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Around July of this year, I started making notes of really significant personal injury lawsuit settlements and trial results. By significant, I mean ones that are in the seven figures. A lot of people think that these types of cases happen a lot. The reality is that they don’t, and when they do, nobody has “won the lottery” but instead they are dead or their lives are terribly altered. In almost no case would you switch places with them in order to have the money they got.

I thought it would be helpful for people to see what types of cases lead to multi-million dollar results. Note that one thing these cases have in common aside from catastrophic injuries is that there is a lot of insurance money to pay the award. In other words, you could end up paralyzed after a car accident, but if there’s only $100,000.00 in insurance money, you likely won’t get more than that. It’s an unfair, but true part of our legal system.

In no particular order, here are some the biggest personal injury cases from 2022:

-A man who broke his neck when a sheet of plywood fell on him at a construction site in Deer Park accepted a $6.7 million settlement before trial in the Cook County Circuit Court.

-A former Metals USA machine operator who had part of his leg amputated in a workplace accident received $6.57 million in a settlement.

-A Cook County jury awarded $45.3 million to a man left with permanent brain damage after a failed intubation when he arrived at the emergency room after he fell off a balcony.
– A Cook County jury awarded $7.27 million to an elderly couple who alleged a car accident caused one of them a traumatic brain injury. One of the two can no longer walk without assistance.
-A Cook County jury awarded $6 million to the family of a 19-year-old man who died after going into cardiac arrest while playing basketball, an activity that his doctor didn’t restrict even though the teen allegedly had prior health issues.
-A $4.42 million settlement for a man injured while working as an elevator mechanic apprentice in 2016 at age 36. A cement board struck his right wrist and forearm, and he sustained major injuries to his shoulders and neck.
-A Cook County jury awarded $42.4 million to the family of a quadriplegic man who died at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville after falling into a coma from respiratory arrest and hypoxia while awaiting surgery.

-A Cook County jury awarded $363 million Monday to a woman who alleged that emissions from medical device sterilization company Sterigenics caused her to develop cancer, in the first lawsuit of more than 700 set to go to trial against the company. This is an outlier type of case given the large result and possibly has a lot to do with the defendant’s behavior as much as the injury. They were accused of knowingly emitting cancer causing gas in to the community. The total included $38 million in compensatory and $325 million in punitive damages.

-A man who injured his back when he fell down a stair scaffolding tower on a construction job site accepted a $6 million settlement mid-trial in Cook County Circuit Court. A temporary stair scaffolding tower was being used to allow the workers to access the site.  As a result of the incident, he underwent spinal fusion surgery and is unable to return to work as a union carpenter.

-The family of a 61-year-old woman who died of septic shock at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox accepted an $8 million settlement.

-The families of two women killed in a car accident settled their case for $6.9 million against the estate of the driver who was operating a company vehicle.

-$10 million to a man who was hit by a car. He remains in a nursing home facility, cannot walk independently and requires specialized care.

-The family of a 17-year-old boy who was shot to death by a Chicago police officer in 2019 accepted a $5 million settlement.

This isn’t every big case result from 2022, but a lot of them. They all are tragic cases that we wouldn’t wish upon anyone. If you have any questions or want to speak with an attorney for free, please contact us any time.