Presenting the Top 10 Personal Injury Verdicts for 2021

Truck accidents figured prominently in the 2021 Top 10 personal injury verdicts.

Every year, we commission VerdictSearch – the highly respected research partner with the National Law Journal and the Top 100 verdicts list – to create a niche report on the nation’s 10 largest personal injury outcomes. After a more modest showing in 2020 compared to past years, all 10 of this year’s verdicts were back to record-setting levels.

2021 Case Summaries

1. $301 billion to a family in a Texas wrongful death lawsuit where a grandmother and granddaughter were struck and killed by a drunk driver. The family of the pair sued the bar that over-served the drunk driver.
   – The details.
    
2. $993 million awarded to student Connor Dzion’s family after he was struck and killed by a semi-truck driver on Interstate 95 in Florida. The truck driver failed to stop for a traffic jam caused by another semi-truck accident, rear-ending Dzion at 70 mph.  – The details.
    
3. $730 million to a family after a trailer carrying a top-secret propeller for the U.S. Navy tore the roof off a mother’s sedan in Texas. Both parties were driving on U.S. Highway 271 when they met on a blind right curve followed by a narrow bridge. – The details.
    
4. $352 million to Ulysses Cruz after a service van struck him while he was working on the tarmac at Houston Intercontinental Airport. As a result, Cruz was paralyzed from the chest down and suffered a stroke two days later, resulting in serious cognitive impairment. – The details.
   
   Escaping steam killed two plant workers.
5. $222 million awarded to Jesse Henson’s family after he and a coworker were killed at a power plant. The two died when checking a disconnected pipe that sent steam billowing into multiple floors of the building. – The details.
    
6. $200 million to seven-year-old Ryan Batchelder’s family after he was washed under a rented 2000 Malibu Response LX ski boat and fatally struck by the propeller.
   – The details.
    
7. $185 million to three teachers exposed to synthetic chemicals called polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, causing permanent brain damage. The substances were present in the school’s fluorescent light ballasts. 
   – The details.
    
8. $141 million to truck driver Jesse Equihau after a distracted driver broadsided him. He suffered back, head, and neck injuries. – The details.
    
9. $120 million awarded to student and electrician helper Jacob Rodgers after the company pickup truck he was riding in was t-boned when a city worker ran a stop sign. He was paralyzed from a back injury and suffered head trauma. – The details.
    
10. $82 million awarded to William Tisdale after he was attacked by a man with a baseball bat outside of a convenience store. The same man had threatened the convenience store clerk earlier and was waiting in Tisdale’s unlocked car.  – The details.