Top Individual Utah Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements
The 10 largest individual personal injury results in Utah 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 Utah →- $951 millionVerdictNot collectableMedical Malpractice
Utah Judge Awards $951 Million Over Botched Delivery at Steward-Owned Jordan Valley Medical Center
A Utah judge entered a $951 million default judgment against Steward Health Care after newly trained nurses, an excessive Pitocin drip, and a delayed C-section at Jordan Valley Medical Center left a newborn permanently brain damaged.
After trial: Steward Health Care, the defendant, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2024 amid the collapse of its hospital chain. After the August 2025 verdict, attorneys for the family said it was uncertain whether they could ever collect and were hoping to recover at least the roughly $475 million awarded in punitive damages.
Claggett & Sykes Trial Lawyers2025 · Third District Court, Salt Lake City, UtahRead the full story → - $81 millionVerdictTruck Accidents
$81 Million Utah Verdict After a Truck Killed a 12-Year-Old in a Marked Crosswalk
A retrial jury in Utah's Fourth District Court awarded $81 million against Beacon Roofing Supply after one of its trucks struck and killed a 12-year-old boy who was crossing legally in a marked crosswalk.
- $60,000,000 judgment ($50,000,000 compensatory plus $10,000,000 punitive)Not collectableCar Accidents
Her Car Ran Out of Gas on I-15, So She Pulled Onto the Shoulder and Put the Flashers On. The Drunk Driver Who Hit It Killed Her and Her 16-Year-Old Son. A Utah Judge Ordered $60 Million.
On Halloween night 2021 Season Dow's car ran out of gas on Interstate 15 in Orem and she stopped on the shoulder with her hazard lights on. Kesley Pope, 22, driving her father's uninsured truck at about twice the legal blood alcohol limit, drove straight into it. Season Dow died at the scene and her 16-year-old son died in hospital. Pope is in prison. In June 2026, after a two-day civil trial, Judge Derek Pullan ordered her to pay the family $60,000,000.
After trial: This is a bench judgment after a two-day trial in April 2026, with damages ordered in June 2026, and it is recent: no appellate record exists and no post-judgment motion has been reported. No cap applies, because Article XVI, Section 5 of the Utah Constitution forbids limiting wrongful-death damages, as the Utah Supreme Court held in Smith v. United States, 2017 UT 43. Utah Code 78B-8-201(3)(a) sends half of any punitive award above $50,000 to the state; no source says whether that was applied to the $10,000,000 punitive component, and the figure here is the full judgment. The separate judgment against Jeff Pope, limited to the minimum liability coverage he failed to carry on the truck, is not included. Collectability: the defendant is an individual serving a prison sentence, the truck she was driving was uninsured, and no other payer has been identified. The figure here is what the court ordered, not what the family has received.
Flickinger Boulton Robson Weeks2026 · Fourth Judicial District Court, Utah County, Provo UTRead the full story → - $52.2 millionVerdictWrongful Death
$52.2 Million Wrongful Death Verdict for the Family of Slain Polygamist Leader Rulon Allred
A federal jury in Utah awarded $52.2 million to the survivors of Rulon Allred, believed at the time to be the largest wrongful death verdict in state history, against the woman who confessed in print to killing him 15 years earlier.
Parker & McConkie Personal Injury Lawyers1992 · U.S. District Court, District of UtahRead the full story → - $25 millionVerdictReduced after trialProduct Liability
A Tilt Wand Would Have Cost the Manufacturer Nothing Instead of the Cord. A 3-Year-Old Got Tangled in It, and a Salt Lake Jury Awarded $25 Million.
A 3-year-old girl was found with a window blind cord wrapped around her neck at her family's home in Lehi. She died a week later of brain damage from oxygen deprivation. The jury found Century Blinds had made corded blinds for years without fitting a tilt wand that cost nothing extra, and without supplying the cleats that let a parent wind cords out of reach.
After trial: The $24,000,000 to the family is compensatory rather than punitive, which matters in Utah: Utah Code 78B-8-201(3)(a) sends half of any punitive award above $50,000 to the state, and it does not reach a compensatory award. Utah does not cap ordinary tort damages, and this is not a medical malpractice case, so the 78B-3-410 cap has no application. Two things we could not confirm. No Utah appellate record exists for this case, so we cannot confirm that judgment was entered on the full $25,000,000 or that Century Blinds did not appeal. And other blind manufacturers were co-defendants, with Century Blinds described in coverage as at least partially responsible, so how the award was apportioned under Utah's several-liability regime is unconfirmed.
- $16,000,000 default judgment ($4,000,000 compensatory plus $12,000,000 punitive)Not collectableSexual Abuse
She Was 14 When Warren Jeffs Married Her to Her 19-Year-Old Cousin Over Her Objections. Twelve Years After She Sued, a Utah Judge Entered $16 Million Against Him and His Church.
