Top Individual Washington Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements

Pierce County Jury Awards $130 Million Over Death of 2-Year-Old the State and Her Daycare Failed to Protect

A Pierce County jury awarded $130 million against the State of Washington and a South Hill daycare over the death of a 2-year-old girl who died of blunt force trauma in March 2022 after the state's child welfare agency returned her to a home where her abuser remained present and daycare staff failed to report visible injuries they had seen. After a five-week trial the jury found the Washington State Department of Children, Youth and Families 90% at fault and Love and Laughter Learning Centers, Inc. 10% at fault. Of that total, $52 million was awarded individually to the girl's estate, with the remainder split among four other family beneficiaries, and the jury returned a further $10 million against the mother and her boyfriend. News accounts described it as the largest verdict of its kind in Washington state history. Ray Dearie of Dearie Law Group represented the family.

After trial: As of publication, no independent source reports that DCYF or Love and Laughter Learning Centers has appealed. DCYF said after the verdict only that it was evaluating its legal options. See more

$82 Million Verdict Against Monsanto for PCB Exposure at the Sky Valley Education Center

A King County jury returned an $82 million verdict against Monsanto in December 2022 for a family exposed to PCBs at the Sky Valley Education Center in Monroe, Washington, awarding $20.5 million in compensatory damages and $61.5 million in punitive damages to one member of the family. The firm described it as the largest verdict against Monsanto for an individual plaintiff in any PCB case.

After trial: Monsanto's appeal was pending at the Washington Court of Appeals; Bayer's August 2025 Sky Valley settlement excluded cases already on appeal, and no final appellate decision in this case has been reported.

$65.75 Million Record Settlement for Attorney Brain-Injured When Seattle Ambulance Ran a Red Light

The City of Seattle and its five insurers paid $65.75 million to Brooke Taylor, a 38-year-old Susman Godfrey partner who suffered a catastrophic traumatic brain injury when a Seattle Fire Department aid unit went through a red light at Fourth Avenue and Seneca Street in April 2016 and struck her Porsche, spinning it into a signal box and a tree. Todd Gardner of Swanson Gardner Meyers negotiated the settlement, approved in King County Superior Court in late December 2018 and reported as the largest personal injury settlement in city history and likely the largest in Washington state.

Family of Student Killed in Seattle Crane Collapse Recovers $54.15 Million

A tower crane being disassembled in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood collapsed onto a city street in high wind on April 27, 2019, crushing an Uber carrying 19-year-old Seattle Pacific University student Sarah Wong and killing her. A King County jury found Northwest Tower Crane Service 45 percent at fault and Omega Morgan Sarens 30 percent at fault, and set the damages for Wong's death at more than $72 million as part of a verdict topping $150 million for five victims of the collapse. Because the remaining 25 percent of the fault went to Morrow Equipment, which had settled and was not a trial defendant, the two trial defendants were jointly and severally liable only for their combined 75 percent share, which left the Wong family $54.15 million under the judgment. Todd Gardner represented the Wong family at trial. Omega Morgan appealed on four grounds, and the Washington Court of Appeals affirmed in 2023.

After trial: Reduced and affirmed. The jury set damages above $72 million, but the two trial defendants were liable only for the 75 percent of fault assigned to them, leaving a $54.15 million judgment, which the Washington Court of Appeals affirmed in 2023 in an unpublished opinion. See more

$50 Million Verdict for Parents Whose Prenatal Genetic Test Missed the One Defect It Was Ordered to Find

A King County jury awarded $50 million to Rhea and Brock Wuth after Valley Medical Center failed to send LabCorp the family genetic report needed to screen for a known chromosome translocation and LabCorp ran only a routine karyotype without asking for it, leaving the couple's son to be born with the unbalanced translocation the testing was meant to detect. The verdict was affirmed on appeal in 2015.

After trial: Valley Medical Center settled during the appeal; the Washington Court of Appeals affirmed the verdict against LabCorp in August 2015 and review was denied in 2016.

$42.5 Million Verdict for EMT and Aspiring Firefighter Critically Injured in Left-Turn Motorcycle Crash

A Pierce County jury awarded $44.7 million to an EMT and volunteer firefighter left with permanent injuries after an SUV driver turned left through an uncontrolled intersection and into his path, a verdict Washington courts later upheld in full.

After trial: The jury awarded just over $44.7 million and put 5 percent of the fault on Simon, so under Washington's comparative fault rule the judgment is about $42.5 million, and the Court of Appeals affirmed in 2025. The entered judgment figure is not public.

$40.1 Million Verdict for Man Whose Heart Was Destroyed by Defective Cardiac Monitor

A Snohomish County jury awarded Paramjit Singh and his family $40.1 million after an Edwards Lifesciences cardiac monitoring device overheated during bypass surgery and destroyed his heart, forcing a transplant, because the manufacturer had concealed a known software defect for years.

Jury Awards $38 Million to Seattle Commuter Cyclist Disabled by Valet Driver Taking Illegal Shortcut

A King County jury awarded $38 million to Thyce Colyn, a commuter cyclist who suffered permanent brain damage and a shattered pelvis after a Standard Parking valet driver struck him while cutting illegally across 8th Avenue in downtown Seattle.

Jury Finds Clallam County 95 Percent at Fault After Rifle Training Accident Cost a Deputy His Leg

A Kitsap County jury found Clallam County 95 percent at fault when a sheriff's deputy's AR-15 discharged during a mandatory rifle qualification in March 2020, leaving him an amputee below the right knee. The September 17, 2026 verdict totaled $30,176,905 before fault was applied, and after the court applied the county's 95 percent share and other adjustments, the county was ordered to pay almost $28 million. The award includes $5 million to the deputy's wife for loss of consortium.

