Personal injury verdicts are rendered every day, in every court across the United States.
Many are fairly commonplace – involving car accident victims suing insurance companies for ongoing medical costs, or a consumer suing a big box store for an injury which occurred on their premises. But every once in a while, a personal injury case makes headlines, whether for the unique nature of the case, the sheer amount of money involved, or the verdicts implication for case law going forward. Here are some notable personal injury verdicts from recent years which got out attention, for a variety of reasons.
Bankrupting a City: When a woman tripped over a pothole on the sidewalk in Reed Springs, MO, she sustained severe injuries in the subsequent fall. Citing that the pothole should have been fixed by the city – and was further obscured by overgrown grass – she was successful in her lawsuit against the municipality. However, the tiny city, which boasts a population of under 1,000, was unable to pay the settlement and had to go bankrupt due to the verdict. The little town had no insurance policy in place, thanks largely to the dereliction of their mayor, himself under investigation for insurance fraud and perjury.
Taking on the Giants: It is common for consumers to take on a giant corporation in a class-action lawsuit, but few reach the scope of the 2018 claim against Johnson & Johnson. 22 women joined forces in their claim that asbestos present in Johnson & Johnson’s cosmetic talc products caused their ovarian cancer. While personal injury verdicts in the millions had been awarded up to that point, the women were awarded a stunning $4.69 billion for their case; which also marked the first time that arguments involving asbestos in talc products caused ovarian cancer. (Earlier trials claimed the talc particles themselves were the culprits.) Asbestos had never been named outside of mesothelioma cases until this point, opening the door for a wide range of potential future cancer claims.
Homeowner’s Associations Put on Notice: A Nevada HOA was ordered to pay $20 million dollars in damages to a teenager who claimed they were negligent in the maintenance of their common facilities. The teen was injured on their playground when a metal bar from a swing set broke and caused a traumatic brain injury. The massive payout far exceeded the HOA’s initial offer of $125,000; as well as their “final” offer of $2 million, which was the most their liability insurance coverage could pay. The case is considered a wake-up call for HOAs across the country, as this model of community and home ownership is on the rise – and widely seen here in the Sarasota area. The claim was perhaps most significant in the fact that it was entirely based on a claim of pain and suffering, and did not even address a life care plan or claim of lost future earnings, which would normally elicit this level of settlement. The $20 million was based on his experience of headaches, impairment of movement, some memory loss, and an increased potential of developing dementia in the future.
While these personal injury verdicts have far -reaching implications in many ways, no case is more important than yours. That is because when you have been injured due to another person’s negligence, you need to live with the consequences. Be it pain and suffering, loss of wages, loss of enjoyment, physical or mental impairment, or future loss of income – you deserve to be properly compensated for what has occurred. At Probinsky & Cole, we take your suffering to heart, and will fight for your rights to compensation.
