly $27 Million to $37 Million

Daryl L. Zaslow of Eichen Crutchlow Zaslow settled a hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy birth injury case for $17,000,000, a portion of which purchased annuities that carry guaranteed payments of $18,502,301 and anticipated payments of $28,700,273. Judge James Den Uyl approved the terms on January 3, 2025.

After trial: A court-approved structured settlement, so there is no appeal. It was funded at $17 million; the annuities guarantee $18,502,301 and are anticipated to pay $28,700,273, putting the total value between roughly $27 million and $37 million.

$17 Million Verdict for a Wall Township Girl Left Brain Injured After She Was Taken Off a Ventilator Too Soon

A Monmouth County jury awarded $17 million in October 2017 to a Wall Township family whose seven-year-old daughter suffered permanent brain damage in 2008 after a pediatric pulmonologist removed her from a ventilator before she was weaned off sedation and no one confirmed she was breathing on her own. The case was tried by Paul A. Lauricella of McLaughlin & Lauricella, P.C., the firm whose lawyers joined Feldman Shepherd in 2024.

After trial: The hospital said it would appeal, and the New Jersey Supreme Court denied leave to appeal in September 2018. Nothing in the public record shows the award reduced, reversed, or retried.