Largest Product Liability Group Settlements and Recovery Funds

New York State Tobacco Litigation: $25 Billion Recovery Against Four Major Manufacturers

Sullivan Papain was among the firms representing New York State against Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson, and Lorillard, securing a $25 billion recovery through the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement.

Florida's Dream Team Beats Big Tobacco for $11.3 Billion: Yerrid's Racketeering Play Tripled the Stakes

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.

After trial: Florida share.

Weitz and Luxenberg Helps Win $10.9 Billion Roundup Settlement for 125,000 Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Claimants

As co-lead counsel in the federal Roundup multidistrict litigation and the first firm to sue Monsanto in 2015, Weitz and Luxenberg helped negotiate a $10.9 billion settlement resolving approximately 125,000 non-Hodgkin lymphoma claims against Bayer-owned Monsanto.

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.

$4.85 Billion Vioxx MDL Settlement for Heart-Attack and Stroke Victims

As chair of the plaintiffs' negotiating committee and Liaison Counsel in the Vioxx multidistrict litigation, Russ Herman directed the negotiations that produced a $4.85 billion settlement with Merck resolving approximately 45,000 to 50,000 personal-injury claims.

St. Louis Jury Awards $4.69 Billion to 22 Women Over Asbestos-Laced Talcum Powder

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.

Greene Broillet Helped Recover $3.3 Billion for Los Angeles County in the Tobacco Settlement

Acting as outside trial counsel for Los Angeles County, the firm then known as Greene, Broillet, Taylor, Wheeler and Panish helped recover approximately $3.3 billion for the county through the 1998 nationwide Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.

Weitz and Luxenberg Co-Lead Counsel in $2.5 Billion DePuy ASR Hip Implant Settlement

Ellen Relkin served as court-appointed co-lead plaintiffs counsel in the DePuy ASR hip implant MDL, helping negotiate a $2.5 billion settlement for roughly 8,000 patients who required revision surgery after the metal-on-metal device failed.

$4.69 Billion Verdict Against Johnson & Johnson for Talc Ovarian Cancer

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.

After trial: Upheld $2.11 billion on appeal.

Nearly 1,000 School Districts Settle With JUUL for $1.7 Billion Over Youth Vaping Crisis

Frantz Law Group, led by attorneys James Frantz and William Shinoff, represented nearly 1,000 public school districts across 38 states in multidistrict litigation against JUUL Labs, reaching a $1.7 billion settlement in 2023 that covered approximately 1,600 school districts, local governments, tribal entities, and individual consumers.

Takata Airbag MDL: Peter Prieto Steers $1.5 Billion in Settlements for Millions of Vehicle Owners

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.

Nevada Opioid Litigation: $1.1 Billion in Settlements Against 40+ Manufacturers, Distributors, and Pharmacies

Retained as outside counsel to the Nevada Attorney General, Eglet Adams drove more than $1.1 billion in opioid settlements across 12 agreements with over 40 defendants, including Walgreens, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and Johnson & Johnson.

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

DuPont C-8 Water Contamination: $671 Million Settlement After a String of Trial Wins

Cory Watson's Jon Conlin, a co-lead lawyer on the plaintiffs' steering committee, helped drive DuPont and Chemours to a $670.7 million global settlement resolving about 3,550 C-8 water-contamination cancer and injury claims.

Lake and Trumbull Counties Win $650 Million Opioid Abatement Against CVS, Walgreens and Walmart

A federal jury found CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart liable for creating an opioid public nuisance in northeast Ohio, leading to a $650 million abatement judgment, the first of its kind against pharmacy chains in U.S. history.

Federal Jury Finds CVS, Walgreens and Walmart Liable in Ohio Opioid Case, $650 Million Abatement Ordered

After a six-week federal trial, a jury found three of the nation's largest retail pharmacy chains created a public nuisance by flooding Lake and Trumbull Counties, Ohio with opioid pills, and a judge ordered $650 million to fund a 15-year abatement plan.

Boehringer Ingelheim Pays $650 Million to Resolve Pradaxa Bleeding Lawsuits in Federal MDL

Boehringer Ingelheim agreed to pay $650 million in May 2014 to resolve approximately 4,000 federal lawsuits claiming the blood thinner Pradaxa caused life-threatening bleeding injuries without adequate warnings, in an MDL presided over by Judge David Herndon in the Southern District of Illinois where the court appointed TorHoerman Law's Tor Hoerman as one of five plaintiffs' co-lead counsel.

$1.56 Billion Verdict Against Monsanto for Four Roundup Plaintiffs

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.

After trial: The award covers four plaintiffs. In March 2024 the trial court left the compensatory awards intact but cut punitive damages from $1.5 billion to $549.9 million, pegging each to roughly nine times that plaintiff's own compensatory award, for a judgment near $611 million. See more

$591 Million Verdict Orders Big Tobacco to Fund Louisiana Smoker Cessation Program

A New Orleans jury ordered the major tobacco companies to fund a statewide smoking-cessation program for more than 200,000 Louisiana smokers who became addicted before 1988, awarding $591 million in one of the largest class-action verdicts against the tobacco industry.

Jury's $857 Million PCB Verdict for Sky Valley School Students and Parents

A King County jury awarded $857 million in December 2023 to seven people, five former students and two parent volunteers, who said they were sickened by PCBs leaking from light fixtures at the Sky Valley Education Center in Monroe, Washington. The verdict included $73 million in compensatory damages and $784 million in punitive damages against Monsanto and its successor Pharmacia. In April 2024 a King County judge cut the punitive award to $365 million under Missouri's statutory cap on punitive damages, reducing the total to $438 million. Monsanto appealed, and Bayer said in February 2026 that Monsanto had settled the remaining Sky Valley jury verdicts on confidential terms, so what was ultimately paid is not public.

After trial: On appeal. King County Superior Court Judge Jim Rogers cut the punitive award from $784 million to $365 million on April 23, 2024, bringing the total to $438 million. See more