Jury Verdicts & Settlements

Latest jury verdicts, settlements, and legal outcome analysis

Jury Verdict: Race Discrimination and Retaliation Case

Quentin Watts, an African American millwright, filed a federal lawsuit against his employer, J&L Industrial Services, LLC, alleging race discrimination and retaliation under Title VII and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. After reporting a severe racial slur by a coworker, Watts was reassigned to a lower-paying shop and subsequently terminated under the guise of a "reduction of force." J&L denied the allegations, mounting a mixed-motive defense. However, the jury sided entirely with Watts, finding that race and retaliation drove both his demotion and termination. The Court finalized a total judgment of $978,075, which included $400,000 in punitive damages alongside substantial front and back pay awards.

Premises Liability

Cruise Ship Burn Injury Verdict: $1.67M Awarded to Guest

A Florida federal jury found Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. negligent after a passenger suffered severe second-degree burns to both feet during a poolside contest aboard the Grandeur of the Seas. The jury awarded the passenger $1,670,000 in total compensatory damages, apportioning 60 percent fault to the cruise line and 40 percent to the passenger.

Medical Malpractice

Prison Medical Neglect Lawsuit Ends in Jury Verdict

An inmate at North Kern State Prison sued prison medical staff after a series of inmate attacks left him with a stab wound to the neck, a torn rotator cuff, and a retained shank fragment lodged near his carotid artery. He alleged that a prison doctor and two nurses were deliberately indifferent to his serious medical needs, misdiagnosing his wound as an ingrown hair and delaying imaging that could have located the foreign object. After years of litigation, a jury found that the treating physician was not deliberately indifferent to the Plaintiff's medical needs, and the Court entered judgment accordingly.

Personal Injury

Jury Awards $440K in Nursing Home Neglect Death Case

A Miami-Dade jury awarded $440,591.98 to the estate of a nursing home resident who died after suffering repeated falls and unexplained injuries. The lawsuit alleged the facility failed to implement adequate fall precautions, properly supervise the resident, and maintain sufficient staffing, violating his statutory rights as a nursing home resident under Florida law.

Motor Vehicle Accident

Jury Clears Driver in Minor's Crosswalk Injury Lawsuit

A San Mateo County jury found that a driver was not negligent in a September 2021 collision that left a minor with lacerations to his arm, wrist, and face, and a chest wound, delivering a defense verdict after a nine-day trial.

Patent Infringement

Jury Awards $229M in Flash Memory Patent Verdict

A jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Waco Division, found that Kioxia Corporation and Kioxia America, Inc. infringed Claim 16 of Viasat, Inc.'s patent covering forward error correction technology for flash memory, based on three accused controllers. The jury awarded Viasat $229,025,021.00 in damages, structured as a running royalty covering Kioxia's past infringement through March 30, 2026. The verdict followed Viasat's 2022 patent infringement suit alleging that Kioxia's NAND flash-based SSD products used an infringing error-correction architecture.

Employment Discrimination

Jury Rejects Pregnancy Bias Claim, Awards $65 in Back Pay

A restaurant hostess sued her employer and its CEO after she was allegedly pushed off the schedule and terminated following disclosure of her pregnancy. A Butte County jury ultimately found she was not eligible for family care leave and rejected punitive damages, but found rest break violations occurred, awarding $65.00 in owed pay.

Breach of Contract

Jury Rejects Tenant's Fraud Claim Over Lease Repairs

A tenant sued his landlord for fraud and rescission after the landlord allegedly failed to paint the building, fix the parking lot, and repair the HVAC as promised in a commercial lease. A jury found the landlord had intended to keep his promise and had not made a false representation, resulting in a defense verdict on all claims.

Constitutional and Civil Rights

Jury Awards Damages Over Unlawful Post-Release Supervision

A federal jury in the Southern District of New York awarded compensatory damages to a class of individuals who were subjected to post-release supervision that no sentencing Court had ever imposed. The class action, brought against former New York State Department of Correctional Services and Division of Parole officials, alleged that the agencies continued administratively imposing and enforcing PRS terms even after the Second Circuit's 2006 ruling in Earley v. Murray declared the practice unconstitutional. The jury awarded $200 per day for unlawful supervision, $800 per day for wrongful incarceration stemming from PRS violations, and $100,000 to an individual class member for related harm.

Motor Vehicle Accident

Jury Awards $325K in Fatal School Vehicle Crash Suit

A jury in the Eastern District of California awarded $325,000 in noneconomic damages to a mother and her minor son following the wrongful death of the family's husband and father, who was killed when a Colusa County Office of Education employee struck him with a county-owned vehicle. The case, originally filed in Colusa County Superior Court and later removed to federal Court on diversity grounds, centered on claims of motor vehicle negligence and negligent hiring and supervision. After a jury trial before Senior U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez, the parties stipulated to split the award equally between the surviving spouse and minor child.