Top Texas Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements
The 20 largest personal injury recoveries in Texas, ranked by amount, with 106 independently-sourced results to browse. Individual client results and group recoveries are both listed and labeled. Each links to the full story, the firm, and the record behind the number.
Browse personal injury lawyers in Texas →- $15.3 billionSettlementGroup recovery
Texas Recovers $15.3 Billion From Tobacco Industry in Landmark 1998 Settlement
John Eddie Williams, Jr. served as one of five private attorneys retained by the State of Texas to sue the major tobacco companies, producing a $15.3 billion settlement in January 1998, the largest single-case settlement in U.S. history at the time.
Williams Hart & Boundas1998 · U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas (Texarkana)Read the full story → - $1.1 billionVerdictPremises Liability
$1.1 Billion Verdict for Child Left Brain-Damaged by Oil-Fortune Heir
A Dallas jury awarded $1.1 billion against a trust fund heir who beat a 2-year-old into a permanent vegetative state in 2021, a verdict the firm calls the largest child-assault award in U.S. history.
- $1.04 billionVerdictProduct Liability
Dallas Federal Jury Awards More Than $1 Billion Over DePuy Pinnacle Hip Implants
Khaldoun Baghdadi was on the plaintiffs' trial team that won a federal jury verdict topping $1 billion for six California patients harmed by DePuy's metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants, an award the trial judge later cut to about $543 million.
Walkup Personal Injury Lawyers2016 · U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (Dallas)Read the full story → - $1.04 billion (reduced to ~$543 million)VerdictProduct Liability
Dallas Jury Awards $1.04 Billion Against J&J Over Defective Pinnacle Hip Implants
A Dallas federal jury awarded $1.04 billion to six California patients harmed by Johnson and Johnson's metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants, with W. Mark Lanier leading an eight-week trial that produced one of the largest product-liability verdicts of 2016.
After trial: Reduced to about $543 million under punitive damages caps; the Pinnacle claims later resolved in a roughly $1 billion global settlement in 2019.
The Lanier Law Firm2016 · U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas, Dallas (MDL 2244)Read the full story → - $860 millionVerdictWrongful Death
Dallas County Jury Returns $860 Million in Crane Collapse Death
A Dallas County jury found developer Greystar liable for the 2019 tower crane collapse that killed 29-year-old Kiersten Smith in her apartment, returning an $860 million verdict that Jason and Cory Itkin helped win for her family.
- $640 millionVerdictWrongful Death
$640 Million Verdict for Family of Pipefitter Killed by Falling HVAC Unit at Texas A&M San Antonio Construction Site
A Harris County jury awarded $640 million to the family of David Lester Loree II, a journeyman pipefitter fatally crushed when a top-heavy HVAC unit being lifted by TNT Crane and Rigging overturned in high winds at a Texas A&M University-San Antonio construction site in September 2021.
The Buzbee Law Firm2025 · Harris County District Court (Case No. 2021-68047), Judge Erica R. HughesRead the full story → - $557 millionVerdict
$557 Million Verdict Against Union Pacific After a Houston Train Strike
A Harris County jury awarded Mary Johnson $557 million against Union Pacific for a 2016 Houston train strike that cost her a leg, several fingers, and left her with a brain injury, a figure the trial court later cut and an appeals court reversed for a new trial.
After trial: The trial court entered judgment at about $73.5 million under Texas proportionate responsibility rules; in June 2026 an appeals court reversed and sent the case back for a new trial.
- $502 million (reduced to ~$151 million post-trial; vacated on appeal)VerdictProduct Liability
$502 Million Verdict Against J&J in Second DePuy Pinnacle Hip Bellwether Trial
In the second federal bellwether trial, a Dallas jury awarded five Texas plaintiffs $502 million against Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy unit over defective metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants, with W. Mark Lanier leading trial for the plaintiffs.
After trial: The reduced award was vacated by the Fifth Circuit in 2018, and the claims folded into the 2019 global settlement.
The Lanier Law Firm2016 · U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas, Dallas (MDL 2244)Read the full story → - $325 millionVerdictSexual Abuse
$325 Million Verdict for Child Sexual Abuse Survivor in Bexar County
A San Antonio jury returned the largest sexual assault verdict in U.S. history against a sole assailant, awarding $325 million to a child sexually abused by her grandfather over multiple years.
After trial: The verdict is against an individual defendant and is largely uncollectable.
The Carlson Law Firm2023 · 285th District Court, Bexar County, TX (Judge Nadine Nieto)Read the full story → - $296 millionVerdictWrongful Death
$296 Million Verdict Against Koch Industries for Butane Pipeline Deaths in Kaufman County
A Kaufman County jury awarded $296 million in compensatory damages against Koch Industries after a corroded, unmaintained butane pipeline exploded and killed two teenagers on August 24, 1996.
