Top Workplace Injury Personal Injury Settlements
The largest personal injury settlements for workplace injury cases for one client or family, ranked by amount. Each links to the full story, the firm, and the record behind the number.
- $44 millionSettlementNY
Construction Worker Left Without Oxygen for 20 Minutes After Debris Chute Collapse Wins $44 Million Settlement
Arian Hila, 48, suffered catastrophic traumatic brain injury at a Tappan, New York demolition site in February 2018 when a debris chute broke free and crushed him, leaving him without oxygen for nearly 20 minutes; a $44 million settlement was reached seven days into a 2024 jury trial.
Brandon J. Broderick, Personal Injury Attorney at Law2024 · New York State Supreme Court, Rockland County (New City, NY); Justice Sherri EisenpressRead the full story → - $40 millionSettlementIL
Local 1 Ironworker Receives $40 Million Settlement After 23-Foot Fall at Fermilab Particle Accelerator Site
James Daniels, a Local 1 ironworker, fell about 23 feet from a form wall on the $978 million Fermilab PIP-II particle accelerator project in May 2023, suffering catastrophic injuries including a traumatic brain injury, rib fractures, and nerve damage; GWC Injury Lawyers recovered a $40 million settlement in 2026.
- $28 millionSettlementPaidNJ
Electrician Burned Over 60 Percent of His Body in Newark Panel Explosion Settles With IDT Corp. and Co-Defendants for $28 Million
Carlos Gomez was burned over 60 percent of his body when an electrical panel exploded while he worked in a Newark office building in 2019. His suit against IDT Corp. and other defendants settled for $28 million, approved by the Essex County Superior Court in February 2023 and ranked by the New Jersey Law Journal as the largest reported New Jersey personal injury settlement of the court's 2022-2023 term.
After trial: A court-approved settlement, so there is no appeal and no post-trial reduction. The agreement was reached in 2022 and approved in Essex County in February 2023.
- $21 millionSettlementPaidNJ
Paralyzed Electrical Apprentice Reaches $21 Million Settlement Over Newark Arena Fall
Nicholas Dephillips, a 21-year-old apprentice electrician, fell about 15 feet through a drop ceiling while installing wiring for a helipad atop Newark's Prudential Center in January 2019, fracturing his cervical spine and leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. He sued his employer, Mehl Electric, general contractor Phelps Construction Group, and the arena in Superior Court of New Jersey, Essex County. In September 2021, before trial, he settled with Mehl Electric and its insurance carriers for $21 million, a figure his attorney called the largest construction site accident settlement in New Jersey at the time. His claims against Phelps went to trial in 2025, where a jury apportioned Phelps 36 percent of the liability, adding to his overall recovery from the incident.
After trial: The $21 million reported here is the September 2021 settlement with Mehl Electric only and is final; it was not subject to appeal. The claims against Phelps Construction Group that were still pending as of that settlement were later tried: on March 14, 2025, an Essex County jury found total damages of $20,080,976, apportioned 56 percent to Mehl Electric, 36 percent to Phelps, and 8 percent to Dephillips, resulting in a further recovery of $7,229,151 from Phelps and a combined total recovery across both outcomes of about $28.3 million.
- $20 millionSettlementSC
$20 Million Settlement After a Coworker Called an Elevator While a 65-Year-Old Mechanic Was Standing on Top of It
Lennox Hinckson, a 65-year-old elevator mechanic, was crushed and fell roughly 60 feet at Holcim's cement plant in Holly Hill, South Carolina, after a Holcim employee called the elevator he was working on from a floor below. His estate settled wrongful death and negligence claims against Holcim for $20 million.
After trial: The case settled before trial for $20 million; there was no verdict for either side to appeal, and no further litigation has been publicly reported.
Yarborough Applegate Law Firm2022 · South Carolina Court of Common Pleas, Orangeburg CountyRead the full story → - $18 millionSettlementPaidPA
Tour Photographer Crushed by a Runaway Forklift After a Green Day Concert Settles for $18 Million Seven Days Into Trial
Jake Chamseddine, a photographer working Green Day's Hella Mega Tour, was leaving Citizens Bank Park after the August 2021 Philadelphia show when a stagehand jumped off a moving forklift without setting the parking brake. The unmanned machine rolled down an exit ramp and crushed him against a concrete and metal post, lacerating his femoral artery and breaking his pelvis, femur, and lower back. He sued the Phillies, Live Nation, staging contractor Tri-State Stage Labor, and the forklift driver. After seven days of trial before Judge Caroline Turner, the defendants settled for $18 million on November 1, 2024, with Live Nation and Tri-State paying most of it.
After trial: Settled during trial on November 1, 2024. Live Nation and Tri-State Stage Labor are reported to be paying the majority, with the Phillies and other parties covering the remainder; the payers are institutions and insured contractors, which is why the row is tagged paid.
