Largest verdicts in Virginia
33 independently-sourced personal-injury results from Virginia firms, largest first. Each links to the full story — the firm, the attorneys, and the record behind the number.
A Richmond Circuit Court jury awarded $360 million to three former adolescent patients who were sexually abused by Cumberland Hospital's medical director during admission exams, in what ranks among the largest personal-injury verdicts in Virginia history.
A Richmond Circuit Court jury awarded $360 million to three former adolescent patients who were sexually abused by Dr. Daniel Davidow, the medical director of Cumberland Hospital for Children, during what he called routine femoral pulse exams.
A Suffolk jury returned a $60 million verdict, then the largest damages award in Virginia history, for Brian Hugen, who suffered catastrophic traumatic brain injury when a Velocity Express delivery van crossed into his lane; the Virginia Supreme Court affirmed liability but ordered a new trial on damages.
Geoff McDonald and co-counsel represented roughly 7,600 universal life policyholders hit with steep cost-of-insurance increases by Banner Life and William Penn, securing a $22.5 million cash fund inside a settlement the court valued at more than $40 million.
A Hampton jury awarded Christopher Denton $25 million after a cardiologist read his cardiac test results as normal, diagnosed a minor heart infection, and sent him home on over-the-counter medication -- months before Denton suffered a massive heart attack that left him functioning with roughly half his cardiac capacity.
A $24 million settlement obtained for the family of a 33-year-old nurse killed when a commercial truck crossed the center line at highway speed is the largest reported wrongful death recovery in Virginia history, doubling the previous record.
A Richmond jury awarded $23 million to a commercial truck driver who suffered a traumatic brain injury, crushed pelvis, and right-leg amputation when a Moen Inc. tractor-trailer parked in the emergency lane of I-295 pulled back into traffic and was struck by his rig at highway speed.
A Charles City County jury returned a $20 million verdict for a ten-year-old boy who suffered catastrophic electrical burns after entering a neglected Virginia Power substation, and the Virginia Supreme Court affirmed the award in full.
A Charles City County jury returned a $20 million verdict for a ten-year-old boy who suffered third-degree burns across 25 percent of his body after contacting 13,200 volts inside an inadequately secured Virginia Power substation next to his Richmond apartment complex, and the Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the award in full.
Nine boys abused by a Colonial Heights church youth leader secured a $17.61 million global settlement in July 2025, wrapping up nearly nine years of civil litigation and paying out four times what the defendants' insurers claimed they owed.
A Charlottesville jury awarded $15 million to the mother and sister of University of Virginia lacrosse player Yeardley Love after a 2022 civil trial against the man convicted of her 2010 murder.
A Charlottesville jury awarded $15 million in May 2022 to the mother and sister of Yeardley Love, a University of Virginia lacrosse player killed by her former boyfriend in 2010, more than a decade after his criminal conviction.
A 23-year-old grain truck driver was killed when an electrical arc jumped from an overhead high-voltage power line to the portable auger he was using at a commercial silo, and his family recovered $12 million from the power company and property owner.
A federal judge approved an $11.5 million settlement for a Virginia Beach Navy family whose son was born with severe brain damage at U.S. Naval Hospital Guam in 2014, after attorneys Michael Imprevento and Kevin Biniazan sued the federal government under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
A 15-year-old boarding student at the Miller School of Albemarle won a $10 million jury verdict and a combined $10.75 million total recovery after being catastrophically impaled by a cut bamboo stalk during a mandatory school service project on property leased by a local VFW post.
A 15-year-old Miller School of Albemarle boarding student suffered catastrophic internal injuries when he fell onto a cut bamboo stalk during a school-supervised service project, resulting in a $10 million jury verdict and total recoveries of $10.75 million.
A Newport News jury awarded $10 million to first-grade teacher Abby Zwerner after finding that the school's assistant principal acted with gross negligence by ignoring repeated staff warnings that a 6-year-old student had brought a gun to Richneck Elementary School on January 6, 2023.
A Newport News jury found the assistant principal of Richneck Elementary School grossly negligent and awarded $10 million to teacher Abby Zwerner, who was shot in her classroom by a 6-year-old student on January 6, 2023.
Allen, Allen, Allen and Allen secured a $7.6 million settlement for a U.S. Army logistics officer who suffered life-threatening injuries after colliding with a disabled pickup truck that a tractor-trailer had left blocking Interstate 64 at 3:30 in the morning.
A 23-year-old mother suffered burns to 36% of her body after a corroded natural gas pipe fed an undetected leak into an apartment complex's outdoor grill enclosure, triggering an explosion when she attempted to light it.
A 40-year-old motorcyclist whose foot was traumatically amputated after an oncoming driver cut across his lane recovered $7 million in a settlement reached one month before trial.
A Fredericksburg jury awarded $6.5 million to a young attorney left with permanent spinal cord damage after his primary care physician repeatedly dismissed neurological symptoms without examination, producing what was then reported as the largest medical malpractice verdict in Virginia history. The award was reduced to $1.55 million under the state damages cap, and the judgment was later reversed on an evidentiary ruling, sending the case back for a retrial on causation and damages.
A woman in her 30s was airlifted after a corporate driver cut across her path in early 2023; a pelvic floor injury went undetected for more than two years before she required complex surgery, and the case settled for $4.85 million in February 2026.
A pipefitter was struck and killed by an overhead crane while converting a Southeast Virginia paper plant, and his family's wrongful-death claim against the plant owner and two contractors settled for $4.7 million before trial.
A Norfolk jury awarded $4,007,478 after a 14-year-old riding a scooter through a marked crosswalk was struck and killed by a driver who later admitted liability, leaving the trial focused solely on damages.
An 80-year-old woman attending a funeral reception fell down non-uniform exterior stairs at a private club, sustaining a traumatic brain injury, skull and facial fractures, and a shoulder fracture, and settled for $2.3 million in July 2024.
A shopper struck in the right calf by a heavy detergent bottle at a store checkout developed fatal wound complications, and Geoff McDonald & Associates resolved the premises-liability claim for $2 million.
A roofer left paralyzed from the waist down after falling on the job for an uninsured contractor settled his Virginia workers' compensation claim for a $2 million lump sum.
A 21-year-old first-time mother developed Wernicke's encephalopathy and permanent cognitive deficits after her OBGYNs failed to give her thiamine during two months of severe hyperemesis gravidarum, resulting in a $1.5 million settlement in January 2025.
A 36-year-old woman suffered bilateral ureter damage and bladder perforation during a laparoscopic hysterectomy, developed acute renal failure, and settled her malpractice claim in Fredericksburg Circuit Court for $1.5 million.
A 55-year-old woman whose breast cancer went undetected for nearly a year after military radiologists misread her imaging recovered $1 million in a federal settlement against Naval Medical Center Portsmouth.
A 55-year-old woman underwent an unnecessarily complex double-fusion bunion surgery that failed to heal properly, requiring three additional procedures before she reached a $775,000 settlement with her podiatrist.
A 66-year-old patient with a cardiac history was discharged from the ER after doctors attributed his chest pain to gas; he returned the next day in shock, suffering a stroke and multi-organ failure after imaging found a 100% right coronary artery occlusion.