Results & Verdicts

$1.6 Billion Jury Verdict for a client for breach of their insurance contract. The lawsuit against Southwestern Life Insurance Company included the company stealing insurance premiums and allowing several insurance policies of family members to lapse and was the largest civil verdict in the U.S. in 2004.

$700 Million Jury Verdict recovered for the family of a young man who was brutally beaten and burned alive.

$700 Million Judgement and Settlement against a chemical plant when the chemical PCB was allowed to migrate off site resulting in property damage and personal injuries. (Tolbert v. Monsanto Co., et al., United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama).

$390 Million Verdict against DuPont for creating a 112 acre waste site that put residents at risk of disease, including cancer, heart disease, and lead poisoning.

$240 Million Jury Verdict for breaching a confidential relationship, stealing trade secrets, & breaking an implied contract. The lawsuit was brought against The Walt Disney Company.

Over $200 Million against NASCAR in added shareholder value for breach of contract on behalf of the corporation’s shareholders. The plaintiff claimed that NASCAR had conspired with its sister corporation to illegally restrain trade.

$197 Million Jury Verdict for plaintiffs injured when their rental vehicle, which was insufficiently equipped with seatbelts, struck a disabled tractor trailer truck. This is the largest personal injury verdict of any kind in the history of the state of New York.

$114 Million Jury Verdict for an electrical lineman who suffered electrical burns that resulted in double arm amputations d ue to the use of a defective aerial lift while working on power lines.

$100 Million Jury Verdict for a mother and child who were struck by a car as pedestrians.

Record $104 Million Jury Verdict for two victims were rendered quadriplegic. The brothers dove off of a city pier that was unattended by a life guard and did not have adequate warning signs for the potential danger.

$7.5 Million Settlement for the family of a 3 year old child who was killed when the Weed Wizard cutting link adapter of a gasoline powered weed trimmer broke free, allowing the metal piece to become a bullet like projectile . As a result of this case, the Consumer Product Safety Commission banned this product.

$5.98 Million Verdict against Xcaret and eco-archaeological park in Cancun Mexico on behalf of the family and estate of the passenger aboard a carnival cruise line ship. The park was part of a cruise line sponsored, shoreside excursion. A significant ground breaking maritime case where the plaintiff was able to bring legal action against a foreign company in a US court in an effort to collect the awarded judgement. A confidential settlement was reached with the cruise line as well 

Undisclosed Verdict/ Settlement against a drilling rig and an oil company when a Jones Act seaman fell from an elevated platform of a semi-submersible drilling rig. The 46 year-old plaintiff was restricted to sedentary activities after undergoing multiple surgeries on his wrist and arthroscopic surgery on both knees. 

$9 Million Settlement for infant who suffered head pocsik ischemic in some Salafi or brain damage resulting from doctors failure to perform C-section despite babies non reassuring heart rate which should just did that baby may not be getting enough oxygen from the mother's blood as the baby's blood passes through the placenta.

Confidential Settlement for death of a motorcyclist when he lost control of a California Interstate, causing an underride collision of the side of a tractor trailer. Settlement was reached through lack of side guard

Confidential Settlement on behalf of a woman who lost control of her vehicle while driving causing an underride collision with an oncoming tractor trailer that resulted in serious injuries. Trailer Mount manufacturer found liable for lack of side underride guard.

$2.25 Million Settlement involving defective road design causing a motorcycle accident.

$33.5 Million Jury Verdict against the City of New York for a wrongful death suit resulting from negligent highway design and maintenance

Confidential Settlement against Borgwarner and the Kuhlman Corporation on behalf of the City of Crystal Springs, Mississippi, for contamination to city owned property and Lake with PCBs.

Confidential Settlement against FirstEnergy on behalf of dozens of Pennsylvania and West Virginia property owners whose properties were adversely affected by the largest coal ash inbound in the United States.

Confidential Settlements against Uniroyal on behalf of numerous plaintiffs who suffered personal injury and death as a result of defective tire failures.

$5.75 Million Settlement for a client who was injured because a New York City Ambulance ran a red light.

$8 Million Verdict for a client who received brain injuries when a steel plate fell on his head while he was working on an elevator.

$14 Million Verdict for a worker who was injured while laying cable due to a collapsing platform.

$16 Million Verdict for spinal cord injuries that resulted from the safety belt breaking while a 23 – year – old – man was rock climbing.

$1.5 Million Settlement for the Pena Family after a New York City Police Officer killed three family members while driving drunk.

$2.3 Million Jury Verdict for James McLaughlin after a police officer used excessive force and violated his rights while falsely arresting him.

$2.25 Million Verdict for the family of Jerome Murdough’s wrongful death claim. Murdough was improperly supervised and allowed to bake to death in his cell at Rikers Island.

$2.5 Million Verdict for the estate of Tarika Wilson after she was killed and her 14 – month old infant was wounded by police.

$2.25 Million Settlement for the family of security guard Patrick Dorismond who was killed by undercover New York City Police officers.

$8.75 Million Settlement for Abner Louima. Louima was arrested by NYPD and later assaulted, brutalized and forcibly sodomized. The suit was the largest police brutality settlement in .New York City History

$33 Million Jury Verdict against NYC when a child suffered a serious spinal cord injury after falling from a park sculpture.