Stampone, O'Brien, Dilsheimer, Holloway2024 · Philadelphia County Court of Common PleasRead the full story → - $16 millionSettlementPaidGA
Runaway Railcar Costs Georgia Plant Worker Both Legs, CSX Settlement Reaches $16 Million
Douglas Burchfield, a General Mills employee at the company's cereal plant in Covington, Georgia, suffered the partial amputation of both legs when a loaded railcar rolled loose and ran him over during a routine railcar switch in June 2005. He sued CSX Transportation, which had delivered the car, arguing it put the car into service with a defective handbrake. A first jury cleared CSX, but the 11th Circuit reversed after finding the trial court had improperly let CSX show the jury a reenactment video, and a retrial jury found Burchfield zero percent negligent, CSX 100 percent negligent, and awarded him $20,559,004. CSX appealed, and while that appeal was pending the parties settled the claim for $16 million, which CSX paid.
After trial: CSX appealed the retrial judgment to the 11th Circuit. While that appeal was pending, the parties settled for $16 million and CSX paid it, so the retrial verdict itself was never reviewed on appeal.
Warshauer Woodward Atkins, LLC2012 · U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta DivisionRead the full story → - $8.23 millionSettlementNJ
Paraplegic Construction Worker Recovers $8.225 Million After Scaffolding Fall at Clark Developers Site
Jose Criollo, 46, fell from an unguarded scaffolding tower after airborne debris struck his eyes, sustaining a complete spinal cord injury at T12-T13 that left him permanently paraplegic; the case settled for $8.225 million against the general contractor and his employer combined.
- $4.2 millionSettlementNY
Perecman Firm Settles Scaffold Fall Case Against New York City for $4.2 Million
The Perecman Firm settled Cardona v. City of New York for $4.2 million after a 23-year-old worker fell from a scaffold, a result the New York Law Journal ranked seventh among 2018's top settlements.
- $4 millionSettlementNJ
Sea Girt Carpenter Rendered Quadriplegic in Rooftop Fall Receives $4 Million Settlement
After falling from a Sea Girt rooftop without a safety harness on May 4, 2017, and sustaining a complete cervical spinal cord injury that left him permanently quadriplegic, Roberto Carlos Bolanos settled his negligence claim against the general contractor for $4 million.
- $4 millionSettlementNC
Ironworker Paralyzed When Mall Demolition Overhang Gave Way Settles for $4 Million
A 41-year-old ironworker left paraplegic when an elevated walkway overhang collapsed under him during a Raleigh mall demolition reached a $4 million confidential settlement with the general contractor.
- $3.38 millionSettlementNY
$3.375 Million Settlement: Painting Foreman Falls 12 Feet from Defective Ladder at Manhattan High-Rise
A 42-year-old union painting foreman fell roughly 12 feet after being directed to climb the top half of a broken extension ladder at a 56-story Manhattan construction site, suffering spinal fractures and ultimately two surgeries.
- $3.33 millionSettlementNY
$3.325 Million Settlement After Falling Plywood Injures a Cement Worker: Cabrera v. Silverstein Properties
Steven B. Dorfman of The Perecman Firm secured a $3,325,000 settlement for a 54-year-old union cement worker who was seriously injured by a falling piece of plywood at a New York construction site.
- $2.6 millionSettlementNY
$2.6 Million Settlement for HVAC Worker Struck by Falling Ceiling Panel
A 40-year-old HVAC subcontractor was struck in the back of the head by an unsecured decorative ceiling panel on the 24th floor of a Lower Manhattan high-rise during a renovation, resulting in a $2.6 million settlement after the firm won summary judgment under New York Labor Law Section 240(1).
- $2.47 millionSettlementNY
$2.474 Million Settlement: Construction Worker Shocked by Live Electrical Conduit
A 43-year-old construction worker suffered nerve damage and two lumbar surgeries after his drill struck a live conduit in a parking garage where his foreman had assured the crew the power was off.
- $2 millionSettlementVA
Paralyzed Roofer Wins $2 Million Workers' Compensation Settlement From Statutory Employer
A roofer left paralyzed from the waist down after falling on the job for an uninsured contractor settled his Virginia workers' compensation claim for a $2 million lump sum.
Geoff McDonald & Associates, P.C.2022 · Virginia Workers' Compensation CommissionRead the full story → - $1.75 millionSettlementNY
$1.75 Million Settlement for Carpenter Forced to Carry 60-Pound Studs Up Stairs Without Freight Elevator
A Manhattan carpenter was directed by a general contractor's superintendent to carry bundles of heavy metal studs up six flights of stairs after no one reserved the building's freight elevator, causing a fall and three surgeries; the firm built its case on four consistent witness accounts and recovered $1.75 million.
