Top Virginia Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements

A Richmond Circuit Court jury awarded $360 million to three former adolescent patients who were sexually abused by Dr. Daniel Davidow, the medical director of Cumberland Hospital for Children, during what he called routine femoral pulse exams.

Morgan & Morgan's John Yanchunis served as court-appointed co-lead counsel in the multidistrict litigation over Capital One's 2019 data breach, which exposed the personal information of roughly 98 million U.S. customers. The $190 million settlement won final approval in 2022 as one of the largest data breach recoveries in U.S. history.

A Suffolk jury returned a $60 million verdict, then the largest damages award in Virginia history, for Brian Hugen, who suffered catastrophic traumatic brain injury when a Velocity Express delivery van crossed into his lane; the Virginia Supreme Court affirmed liability but ordered a new trial on damages.

A 59-year-old woman went in for elective lumbar surgery to relieve chronic back pain and came out severely brain-damaged after her iliac artery was severed; an Arlington County jury awarded $35,620,902, the second-highest Virginia medical malpractice verdict that year, before the state cap cut the judgment to $2.2 million.

Price Benowitz, with co-counsel Ben Crump, filed a $25 million wrongful death suit for the father of Rolin Hill, who died in 2024 after Virginia Beach jail deputies restrained and beat him during a mental health crisis.

A Hampton jury awarded Christopher Denton $25 million after a cardiologist read his cardiac test results as normal, diagnosed a minor heart infection, and sent him home on over-the-counter medication -- months before Denton suffered a massive heart attack that left him functioning with roughly half his cardiac capacity.

A $24 million settlement obtained for the family of a 33-year-old nurse killed when a commercial truck crossed the center line at highway speed is the largest reported wrongful death recovery in Virginia history, doubling the previous record.

A Richmond jury awarded $23 million to a commercial truck driver who suffered a traumatic brain injury, crushed pelvis, and right-leg amputation when a Moen Inc. tractor-trailer parked in the emergency lane of I-295 pulled back into traffic and was struck by his rig at highway speed.

A Virginia jury awarded $21.8 million to the family of Randall Redford, a maintenance-of-way worker who died of Acute Myeloid Leukemia after 38 years of diesel-exhaust exposure on Norfolk Southern's tracks, with Napoli Shkolnik attorney Chris Schnieders securing the verdict under FELA.

A Charles City County jury returned a $20 million verdict for a ten-year-old boy who suffered third-degree burns across 25 percent of his body after contacting 13,200 volts inside an inadequately secured Virginia Power substation next to his Richmond apartment complex, and the Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the award in full.

Nine boys abused by a Colonial Heights church youth leader secured a $17.61 million global settlement in July 2025, wrapping up nearly nine years of civil litigation and paying out four times what the defendants' insurers claimed they owed.

A Charlottesville jury awarded $15 million in May 2022 to the mother and sister of Yeardley Love, a University of Virginia lacrosse player killed by her former boyfriend in 2010, more than a decade after his criminal conviction.

A 23-year-old grain truck driver was killed when an electrical arc jumped from an overhead high-voltage power line to the portable auger he was using at a commercial silo, and his family recovered $12 million from the power company and property owner.

A federal judge approved an $11.5 million settlement for a Virginia Beach Navy family whose son was born with severe brain damage at U.S. Naval Hospital Guam in 2014, after attorneys Michael Imprevento and Kevin Biniazan sued the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act.

A 15-year-old Miller School of Albemarle boarding student suffered catastrophic internal injuries when he fell onto a cut bamboo stalk during a school-supervised service project, resulting in a $10 million jury verdict and total recoveries of $10.75 million.

A Newport News jury found the assistant principal of Richneck Elementary School grossly negligent and awarded $10 million to teacher Abby Zwerner, who was shot in her classroom by a 6-year-old student on January 6, 2023.

A tractor-trailer drifted into a retired 20-year veteran's lane on Interstate 95 North and killed him, and Marks & Harrison recovered $10 million for his family before any lawsuit was filed.

A City of Richmond worker suffered permanent brain damage when a runaway Norfolk Southern boxcar with a missing brake rod drove a floodwall gate into him, and a Richmond jury returned a $10 million verdict.

A heavy retail display toppled onto a 7-year-old, fracturing the child's skull and forcing emergency brain surgery, and Marks & Harrison resolved the premises liability case for $9 million.

Patrick Malone won an $8.85 million verdict against the maker of Tylenol after a former White House aide lost his liver to a drug he took exactly as directed.

Ben Crump and Richmond attorney Mark Krudys, representing the family of Irvo Otieno, negotiated an $8.5 million settlement with the Commonwealth of Virginia, Henrico County, and the county sheriff after the 28-year-old died of asphyxiation while being pinned to the floor by deputies and hospital staff during his admission to a state psychiatric hospital. A Henrico Circuit Court judge approved the settlement in September 2023.

Allen, Allen, Allen and Allen secured a $7.6 million settlement for a U.S. Army logistics officer who suffered life-threatening injuries after colliding with a disabled pickup truck that a tractor-trailer had left blocking Interstate 64 at 3:30 in the morning.

A 23-year-old mother suffered burns to 36% of her body after a corroded natural gas pipe fed an undetected leak into an apartment complex's outdoor grill enclosure, triggering an explosion when she attempted to light it.

A 40-year-old motorcyclist whose foot was traumatically amputated after an oncoming driver cut across his lane recovered $7 million in a settlement reached one month before trial.