$11.9 Million Jury Verdict for failure to adequately warn of electrocution hazards or cover exposed metal located on the boom tip of the lift truck by an aerial lift device manufacturer.

More than $27 Million in Jury Verdicts & Settlements for defective utility bucket trucks that led to victims being injured and burned while employed with electrical power companies.

$15 Million Settlement when a faulty space heater caused a fire taking the lives of three children. The children were unable to escape or be rescued due to security bars on the windows that did not have a safety release.

$55.4 Million Jury Verdict for a twenty-eight year old medical technician was paralyzed after her vehicle crashed into an embankment due to the unraveling of the tread on her tires. The verdict against Continental General Tire, Inc. was the first trial involving tread separation to take place after the massive national tire recalls. It is also the highest verdict to date involving tire tread blowout.

$182.5 Million Jury Verdict against Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Baxter Healthcare Corp. and McKesson Corp who gave 3 clients contaminated vials propofal that resulted in the individuals contracting hepatitis C.

$505.1 Million Jury Verdict for a client who underwent a routine colonoscopy. The plaintiff sued Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Baxter Healthcare Corp. and McKesson Corp for giving the client the anesthesia propofol from a 50 ml vial that had bee reused from another patient, resulting in the victim developing hepatitis C several weeks after the procedure.

$9.6 Million Settlement on behalf of the estate of an attorney among the five people killed in an October 2003 high – rise office fire in Chicago. The building management company was sued for improperly evacuating the building’s occupants, failing to inform fire fighters of the building’s evacuation plan, and ignoring signals from the security console what indicated that the evacuees were trapped.

$13.75 Million Settlement when a row of lockers, weighing approximately 400 pounds, fell on a 6-year-old boy at a community fitness center.

$75 Million Settlement for victims in a wrongful death and personal injury suit when scaffolding fell from the John Hancock building in Chicago. The Firm’s wrongful death client’s award was 14.1% of the $75 Million settlement amount in the case involving these injury and death claims.

$20 Million Jury Verdict against Southern California Edison when a professional avocado picker was electrocuted by hidden power lines. The injuries resulted in the victim having both arms and a portion of one leg removed. It is also the largest judgement in a personal injury suit against Southern California Edison.

$40 Million Jury Verdict for a worker who plummeted six floors through an open elevator shaft.

$6.9 Million Settlement for victim whose vehicle was broadsided by a police vehicle travelling 51 miles per hour in a 35 miles per hour zone without the sirens activated. The victim was parked on the side of a Los Angeles highway when the officer swerved to avoid another moving vehicle.

$25.6 Million Structured Settlement in the second highest settlement ever paid by New York City. The award went to the victim of the Staten Island Ferry accident whose legs had to be amputated above the knee.

$10.9 Million Settlement when 119 individuals had drugs planted on them, were falsely arrested, and were subjected to excessive force by a group of Oakland Police officers known as The Riders. The case resulted in reforms to the Oakland Police Internal Affairs Department, use of force reports, and new tracking systems for officer data.

$18 Million Settlement for the family of a victim who was shot and killed after a police officer mistakenly assume d the victim had a gun. The case is reported to be the largest police misconduct/ wrongful death settlement in Chicago.

$25 Million Jury Verdict the negligence of a paratransit bus driver resulted in a 40 – year – old incomplete quadriplegic fell from his wheelchair on the bus lift. This was the largest verdict for a single personal injury claim in Nevada history.

$33 Million Jury Verdict for a Miami surgeon against Budget Rent-A-Car and the Los Angeles Police Department when switched license plates let to a traffic stop and ultimately police misconduct.

$76 Million Verdict against New York City when NYPD undercover officers mistakenly thought that 2 male passengers of a vehicle might have drugs. The two victims were unjustifiably beaten to the point where one of the passengers suffered brain damage. No weapons or drugs were found in the victim’s vehicle.

$3.5 Million Settlement obtained on behalf of the family of a 79 – year – old nursing home resident whose legs had to be amputated due to multiple deep bed sores. The resident eventually died from the injuries.

$2.35 Million Settlement when an 83 – year – old nursing home re sident was neglected for months. The victim suffered from bed sores which, in turn, caused her death. The neglect was so egregious that the facility was stating that the patient was doing well in her charts a whole week after her death.

Confidential Settlements for the families of victim s who died in the horrible NHC Nursing Home fire that took the lives of 20 residents. The case resulted in a mandate that all nursing homes in Tennessee must have smoke detectors in each room.

$45.6 Million Jury Verdict for a real estate transaction in which legal malpractice, fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty involving the concealment of a conflict of interest took place.

$12 Million Jury Verdict for the family of an infant who suffered meconium aspiration and had to be placed on a heart/ lung machine before dying of infection. The medical resident did not seek advice from the attending doctor causing a delay in a cesarean section birth.

$32.9 Million Jury Verdict for an infant and mother. The mother received improper medical procedures after being diagnosed with cancer during her pregnancy which resulted in brain damage to the child and an unnecessary premature delivery.