After trial: Koch settled confidentially before the punitive damages phase went to the jury.
- $268.6 millionVerdictMedical Malpractice
Jury Awards $268 Million After Medical City Gave a 13-Year-Old Girl a Fatal Propofol Overdose
A Dallas County jury returned one of the largest medical-malpractice verdicts in the country after a teenager with cerebral palsy died at Medical City Dallas when hospital staff administered multiple times the appropriate dose of the anesthetic propofol following a routine airway procedure.
- $262.5 millionVerdictCar Accidents
$262.5 Million Verdict for Odessa Man Left Quadriplegic After Bar Overserved His Attacker
An Ector County jury awarded $262.5 million to Isaac Sanchez, left quadriplegic when a drunk driver who had been served 19 drinks at Linx Bar and Grill rear-ended his motorcycle at a North Odessa intersection in June 2021.
- $253 million (reduced to ~$26 million)VerdictProduct Liability
$253 Million Verdict Against Merck in First U.S. Vioxx Trial
A Texas jury handed down the first U.S. verdict against Merck over its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx, awarding $253 million to the widow of Robert Ernst after W. Mark Lanier persuaded jurors the drug caused Ernst's fatal heart attack.
After trial: The reduced judgment did not survive appeal: in 2008 a Texas appeals court rendered a take-nothing judgment for Merck, and the family recovered nothing from the verdict.
- $247 millionVerdictProduct Liability
Dallas Jury Awards $247 Million to Six New York Patients Over J&J's Defective Pinnacle Hip Implants
A Dallas federal jury awarded six New York patients $247 million against Johnson and Johnson and its DePuy unit, finding that the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implant system was defectively designed and that the company concealed known risks from patients and surgeons.
After trial: The Pinnacle hip claims were later resolved in a global settlement of about $1 billion in 2019.
The Lanier Law Firm2017 · U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas, Dallas (MDL 2244)Read the full story → - $230 millionVerdictWrongful Death
Federal Court Awards $230 Million Against U.S. Air Force for Sutherland Springs Church Shooting
In February 2022, a federal judge ordered the United States to pay $230 million to survivors and families of the 2017 Sutherland Springs church shooting after finding the Air Force 60 percent liable for failing to report the gunman's criminal history to the federal background check system.
After trial: The Justice Department settled the Sutherland Springs cases for $144.5 million in 2023.
National Trial Law2022 · U.S. District Court, W.D. Texas (San Antonio), No. 5:18-cv-00555Read the full story → - $222 millionVerdictWorkplace Injury
Fort Bend County Jury Returns $222 Million in Power-Plant Steam Death
A Fort Bend County jury awarded $222 million to the widow of Jesse Henson, a power-plant repairman scalded to death by superheated steam from a relief valve serviced by Team Industrial Services, a judgment a Texas appeals court later reversed before dismissing the case on the ground that it belonged in Kansas.
- $210 millionVerdictWrongful Death
Bexar County Jury Awards $210 Million in Wrongful Death of Andreen McDonald
A Bexar County civil jury awarded $210 million to the family of Andreen McDonald, killed by her husband in 2019, in what is reported to be the largest personal injury verdict in county history.
- $209.2 millionVerdictWorkplace Injury
Houston Jury Awards $209.2 Million in Terra Energy Hantavirus Death
A Harris County jury awarded Laura Schneider and her three children $209.2 million after finding that Terra Energy Partners hid a known hantavirus danger that killed her husband, Karl.
- $198.2 millionVerdictPremises Liability
$198.2 Million Verdict for Sexual Assault Survivor Kristene Chapa Against Attacker and Family Pharmacy
A San Patricio County jury awarded $198.2 million to Kristene Chapa, who was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and shot in the head at a public park in 2012, with the verdict holding her convicted attacker, his father, and their family pharmacy jointly liable.
The Buzbee Law Firm2026 · San Patricio County District Court (Case No. S-17-5294CV-C), Judge Janna K. WhatleyRead the full story → - $159 millionVerdictWorkplace Injury
$159 Million Verdict for Workers Burned in Valero Refinery Explosion
A Houston jury awarded $159 million to five oilfield workers burned, and the family of one man killed, in a 2012 liquid-fire explosion at Valero Energy's Memphis, Tennessee refinery.
All Texas verdicts and settlements
106 results, largest first
John Eddie Williams, Jr. served as one of five private attorneys retained by the State of Texas to sue the major tobacco companies, producing a $15.3 billion settlement in January 1998, the largest single-case settlement in U.S. history at the time.