- $1.75 millionSettlementNY
$1.75 Million Settlement for Electrician Whose Ladder Was Pulled Out From Under Him
A 46-year-old electrician suffered an open ankle fracture when his supervisor's wire-pulling yanked his ladder out from under him at a Staten Island construction site; the firm turned a $750,000 offer into a $1.75 million recovery.
- $1.35 millionSettlementPaidNY
Doctor Infected With HIV by Hospital Needle Settles Negligence Suit for $1.35 Million
Dr. Veronica Prego, a medical intern at Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn, pricked her finger in January 1983 on a needle that had been used minutes earlier to draw blood from a patient with AIDS, and she later tested positive for HIV. She sued the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation and two physicians in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn, saying the contaminated needle had been left in the patient's bedding instead of a disposal box. The hospital corporation denied negligence and its lawyer suggested at trial that Prego had drawn the blood herself. On the eve of summations in March 1990, after a nine-week trial, the corporation paid $1.35 million to settle, a figure Justice Aaron Bernstein disclosed only after the New York Post petitioned to lift a gag order. Susan Karten was one of the lawyers who tried the case for Prego.
After trial: The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation paid the $1.35 million settlement, and as part of it Prego discontinued the case against Dr. Fogel and Dr.
Susan M. Karten & Associates, LLP1990 · Supreme Court, Kings County (Brooklyn), NYRead the full story → - $1.3 millionSettlementNY
$1.3 Million Settlement: Construction Worker Fell 20 Feet From Unsecured Ladder on Black Ice
A construction worker dismantling hoist elevators on a 33-story Manhattan building fell 20 feet after a coworker left the ladder rope untied and placed it on ice-covered cement; the firm defeated a sole-proximate-cause defense and secured $1.3 million at mediation.
All workplace injury verdicts and settlements
119 results, largest first
On September 7, 2019, Ulysses Cruz, a 48-year-old United Airlines ramp worker serving as a wing walker at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, was struck from behind by an Allied Aviation Fueling Company of Houston van whose driver said the morning sun was in his eyes. Cruz was paralyzed from the chest down and suffered a stroke two days later that cost him the use of his dominant right arm. After a two-week trial before Judge Ravi Sandill, a Harris County jury on October 25, 2021 found Allied 70 percent and driver Reginald Willis 30 percent at fault and awarded Cruz, his wife and their two children $352.7 million in compensatory damages. Judge Sandill conditioned denial of a new trial on a $117.5 million remittitur of noneconomic damages, which the family accepted, and an amended judgment of about $235.3 million was signed February 7, 2022. Allied appealed, the parties reached a confidential mediated settlement, and on July 18, 2023 the First Court of Appeals vacated the judgment and dismissed the case at the parties' joint request.
A Galveston federal jury awarded $100 million to ten contract workers who suffered toxic exposure to carbon disulfide at BP's Texas City refinery in April 2007, though the punitive damages were later vacated by the trial judge.
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, though the $94 million punitive portion was later vacated and the case settled for about $30 million.
A Cook County jury awarded $95.5 million to a truck driver who lost both legs when improperly loaded carbon steel bundles fell from a crane during unloading, with a 10% comparative fault reduction bringing the net award to $85.9 million, the highest double-amputation verdict in Illinois history.
After winning a $26.6 million jury verdict for a union mason who fell through defective scaffolding on the Longfellow Bridge, Andrew Abraham of Keches Law Group returned to court and proved that Liberty Mutual's insurers willfully refused to investigate or settle a clear liability case, prompting a judge to double the compensatory judgment to over $91 million under Chapter 93A and 176D.
William Kershaw served as co-lead class counsel in a wage-and-hour class action on behalf of roughly 23,600 California UPS drivers, securing an $87 million settlement for systematic denial of meal and rest breaks -- the largest California wage-and-hour class action settlement at the time.
On February 13, 2004, a Bronx jury awarded $86,735,134 to Frank Miraglia, a 45 year old construction laborer who fell into a trench when an unsecured plank collapsed under him and was impaled on a steel rebar that severed his spinal cord, leaving him a paraplegic. Steven L. Hess, then of Simonson, Hess & Leibowitz, P.C., was trial counsel; the firm continues today as Hess & Leibowitz, PLLC. The honest frame: the trial judge reduced the award to $25,030,134, and in January 2007 the Appellate Division, First Department trimmed it further, sustaining $5 million for past pain and suffering, conditioning the future pain and suffering award on a reduction from $10 million to $5 million (a reduction Miraglia accepted by stipulation), and cutting future medical expenses to $8,056,222, which left the judgment at just under $20 million.
A federal jury in Portland awarded $85 million to 12 Oregon Army National Guard soldiers after finding that contractor KBR knowingly exposed them to a carcinogenic chemical at an Iraqi water treatment plant and then lied about the danger.