A girl of 14 was married to her 19-year-old cousin in a ceremony Warren Jeffs arranged and performed himself, over her objections, and then pressured to bear children. She sued Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 2005 under the initials MJ. Neither defended. On September 5, 2017 Judge Keith Kelly entered a $16,000,000 default judgment: $4,000,000 in damages and $12,000,000 in punitive damages. Jeffs is serving life plus 20 years in Texas.
After trial: A default judgment, entered September 5, 2017, because neither Warren Jeffs nor the FLDS Church appeared to defend a case filed in 2005. Nothing was reduced and no appeal is recorded. Utah Code 78B-8-201(3)(a) sends half of any punitive award above $50,000 to the state; no source says whether it was applied to the $12,000,000 punitive component, and the figure here is the full judgment. The 2016 settlement with the United Effort Plan trust for $2,750,000 in cash and property is a separate recovery and is not added here. Collectability: Jeffs has been incarcerated since 2006 and is serving life plus 20 years in Texas; counsel described pursuing church assets across several states and two countries, and no payment has been reported. The figure is what the court ordered, not what the plaintiff has received.
Dewsnup King Olsen Worel Havas2017 · Third Judicial District Court, Salt Lake City UTRead the full story → - $15,007,508.45 (verdict; on appeal in the Tenth Circuit)VerdictOn appealCivil Rights
Her Father Called for Help With Her Addiction. She Died of Dehydration in the Jail, and the Physician Assistant Did Not Come Until She Had Been Dead Twelve Hours.
Madison Jensen, 21, was booked into the Duchesne County Jail in 2016 after her father contacted authorities for help with her heroin addiction and suicidal thoughts. Over four days of withdrawal she could not keep food or water down. She died of severe dehydration. The jury found the county had failed to train its staff or set any protocol for inmate medical problems.
After trial: On appeal, and this figure is not final. The jury returned $15,007,508.45 on April 18, 2025, allocated $14,957,508.45 against Duchesne County and $50,000 against Nurse Jana Clyde. Duchesne County commissioners were publicly weighing an appeal when the verdict came in and they filed one: Estate of Madison Jody Jensen v. Duchesne County, Tenth Circuit No. 25-4060, docketed May 16, 2025. Because this is a claim under 42 U.S.C. 1983, Utah's Governmental Immunity Act cap in Utah Code 63G-7-604 does not apply and the full figure was enterable, but the appeal is live and the number should be read as a verdict rather than a recovery. The same case had already been to the Tenth Circuit once before trial, as Estate of Madison Jody Jensen v. Clyde, No. 20-4024 (Mar. 2, 2021).
- $13.5 millionSettlementWrongful Death
$13.5 Million Settlement for Family of Slain Student-Athlete Lauren McCluskey
Parker and McConkie secured a $13.5 million settlement for the family of Lauren McCluskey, a University of Utah track athlete murdered on campus after police failed to act on her repeated stalking reports.
- $10.55 millionVerdictWrongful Death
$10.55 Million Verdict for Family of Ugandan Activist Killed by Unsecured Gate at Arches National Park
A federal judge awarded $10.55 million to the family of Esther Nakajjigo, a 25-year-old Ugandan human rights activist killed on her honeymoon when an unsecured metal gate arm at Arches National Park swung into her husband's vehicle, delivering the largest federal wrongful death verdict in Utah history.
Frank Penney Injury Lawyers2023 · U.S. District Court, District of Utah (Central Division), Judge Bruce S. JenkinsRead the full story → - $10.5 millionVerdictWrongful Death
$10.5 Million Verdict for Family of Ugandan Activist Killed by Unsecured Gate at Arches National Park
A federal judge awarded $10.5 million to the family of Esther Nakajjigo, a 25-year-old Ugandan human-rights activist decapitated by a wind-driven metal gate left unsecured for two weeks at Arches National Park, in what the court called the largest federal wrongful-death verdict in Utah history.
McGinn Montoya Love Curry & Sievers2023 · U.S. District Court, District of Utah (Judge Bruce Jenkins)Read the full story →
All Utah verdicts and settlements
19 results, largest first
A Utah judge entered a $951 million default judgment against Steward Health Care after newly trained nurses, an excessive Pitocin drip, and a delayed C-section at Jordan Valley Medical Center left a newborn permanently brain damaged.
A retrial jury in Utah's Fourth District Court awarded $81 million against Beacon Roofing Supply after one of its trucks struck and killed a 12-year-old boy who was crossing legally in a marked crosswalk.
On Halloween night 2021 Season Dow's car ran out of gas on Interstate 15 in Orem and she stopped on the shoulder with her hazard lights on. Kesley Pope, 22, driving her father's uninsured truck at about twice the legal blood alcohol limit, drove straight into it. Season Dow died at the scene and her 16-year-old son died in hospital. Pope is in prison. In June 2026, after a two-day civil trial, Judge Derek Pullan ordered her to pay the family $60,000,000.
