$56 Million Verdict for Newburyport Man Left Amputee With Brain Injury After Amazon Van Crash

On November 16, 2024, Malcolm Carnwath, then 77, was driving on Lafayette Road in Portsmouth, New Hampshire when a delivery van operated by Nazayah Carrasquillo -- dispatched through Agora Logistics, an Amazon Delivery Service Partner -- crossed the double-yellow center line and hit his vehicle head-on. According to testimony at trial, Carrasquillo had fallen asleep at the wheel.

The collision left Carnwath with injuries of extraordinary severity: a below-the-knee amputation of his left leg, organ damage, multiple fractures, cardiac arrest, at least two strokes, and a global traumatic brain injury. He spent nearly five months in intensive care and underwent 24 surgeries. By the time the case went to trial, Carnwath required around-the-clock nursing care and could no longer speak without voice-automation technology.

The lawsuit was filed in May 2025 in Middlesex Superior Court in Massachusetts and named both Amazon Logistics and Agora Logistics as defendants. Before trial, both defendants stipulated to liability, leaving the jury with a single question: the dollar value of what Carnwath lost. Marc Breakstone of Breakstone, White and Gluck, co-counsel with J. Tucker Merrigan and Korey Kajko of Sweeney Merrigan Law, argued that the appropriate award was $300 million, pointing to projected lifetime care costs and the totality of Carnwath's losses.

Amazon's best pre-trial settlement offer was $20 million. At trial, defense counsel argued that approximately $37 million would be adequate. On July 22, 2026, the jury returned a verdict of $56 million, which the Boston Globe and Claims Journal each described as the largest single-plaintiff personal-injury verdict in Massachusetts history and the largest jury award against Amazon Logistics in the country.

Carnwath's medical expenses alone totaled approximately $4 to $8 million across reported sources, with future care needs driving the bulk of the award. At the conclusion of trial, Breakstone told reporters the verdict would ensure that all of his client's care needs are met.