$1.7 Million Verdict for a client who required multiple surgeries and was restricted to a sedentary lifestyle after falling from an elevated platform of a semi – submersible drilling rig.

$70 Million Settlement for Florida residents whose property was contaminated by Conoco Phillips when a toxic plume spread from an old A grico Chemical Company Fertilizer plant.

$55 Million Recovery for a community whose neighborhood was contaminated by chemical creosote.

$381 Million Jury Verdict on behalf of residents of Spelter, West Virginia who were put at risk of cancer, heart disease and lead poisoning when E.I. DuPont negligently created a 112 – acre zinc waste site in their community. DuPont was ordered to pay for the clean up of the property and medical monitoring for the residents of the community Settlement for racial discrimination against the John Deere Company. Our client was a 30 – year employee who was twice denied ownership of a dealership and the results of his case included a mandate for the John Deere Company to create at least 20 African American owned dealerships by 2014.

Confidential Settlement for racial discrimination against the John Deere Company. Our client was a 30 – year employee who was twice denied ownership of a dealership and the results of his case included a mandate for the John Deere Company to create at least 20 African American owned dealerships by 2014.

Record $192.5 Million Settlement for racial discrimination against the Coca-Cola Company, the largest settlement for a racial discrimination case against a private employer

$80 Million Jury Verdict on behalf of a woman who was defrauded by Orkin resulting in her home being destroyed by termites. This was the largest civil verdict in the history of Macon County, Alabama.

$9 Million Jury Verdict for a client as a result of an equipment lease/brokerage firm did not honor the original terms of an equipment lease/purchase agreement that resulted in higher payments and interest rates.

Record $67 Million Jury Verdict on behalf of the family of a victim who was unlawfully tortured and executed by The Republic of Cuba.

$27 Million Jury Verdict against The Republic of Cuba when a Cuban spy falsely married a South Florida woman. The spy used the woman to infiltrate the Miami exile community and report to Cuban Intelligence on local Cuban affairs

$42 Million Jury Verdict on behalf of a client who suffered side effects from the diabetes drug Rezulin. The lawsuit was against Pfizer, parent company of the drug manufacturer Warner Lambert Company.

Over $1 Billion in recoveries for victims of the weight loss drug Fen – Phen. The lawsuit was against the manufacturer American Home Products.

Confidential Settlements for admitted aircraft defective design against Alaska Airlines and Boeing. The faulty design resulted in an airline crash off the coast of California.

$23.5 Million Jury Verdict for a client rendered completely dependent on others for her care after a tractor – trailer collided with her vehicle and caused severe brain injuries

$25 Million Jury Verdict for the family of a jogger against a drunk driver, whos e blood alcohol level was well over twice the legal limit, and the bar that had overserved the driver.

$15 Million Jury Verdict against Singapore Airlines for wrongful death on behalf of the adult children whose parents were killed at Chiange Kai Shek International Airport when SAL Flight SQ006 crashed during takeoff.

$32.5 Million Settlement for passengers who were hit by a bus while riding in a van. One of the female clients required seven reconstructive surgeries and TPN intravenous nutrition for the remainder of her life due to severe internal injuries suffered during the crash.

$14.4 Million Jury Verdict for brain damage to a nephrology surgeon and the deaths of her husband and mother. The injuries resulted when an improperly serviced and inspected asphalt truck caused a chain collision in traffic.

$33 Million Jury Verdict for a wrongful death suit in the City of New York which was caused by negligent Highway design and maintenance.

$51.4 Million Jury Verdict for a young girl who fell beneath the wheels of a streetcar in New Orleans resulting in her right forearm being crushed.

$20.2 Million Jury Verdict for family of a school teacher who suffered injuries as a result of being struck from behind by a truck. Not only is this verdict the largest in Clayton County, Georgia history, it is also the largest verdict in a wrongful death case a female and an African American as lead attorneys.

$9.1 Million Jury Verdict for the family of a Cambodian woman who was shot seven times in the back by Long Beach Police officers while she brandished a kitchen knife. The 37 – year – old was possibly a transient and likely suffered from mental illness. In the record setting verdict for the city of Long Beach an eight – person jury decided that the officers acted with “malice and oppression.”

Representation of “The Ferrari Guy” Steven Ericsson the Swedish businessman who allegedly crashed a Ferrari in so on Pacific Coast highway along Malibu coast in 2006 which resulted in a hung jury and received extensive media coverage. 

Acquittal of former HealthSouth CEO Richard scrushy of a white collar charges involved in allegedly directing a massive 2.7 billion dollar earnings overstatement the only successful defense of a defendant charged under the sarbanes Oxley act

Not Guilty Verdict of continuing criminal enterprise for the alleged leader of a Tuscan drug ring who reportedly used his Tuscan based trucking company in an Interstate drug distribution ring. 

Overturned Murder Conviction of Elmer Geronimo Pratt who was wrongfully jailed for over 20 years for a murder he did not commit.

Successful Representation of Numerous High Profile Clients including Sean puffy Combs OJ Simpson Snoop Dogg Michael Jackson Tupac Shakur Todd bridges Riddick Bowe Jim Brown Latrell Sprewell.