Top Wisconsin Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements

Willis Family Wrongful Death Settlement: $100 Million After Six Children Killed in I-94 Truck Crash

Power Rogers LLP recovered $100 million for Rev. Scott and Janet Willis after six of their nine children were killed when a mudflap assembly fell from a tractor-trailer on I-94 and ignited their minivan, a case that ultimately exposed an Illinois license-bribery scheme and sent Governor George Ryan to federal prison.

After trial: This was a settlement, not a jury verdict. The case never went to trial: the Willis family and the defendants settled the wrongful death claims for $100 million in 1999.

Habush's $99.25 Million Miller Park Crane Collapse Verdict

Robert Habush won a $99.25 million Milwaukee County jury verdict for the widows of three ironworkers killed when the Big Blue crane collapsed at Miller Park. The appeals court vacated the $94 million punitive award, the Wisconsin Supreme Court reinstated the claim in 2005, and the widows settled in January 2006 for about $30 million.

After trial: Settled for about $30 million: the Court of Appeals vacated the $94 million punitive award in 2003, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed in 2005 and remanded on whether the amount was excessive. The three widows settled in January 2006 for about $30 million combined, paid by the site's insurers.

Racine Jury Awards $38.1 Million Against Hyundai Over Defective Seat and Head Restraint

A Racine County jury found Hyundai's driver-seat and head-restraint design defective and awarded Edward and Susan Vanderventer $38.1 million, the largest single-plaintiff compensatory verdict in Wisconsin history, later upheld on appeal.

$35.3 Million After a Nurse Pushed Air Into a Premature Infant's Transfusion Line

A Walworth County jury found Waukesha Memorial Hospital liable after a nurse pushed air into a two-week-old premature infant's IV line during a blood transfusion, sending emboli to his brain and leaving him with permanent quadriplegia and no usable speech.

$29 Million Verdict for Cerebral Palsy After Midwife Failed to Call the OB in a Fetal Heart-Rate Crisis

A St. Croix County jury awarded $29 million to a Wisconsin boy born with cerebral palsy after a certified nurse-midwife failed to call the on-call obstetrician when his fetal heart rate collapsed during labor.

After trial: Subject to Wisconsin's cap: the jury awarded $29.07 million in March 2025, and the state's noneconomic damages cap for medical malpractice reduces the pain and suffering and loss of society awards. No entered judgment, post-verdict ruling, appeal or payment has been reported.

Milwaukee Jury Awards $25.3 Million to Quadruple Amputee Over Undiagnosed Strep A Infection

A Milwaukee County jury awarded $25.3 million after emergency room providers failed to tell Ascaris Mayo that her symptoms could mean a Strep A infection, an omission that cost her all four limbs, though the Wisconsin Supreme Court later reinstated the state's $750,000 cap on noneconomic damages.

Family Recovers $25.24 Million After an Unlicensed Resident Missed a Teen's Bowel Volvulus

A Milwaukee jury verdict and a related settlement delivered $25.24 million to a family after an unlicensed first-year resident spent 11 hours treating their teenage daughter for constipation while a twisted bowel killed the tissue it fed.

$22.5 Million After a Six-Week-Old Was Left Permanently Brain Damaged During Routine Spinal Surgery

A Fitchburg family recovered $22.5 million after their six-week-old son suffered permanent brain damage during surgery at UW Health's American Family Children's Hospital. The suit alleged an anesthesia resident failed to respond to prolonged low blood pressure readings. It is the second largest payment ever made by Wisconsin's Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund.

After trial: The settlement was paid through Wisconsin's Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund, the second largest payment in that fund's recorded history. Most of the money was placed in two accounts for the child's lifetime care.

Bomkamp v. Go Ends in $17.3 Million Settlement After a Splenectomy Left a Child With Permanent Brain Damage

A six-year-old girl suffered cardiac arrest and permanent brain damage when a surgeon used a morcellator he had never operated during a routine spleen removal, and the case settled for $17.3 million, the largest sum reported to the Wisconsin Law Journal in 2009.

$15 Million Verdict After Retaining Wall Collapse Buried a 74-Year-Old Woman at Her Senior Living Campus

An Ozaukee County jury awarded the estate of Judith Cisewski $15 million after a retaining wall at her Port Washington senior living campus collapsed and buried her under concrete blocks for roughly two hours; she died the following day.

After trial: This was a premises liability verdict, not a medical malpractice claim, so Wisconsin's statutory damages caps do not apply to it. No appeal has been publicly reported.

Family Settles for $13.5 Million After Girl Dies in South Milwaukee Sizzler E. coli Outbreak

The family of a three-year-old girl who died of E. coli traced to contaminated beef at a South Milwaukee Sizzler reached a $13.5 million settlement, among the largest food-borne-illness recoveries in the country.

