Top Individual Wyoming Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements

$9.46 Million Judgment Upheld After Coal Miner Paralyzed by Boulder at Black Thunder Mine

A Wyoming jury awarded $22 million after coal miner Les Butts was left paraplegic when a boulder crushed his vehicle at Black Thunder Mine; the Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed a $9.46 million judgment against his supervisors in June 2008.

After trial: Affirmed in full by the Wyoming Supreme Court on June 11, 2008 (185 P.3d 679). The jury found $18,000,000 in damages, but 57 percent of fault was assigned to the immune non-party mine operator, so Butts collected only the two individual defendants' shares, $7,740,000 to himself plus $860,000 to each of two children's derivative claims, or $9,460,000 in total. See more

$6.4 Million Verdict Against Paxil Maker After Gillette Family Killings

A Wyoming federal jury returned an $8 million verdict against SmithKline Beecham after finding that Paxil caused a Gillette man to kill three family members and himself within 48 hours of taking the drug.

After trial: The jury awarded $8 million and put 20 percent of the fault on Donald Schell, who was not a defendant, so the judgment against SmithKline Beecham came to $6.4 million.

$28.2 Million Verdict for Wyoming Woman Brain-Injured by Carbon Monoxide

A federal jury in Wyoming awarded Amber Lompe $28.2 million after carbon monoxide from a faulty furnace caused permanent brain injury at her Casper apartment, a verdict that stood as one of the largest personal-injury awards in Wyoming history before the Tenth Circuit reduced the punitive component on due-process grounds.

After trial: Reduced on appeal. The jury returned $3,000,000 compensatory, cut to $2,700,000 for Lompe's 10 percent fault, plus $25,500,000 punitive, and on April 1, 2016 the Tenth Circuit vacated the punitive award against Sunridge and reduced AMC's from $22,500,000 to $1,950,000. See more

$5.19 Million Verdict for Oilfield Worker Maimed by Ejected Well Component, Entered at $2.89 Million

A Sweetwater County jury returned a $5.19 million verdict for oilfield worker Blake Horr after a rubber well component, ejected by trapped pressure that Merit Energy's supervisor failed to relieve, shattered bones and severed nerves in his left hand and arm during a 2011 work-over operation in Bairoil, Wyoming.

After trial: Affirmed in full on January 6, 2016 (2016 WY 3), with the damages award undisturbed. The judgment is $2,885,928.90 against Merit, which paid only its own 45 percent share because Wyoming is a several-liability state. See more

Road Contractors Liable for Casper Motorcyclist's Death: $2.2 Million Verdict

William Gray Jr., 62, was riding a motorcycle through a Casper highway construction zone in September 2017 when a left-turning driver collided with him; he died sixteen days later. A Natrona County jury found the general contractor Knife River 60 percent at fault, its traffic-control subcontractor RoadWorx 30 percent, and the driver 10 percent. The $2.2 million award, reduced by the driver's share, left about $1.98 million for his widow and adult daughter. The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed in 2022.

After trial: The $2.2 million verdict was reduced by 10 percent for the non-party driver share of fault, leaving about $1.98 million. The Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed in 2022 (2022 WY 67) with no remittitur. See more

$1.5 Million Wrongful Death Verdict Against Caterpillar Over Missing Rollover Protection

Jim Fitzgerald won a $1.5 million jury verdict for the family of a construction worker killed when his 1966 Caterpillar 988 wheel loader rolled over without rollover protection, a judgment the Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed in full.

Wyoming Jury Awards $10.165 Million After Hospital Misses Vascular Crisis, Leading to Both-Leg Amputations

A Green River jury returned a $10.165 million verdict for a Rock Springs man whose legs were amputated after Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County and its physician failed to recognize and treat an acute vascular emergency.

After trial: Reduced by law, not by a post-trial motion. The jury returned $10,165,000 on October 5, 2018, and the hospital was liable only for its 40 percent share, capped at $1,000,000 per claimant as a county hospital under Wyoming law, which is the figure ranked. See more

Tire Shop Held Liable for Share of Casper Truck Brake Crash Verdict

A Natrona County jury found that Casper tire shop Tire-Rama shared responsibility for a 2019 truck crash that injured Nicholas Skalicky, awarding him $6.1 million and his wife $300,000 after eight days of trial. Skalicky argued the shop's technicians had failed to verify the brakes on a tractor-trailer before releasing it to the driver who rear-ended him. The jury apportioned 85 percent of the fault to that driver, who had already been dismissed from the case, leaving Tire-Rama liable for its 15 percent share, about $960,000. Jason Ochs of Ochs Law Firm represented Skalicky at trial.

After trial: Reduced by fault allocation. The $6.4 million combined finding was limited under Wyoming law to each defendant's own share, and Tire-Rama's judgment stands at about $960,000, its 15 percent share. See more

$957,750 Judgment for BNSF Locomotive Engineer Struck by Contractor Van at Wyoming Coal Mine

A BNSF locomotive engineer was hit by a contractor's van that backed into him while his crew waited for a train at the North Antelope Mines in Wyoming. A federal jury in Casper put 75 percent of the fault on BNSF and 25 percent on the engineer, and the court entered judgment for $957,750. The judge denied BNSF's request for a new trial, BNSF dropped its appeal, and the judgment was satisfied in November 2018.

After trial: The jury put 25 percent of the fault on Buechler, so the court entered judgment for the 75 percent share, $957,750, and denied BNSF's new-trial motion on October 26, 2018. BNSF appealed, but the parties stipulated to dismiss the appeal in November 2018. See more

Chevron Pays $756,000 Judgment After Wyoming Jury Finds It Mostly at Fault in a Truck Driver's Fatal Fall

A federal jury in Casper found Chevron U.S.A. Inc. negligent in the February 2014 death of truck driver Thomas Coffey, who fell while loading molten sulfur from a three rail safety cage at Chevron's Glencoe Terminal near Kemmerer, Wyoming. The bottom rail of the cage was missing. The jury awarded Coffey's widow, Sharon Coffey, $1.2 million in wrongful death damages and apportioned fault at 63 percent to Chevron, 37 percent to Coffey's employer, and none to Coffey. Because Wyoming makes each actor answerable only for its own share of fault, the court entered judgment against Chevron for $756,000, which Chevron paid within the month. Noah W. Drew and Tyson Logan of The Spence Law Firm represented the widow.

After trial: Reduced and paid. The jury's $1.2 million finding was cut to Chevron's 63 percent share of fault, giving a $756,000 judgment entered March 2, 2017. See more