A federal jury in Utah awarded $52.2 million to the survivors of Rulon Allred, believed at the time to be the largest wrongful death verdict in state history, against the woman who confessed in print to killing him 15 years earlier.
A 3-year-old girl was found with a window blind cord wrapped around her neck at her family's home in Lehi. She died a week later of brain damage from oxygen deprivation. The jury found Century Blinds had made corded blinds for years without fitting a tilt wand that cost nothing extra, and without supplying the cleats that let a parent wind cords out of reach.
Siegfried and Jensen attorneys, led by Joseph Steele, were appointed Special Assistant Attorneys General in the Utah Attorney General's action against Eli Lilly, securing a $24 million settlement over the company's decade-long campaign to push its antipsychotic Zyprexa to Medicaid patients for conditions the FDA had never approved.
A girl of 14 was married to her 19-year-old cousin in a ceremony Warren Jeffs arranged and performed himself, over her objections, and then pressured to bear children. She sued Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 2005 under the initials MJ. Neither defended. On September 5, 2017 Judge Keith Kelly entered a $16,000,000 default judgment: $4,000,000 in damages and $12,000,000 in punitive damages. Jeffs is serving life plus 20 years in Texas.
Madison Jensen, 21, was booked into the Duchesne County Jail in 2016 after her father contacted authorities for help with her heroin addiction and suicidal thoughts. Over four days of withdrawal she could not keep food or water down. She died of severe dehydration. The jury found the county had failed to train its staff or set any protocol for inmate medical problems.
Parker and McConkie secured a $13.5 million settlement for the family of Lauren McCluskey, a University of Utah track athlete murdered on campus after police failed to act on her repeated stalking reports.
A federal judge awarded $10.55 million to the family of Esther Nakajjigo, a 25-year-old Ugandan human rights activist killed on her honeymoon when an unsecured metal gate arm at Arches National Park swung into her husband's vehicle, delivering the largest federal wrongful death verdict in Utah history.
A federal judge awarded $10.5 million to the family of Esther Nakajjigo, a 25-year-old Ugandan human-rights activist decapitated by a wind-driven metal gate left unsecured for two weeks at Arches National Park, in what the court called the largest federal wrongful-death verdict in Utah history.
The University of Utah agreed to pay $5 million to the parents of Zhifan Dong, a 19-year-old international student killed by her boyfriend at a Salt Lake City hotel in February 2022, after an internal review confirmed university staff missed repeated warning signs that she was in danger.
Lillian Birt was in the ICU with respiratory failure, septic shock and reduced heart function. Her children agreed to discontinue life support because they understood from her doctors that her condition was terminal and treatment was only prolonging her death. It was not terminal, and there was a high likelihood she would have recovered. She died about eight hours later.
A Salt Lake City mother called 911 asking for help getting her autistic 13-year-old son to a hospital during a separation-anxiety crisis. An officer chased the unarmed boy over a fence and fired eleven shots from 15 to 20 feet away. Six hit him. The city paid $3 million, the largest such settlement in its history.
A Weber County jury awarded $2.5 million in non-economic damages ($1.875 million after a 25 percent comparative-fault reduction) to the widow of a Utah man fatally struck by a New Prime semi-truck near his broken-down vehicle on the I-15 shoulder. The Utah Court of Appeals later reversed the verdict and remanded for a new trial.
Amy Herzog worked at Jupiter Bowl in Kimball Junction. During a Park City Mountain Resort employee party in April 2019, a resort employee performed a 360-degree spin and released his ball into her lane while she was freeing a stuck ball from the gutter, crushing her left hand. Three surgeries left her with a permanently deformed hand that cannot form a fist. A Summit County jury found Vail Resorts 80 percent at fault and its employee 20 percent, awarded $2,402,000, and found the employee was acting within the scope of his employment. The trial judge later vacated the employer-liability finding and cut the award by 20 percent, but the Utah Court of Appeals reversed that ruling in 2025 and reinstated the full judgment.
Morley Reed Sprague had advanced multiple sclerosis and lower-body paralysis and could not reposition himself. He entered Avalon Care Center with a small stage-one pressure ulcer on his right buttock. Within a month it had deteriorated to exposed bone and become infected. He never recovered and died 22 months later.
Salt Lake County paid $1.5 million to the mother of a 25-year-old woman who died of methamphetamine toxicity at the county jail after nursing staff dismissed her overdose symptoms as a panic attack and left her unmonitored in a prone position.
Utah's Department of Transportation paid $1.45 million to resolve wrongful-death and injury claims brought by survivors and families of four Chinese tourists killed when a tour bus rolled over on a freshly resurfaced section of State Road 12 near Bryce Canyon in September 2019.