After trial: The jury's $30,176,905 gross verdict, with 95 percent fault on the county, came to $28.67 million; the judge adjusted it the next day, and The Seattle Times reported the county was ordered to pay almost $28 million, which is the figure we rank. The county said it was reviewing its legal options, and we found no appeal filing.

$28 Million Settlement for Teenager Left Quadriplegic After WSDOT Failed to Install Funded Highway Barrier

Washington state paid $28 million to a young woman left quadriplegic after her car struck an unguarded overpass pillar on I-5 near DuPont, where WSDOT had funding and a plan to install a protective barrier but never completed the work.

Federal Jury Awards $25 Million to Jail Detainee Over an Untreated Blood Clot That Cost Him His Leg

Javier Tapia was 42 when a blood clot went unaddressed for weeks during his 2018 incarceration at the Pierce County Jail in Tacoma, Washington, leading to gangrene and the amputation of his leg below the knee. Tapia sued Pierce County and its jail medical contractor, NaphCare, Inc., alleging deliberate indifference to his medical needs under the Fourteenth Amendment. Pierce County settled separately for $1 million and was dismissed before trial. In April 2025, after a jury trial in Seattle, a federal jury found NaphCare liable and awarded Tapia $5 million in compensatory damages and $20 million in punitive damages, a total of $25 million. The district court denied NaphCare's post-trial motions, and NaphCare has appealed to the Ninth Circuit.

After trial: On appeal. The district court denied NaphCare's motions for judgment as a matter of law, a new trial and remittitur, so the $25 million stood, and NaphCare appealed to the Ninth Circuit in August 2025. See more

ALS Patient's Family Awarded $24 Million After Fatal Stem Cell Injection

Michael Trujillo, a 62-year-old electrician from Colorado, was diagnosed with ALS in 2017 and sought treatment at Seattle Stem Cell Center after seeing the clinic's online marketing. In April 2019 a physician at the clinic gave him a spinal injection without imaging guidance while he was taking a blood thinner, causing catastrophic bleeding and brain herniation, and he was pronounced dead the next day. A King County jury returned a unanimous $24 million verdict for his estate, his widow and their five adult children, finding that negligence in his care caused his death. The clinic's owner, Dr. Tami Meraglia, said she intends to appeal.

After trial: On appeal. Dr. See more

$23.9 Million Kitsap County Birth Injury Verdict Against Jefferson Healthcare

A Kitsap County jury returned a $23.9 million verdict on December 20, 2019 against Jefferson County Public Hospital District, doing business as Jefferson Healthcare, after staff monitored the mother's heartbeat instead of the baby's for roughly three hours before delivery. The Court of Appeals affirmed on January 4, 2022, and the judgment was paid.

After trial: Affirmed unanimously by Division II in January 2022. No petition for review followed, and the carrier paid the judgment in full, roughly $25.5 million with interest.

$21.5 Million Settlement for Jogger Mauled by Dogs King County Failed to Remove

King County paid its largest personal injury settlement on record after a 38-year-old mother of two was mauled by two dogs the county had repeatedly been warned about but failed to remove.

$21 Million Verdict for Pedestrian Struck in Sumner Crosswalk, Followed by Driver's Bankruptcy

A Pierce County jury awarded Cristina Anderson $21 million in August 2023 after she was struck in a downtown Sumner crosswalk and suffered a traumatic brain injury. The driver carried $25,000 in liability coverage and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy after the verdict, and the fight over who pays the rest is still in the courts.

After trial: Collection is the real story: the defendant carried only $25,000 of liability coverage and filed Chapter 7. The resulting bad-faith and malpractice litigation against her insurer was partly dismissed and partly revived by Division II in October 2025, and a petition for review was still unresolved in 2026.

Xbox Designer Paralyzed After Overlake Hospital Missed Spinal Fracture Four Times: $20 Million Settlement

August de los Reyes, head of design for Microsoft's Xbox, was left permanently paralyzed from the chest down after Overlake Hospital staff failed to diagnose his spinal fracture across four emergency visits, and Luvera Law Firm secured a $20 million settlement that also required the hospital to partner with him on patient-safety reform.

$18.5 Million Settlement for Motorcyclist Left in Coma After I-5 Construction Zone Crash

Scott Bliss suffered catastrophic brain injury when a Scarsella Bros. dump truck made an illegal U-turn on an I-5 WSDOT construction ramp in Centralia, yielding what is believed to be the largest WSDOT settlement in Lewis County history.

Washington State Pays $16.95 Million to Survivors of Abuse at J Bar D Boys Ranch

Washington State agreed to pay $16.95 million to 12 former residents of the J Bar D Boys Ranch who were sexually and physically abused as children while in state custody during the late 1970s and early 1980s, with the settlement reached mid-trial after four weeks of testimony.

$16.9 Million Verdict for Family of Passenger Killed in PenAir Runway Overrun

A King County jury awarded $16.9 million to the family of David Oltman, killed when PenAir Flight 3296 overran the runway at Tom Madsen Airport in Unalaska, Alaska, after a maintenance contractor cross-wired the aircraft's antiskid brake system.

$16.7 Million Verdict for Family of Pregnant Woman Who Died of H1N1 After Clinic Withheld Tamiflu Option

A Pierce County jury awarded $16.7 million to the family of a pregnant Puyallup woman who died of H1N1 influenza after Summit View Clinic failed to tell her that Tamiflu was available to treat the infection. Ashton Dennis of Washington Law Center served as co-counsel for the family alongside Connelly Law Offices.

After trial: The trial court offset an earlier $3.5 million settlement with another provider and entered judgment for $13.35 million. In 2017 the Washington Court of Appeals affirmed the verdict and ordered judgment entered for the full $16.7 million.