A Dallas jury awarded $1.1 billion against a trust fund heir who beat a 2-year-old into a permanent vegetative state in 2021, a verdict the firm calls the largest child-assault award in U.S. history.
Khaldoun Baghdadi was on the plaintiffs' trial team that won a federal jury verdict topping $1 billion for six California patients harmed by DePuy's metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants, an award the trial judge later cut to about $543 million.
A Dallas federal jury awarded $1.04 billion to six California patients harmed by Johnson and Johnson's metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants, with W. Mark Lanier leading an eight-week trial that produced one of the largest product-liability verdicts of 2016.
A Dallas County jury found developer Greystar liable for the 2019 tower crane collapse that killed 29-year-old Kiersten Smith in her apartment, returning an $860 million verdict that Jason and Cory Itkin helped win for her family.
A Dallas jury awarded $860,012,006 to the family of Kiersten Smith, a 29-year-old woman killed when a construction crane collapsed onto her Old East Dallas apartment during a 2019 storm, finding developer Greystar fully liable for failing to allow the crane to weather vane.
A Harris County jury awarded $640 million to the family of David Lester Loree II, a journeyman pipefitter fatally crushed when a top-heavy HVAC unit being lifted by TNT Crane and Rigging overturned in high winds at a Texas A&M University-San Antonio construction site in September 2021.
A Harris County jury awarded Mary Johnson $557 million against Union Pacific for a 2016 Houston train strike that cost her a leg, several fingers, and left her with a brain injury, a figure the trial court later cut and an appeals court reversed for a new trial.
In the second federal bellwether trial, a Dallas jury awarded five Texas plaintiffs $502 million against Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy unit over defective metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implants, with W. Mark Lanier leading trial for the plaintiffs.
A San Antonio jury returned the largest sexual assault verdict in U.S. history against a sole assailant, awarding $325 million to a child sexually abused by her grandfather over multiple years.
A Kaufman County jury awarded $296 million in compensatory damages against Koch Industries after a corroded, unmaintained butane pipeline exploded and killed two teenagers on August 24, 1996.
A Dallas County jury returned one of the largest medical-malpractice verdicts in the country after a teenager with cerebral palsy died at Medical City Dallas when hospital staff administered multiple times the appropriate dose of the anesthetic propofol following a routine airway procedure.
An Ector County jury awarded $262.5 million to Isaac Sanchez, left quadriplegic when a drunk driver who had been served 19 drinks at Linx Bar and Grill rear-ended his motorcycle at a North Odessa intersection in June 2021.
A Texas jury handed down the first U.S. verdict against Merck over its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx, awarding $253 million to the widow of Robert Ernst after W. Mark Lanier persuaded jurors the drug caused Ernst's fatal heart attack.
A Dallas federal jury awarded six New York patients $247 million against Johnson and Johnson and its DePuy unit, finding that the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implant system was defectively designed and that the company concealed known risks from patients and surgeons.
In February 2022, a federal judge ordered the United States to pay $230 million to survivors and families of the 2017 Sutherland Springs church shooting after finding the Air Force 60 percent liable for failing to report the gunman's criminal history to the federal background check system.
A Fort Bend County jury awarded $222 million to the widow of Jesse Henson, a power-plant repairman scalded to death by superheated steam from a relief valve serviced by Team Industrial Services, a judgment a Texas appeals court later reversed before dismissing the case on the ground that it belonged in Kansas.
A Bexar County civil jury awarded $210 million to the family of Andreen McDonald, killed by her husband in 2019, in what is reported to be the largest personal injury verdict in county history.
A Harris County jury awarded Laura Schneider and her three children $209.2 million after finding that Terra Energy Partners hid a known hantavirus danger that killed her husband, Karl.
A San Patricio County jury awarded $198.2 million to Kristene Chapa, who was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and shot in the head at a public park in 2012, with the verdict holding her convicted attacker, his father, and their family pharmacy jointly liable.
A Houston jury awarded $159 million to five oilfield workers burned, and the family of one man killed, in a 2012 liquid-fire explosion at Valero Energy's Memphis, Tennessee refinery.
After a federal judge found the Air Force 60 percent responsible for the 2017 church massacre and awarded $230 million to 80 claimants, the case settled for $144.5 million, with the Law Offices of Thomas J. Henry serving as co-counsel for plaintiff families.
A Dallas jury returned a $119.6 million verdict against the Catholic Diocese of Dallas after finding it grossly negligent and fraudulent in concealing years of sexual abuse by priest Rudy Kos; eight of the eleven plaintiffs, represented by Windle Turley, later settled for $23.4 million.
A unanimous Travis County jury returned a $112.9 million verdict against Wings 'N More and the intoxicated driver who struck the Carpenter family vehicle in August 2023, causing catastrophic injuries to a 6-year-old passenger.