A Harris County jury found Hanover Compression L.P. (later Exterran Energy Solutions L.P.) grossly negligent in the 2007 explosion of a hot oil heater at a Quicksilver Resources natural gas plant in Hood County, Texas, that killed 27-year-old plant worker Joshua Wade Petrie. The jury assigned Hanover 90 percent of the responsibility and Quicksilver 10 percent, and in June 2010 awarded Petrie's widow, his three young children and his father a combined $82.5 million, a total that included $25 million in punitive damages against Hanover. Rob Ammons and Bennett Midlo of The Ammons Law Firm represented the family. Quicksilver, as Petrie's employer, carried workers' compensation coverage and was not itself on the hook for the damages award.
Jeffrey P. Goodman and Aidan B. Carickhoff won a $68.5 million verdict for the widow and young son of Siarhei Marhunou, a 38-year-old Belarusian immigrant who fell nearly 50 feet to his death when a temporary wooden guardrail failed at a Philadelphia townhouse construction site. The Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed the judgment in February 2026.
A Hillsborough County jury returned a $64.5 million verdict for Robert Matthews, a young construction worker left permanently disabled after an 11,000-pound prefabricated building shifted and collapsed on him at a Mosaic fertilizer company mine site.
A Cook County jury awarded $64 million to Ronald Bayer, a union ironworker paralyzed from the neck down after falling 15 feet at a Panduit Corp. warehouse construction site in DeKalb, Illinois -- at the time the largest verdict ever returned for a quadriplegic in Illinois.
A Thurston County jury awarded $57 million to roughly 22,000 live-in home-care providers after finding that Washington's Department of Social and Health Services unlawfully cut their pay through an automatic 15 percent reduction in authorized care hours.
A Manhattan jury awarded Mark Perez approximately $102.1 million against Live Nation Worldwide for the traumatic brain injury he suffered when a forklift struck the vendor booth he was building at the Jones Beach Theater, though the courts later cut the award sharply: the Appellate Division reduced pain and suffering to $20 million (still the largest such award ever sustained on appeal in New York), and court records show the case ultimately resolved for about $55 million including interest.
Wagner Jones Kopfman & Artenian secured a $54.6 million federal jury verdict on behalf of roughly 840 California Walmart truck drivers who went unpaid for mandatory pre- and post-trip vehicle inspections, controlled layovers, and rest breaks spanning more than a decade.
A Brooklyn jury found general contractor Mecca Contracting failed to protect Alan Moonsammy from a fall that left him paralyzed and awarded him $53.5 million.
A Kings County jury awarded about $48 million to a Polish immigrant carpenter who was rendered quadriplegic when a temporary wooden staircase gave way at a Brooklyn renovation site, finding the building owner and general contractor liable under New York Labor Law. The trial court later conditioned the pain and suffering portion on a reduction.
A Philadelphia jury awarded $46.5 million, including $38.5 million in punitive damages, against U.S. Security Associates after its guards fled rather than warn workers during the 2010 Kraft plant shooting that killed Tanya Wilson and LaTonya Brown. Kline & Specter's Shanin Specter, Dominic Guerrini, and Patrick Fitzgerald tried the case.
A Middlesex County jury awarded $26.6 million to union mason John Rooney, Jr. after he fell through a two-foot scaffold gap during the Longfellow Bridge rehabilitation and suffered seven spinal operations and permanent disability, with pre-judgment interest bringing the total compensatory judgment to roughly $45.5 million.
Arian Hila, 48, suffered catastrophic traumatic brain injury at a Tappan, New York demolition site in February 2018 when a debris chute broke free and crushed him, leaving him without oxygen for nearly 20 minutes; a $44 million settlement was reached seven days into a 2024 jury trial.
Wagner Jones Kopfman & Artenian secured a $43.5 million judgment in Fresno County Superior Court on behalf of roughly 700 North American Title escrow officers who were denied overtime pay for years, though the judgment was later reversed by the Court of Appeal in 2026.
A Starr County, Texas jury awarded $41.1 million to the family of seaman Jose Flores, who died after being bitten by a brown recluse spider while working aboard a dredging vessel, on maritime claims of unseaworthiness and negligence against the vessel operator. The case later settled for $10 million.
James Daniels, a Local 1 ironworker, fell about 23 feet from a form wall on the $978 million Fermilab PIP-II particle accelerator project in May 2023, suffering catastrophic injuries including a traumatic brain injury, rib fractures, and nerve damage; GWC Injury Lawyers recovered a $40 million settlement in 2026.
A Middlesex County jury awarded $39 million on February 1, 2019 to Hussein Agiz, who was 18 when a drag racing car struck his motorcycle inside the Heller Industrial Parks complex in Edison, costing him his right arm and right leg. Jurors had earlier found Heller 40 percent at fault for tolerating years of documented drag racing on its property. The case later settled on appeal for an undisclosed amount.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.