$12 Million for Two Families After an Overloaded Cement Truck Ran a Red Light in Waukesha County

Cannon & Dunphy recovered $12 million for two families after an illegally overloaded cement truck ran a red light in Waukesha County, killing a van's driver and leaving a passenger with permanent brain injuries.

$10.2 Million Verdict Over a Pitocin-Related Birth Injury at Ascension All Saints Hospital

A Racine County jury awarded a family $10.2 million after finding that a doctor and Ascension All Saints Hospital mismanaged Pitocin during labor, causing brain damage in the newborn that has lasted into childhood.

After trial: Wisconsin caps noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases at $750,000. No source reviewed confirms whether that cap was applied to this verdict at judgment, so the $10.2 million reported here is the jury's verdict, not a confirmed final judgment amount.

$10 Million Settlement for Boy Brain-Damaged When Heart-Lung Machine Lines Were Reversed in Surgery

A 10-year-old boy was left with severe brain damage after the arterial and venous lines of a heart-lung machine were connected in reverse during open-heart surgery, and Cannon & Dunphy resolved the case for $10 million, reported as the first eight-figure personal injury settlement in Wisconsin history.

Cannon & Dunphy Recovers $9.7 Million in Door County Laundromat Arm-Amputation Case

An 11-year-old boy lost his left arm in a commercial Laundromat washer whose door could be opened mid-cycle, and Cannon & Dunphy reached a multimillion-dollar product-liability recovery against the Belgian manufacturer and the machine's suppliers.

$6.8 Million Verdict for Family of Teen Killed by Falling Concrete Panel at Milwaukee's O'Donnell Park Garage

A 13.5-ton concrete panel fell from the O'Donnell Park parking structure in Milwaukee on June 24, 2010 and killed a 15-year-old boy. In November 2013 a Milwaukee County jury put 88 percent of the fault on Advance Cast Stone, found it had concealed a defect in the installation, and awarded the boy's estate and mother more than $6.8 million in compensatory damages. It also awarded $15 million in punitive damages against the company, shared with another injured family.

After trial: The Wisconsin Court of Appeals affirmed the judgments against Advance Cast Stone in 2017 (2017 WI App 51), including punitive damages, but held insurer Liberty owes only its policy limits. We could not confirm the amount finally collected. See more

Milwaukee County Settles Jail Dehydration Death for $6.75 Million

Terrill Thomas, a 38-year-old Milwaukee man with a history of bipolar disorder, died of dehydration in the Milwaukee County Jail in April 2016 after a jail lieutenant ordered the water to his cell shut off for a week as punishment for flooding a previous cell. He lost 34 pounds before he was found dead on April 24, 2016. His estate sued Milwaukee County and the jail's medical contractor, Armor Correctional Health Services, in federal court, and the case settled in March 2019 for $6.75 million, split $5 million from the county and $1.75 million from Armor. The money was divided among Thomas's six children, several of them minors.

After trial: The settlement was paid: $5 million by Milwaukee County and $1.75 million by Armor Correctional Health Services, finalized in March 2019 and made public that May. There was no appeal; the lawsuit was dismissed as part of the settlement. See more

Milwaukee Jury Finds Gun Shop Negligent in Shooting of Two Police Officers After Straw Purchase

Milwaukee police officers Graham Kunisch and Bryan Norberg were shot in the face during a June 2009 traffic stop with a handgun sold through a straw purchase at Badger Guns. On October 13, 2015, a Milwaukee County jury found the shop negligent and awarded $3.6 million to Kunisch, $1.5 million to Norberg and $730,000 in punitive damages, about $5.83 million in all. The shop settled after the verdict in December 2015 for $1 million, which ended the case without an appeal.

After trial: The shop settled after the verdict in December 2015 for $1 million in total, so no appeal was decided. Kunisch received $216,120 and Norberg $74,427, with the rest going to the city of Milwaukee, fees and costs.

$4.9 Million Verdict for a Brain-Injured Boy Set a Wisconsin Record in 1979

Ted Warshafsky won a $4,983,966 award for a 9-year-old boy left with brain damage after a near-fatal car crash, the largest personal injury recovery in Wisconsin history at the time.

$4.5 Million Settlement After a Veolia Garbage Truck Ran Down a Green Bay Pedestrian in a Crosswalk

Habush Habush & Rottier recovered $4.5 million for a Green Bay woman whose left leg was amputated after a Veolia Solid Waste Midwest garbage truck ran her over in a downtown crosswalk while she had the walk signal.