.png?width=2000&height=750&name=Top%2010%20Plaintiff%202025-%20Blog%20%20(1).png)
The holiday decorations are still up at some homes, and Courtroom View Network, the world’s only news organization exclusively dedicated to gavel-to-gavel video coverage of civil trials, has already covered a major products liability defense verdict involving a nail gun, a plaintiff verdict in a FELA/railway personal injury case potentially worth $10 million, and an ongoing catastrophic automotive negligence trial worth potentially $90 million.
CVN has big plans for the coming year with expanded coverage in new jurisdictions, exciting new features like curated playlists and expert analysis of courtroom footage by seasoned trial pros, and coverage of trials ranging from high-stakes bellwethers with nationally recognized attorneys to slip-and-falls with the very best “go-to” attorneys in a local jurisdiction.
However before turning to the year ahead, CVN always kicks off a new year by showcasing the top 10 most impressive plaintiff and defense verdicts our cameras covered over the last 12 months. In 2025, CVN cameras covered everything from Roundup herbicide cases to complex trucking trials to high-exposure medical malpractice cases - all featuring some of the most elite trial attorneys practicing in the United States today.
These rankings are not solely based on verdict amounts. We also considered the challenges of the case, the potential for impact on other litigation, the specific firms and attorneys involved, and the public attention generated by the verdict.
Subscribers to CVN’s online trial video library get unlimited on-demand access to all of these trials and hundreds more, including all witness testimony and time-synced digital images of exhibits and demonstratives - along with all the trials on our previous years' top 10 lists and many, many more.
There is no substitute for watching real trial pros at work on their feet in front of a real jury. That’s why everyone from white shoe big law firms to scrappy solo practitioners to boutique plaintiff firms and smaller regional practices all make firm-wide CVN subscriptions a standard part of their news, research, and training resource. Whether you’re a law student, a new associate or a grizzled courtroom vet, Courtroom View Network gives you a virtual front row seat to courtrooms across the country, and you don’t even have to pay for parking.
Now on the trials, and stay tuned for our upcoming list of top 10 defense verdicts!
***
#1 - $50M Awarded To Starbucks Patron Over Hot Drink Spill
Michael Garcia v. Starbucks Corp. - Los Angeles, CA
Plaintiff attorneys: Nicholas Rowley (pictured) of Trial Lawyers for Justice, Daniel Bidegaray of Bidegaray Law Firm, LLC
Click here to watch the full trial
Why it made the list:
In the annals of personal injury litigation, the so-called “McDonald's coffee case” holds almost legendary status to the point of even being known to many non-attorneys. The $2.8 million verdict in that case, awarded in 1994 to a woman who burned herself after dropping hot coffee in her lap at a McDonald’s drive-through, made headlines around the world and still serves as a common case study in law school classrooms today.
The $50 million verdict awarded last March to a plaintiff burned by hot coffee in a Starbucks drive-through could very well be considered the sequel.
Plaintiff Michael Garcia, a food delivery worker, accused a Starbucks employee of failing to properly secure the drinks in a takeout tray while handing them across the drive-through window. The verdict exceeded Nicholas Rowley’s highest settlement demand of $19 million and far surpasses Starbucks’ pre-trial settlement offer of $3 million.
The bifurcated trial peeled back the curtain on Starbucks training practices in the liability phase and also showcased top experts characterizing Garcia’s injuries for the jury in the damages phase, and the verdict comes in as the clear choice for the number one most impressive plaintiff verdict CVN covered in 2025.
Read more via the CVN News Blog
***
#2 - Georgia Jury Awards $2B Verdict In State’s First Roundup Herbicide Trial
John Barnes v. Monsanto Co. - Cobb County, GA
Plaintiff attorneys: Kyle Findley (pictured), Noah Wexler and Kala Sellers of Arnold & Itkin LLP and Frank Bayuk of Bayuk Pratt LLC
Click here to watch the full trial
Why it made the list:
Thousands of lawsuits alleging Monsanto’s popular Roundup herbicide causes cancer are pending in courts throughout the United States, and, while the company has secured impressive defense verdicts and successful appeals, some juries have also saddled the agrochemical giant with verdicts reaching into the billions - a rare event in any personal injury litigation.
This $2 billion verdict from last March against a company able to summon the legal firepower on the scale Bayer-owned Monsanto can is impressive enough, but this trial also marked the first time a Georgia jury weighed in on the whether or not Roundup poses a cancer risk to consumers.
The Texas-based firm Arnold & Itkin, which took the lead in the case, has become one of the most aggressive firms in recent years in terms of pushing Roundup cases to trial. The potential for the U.S. Supreme Court to determine that federal law preempts state court Roundup claims still hangs over this litigation like a Sword of Damocles; however, firms like Arnold & Itkin seem to be going full speed ahead unless and until that ruling comes down, and their $2 billion verdict in Cobb County, Georgia comes in as the second most impressive plaintiff verdict CVN covered in 2025.
Read more via the CVN News Blog
***
#3 - USAA Hit With $100M Punitive Bad Faith Verdict Over Delay In Paying Zero-Fault Insured’s Claim
Timothy Kuhn v. Hector Cervantes, USAA - Las Vegas, NV
Plaintiff attorneys: Kimball Jones (pictured), Joshua Berrett, and Emily Grable of Bighorn Law
Click here to watch the full trial
Why it made the list:
Plaintiff Timothy Kuhn thought he had a relatively straightforward path for an insurance payout after being rear-ended in stationary highway traffic. The other driver’s insurer, USAA, determined Kuhn had no liability for the accident, but after he sued the driver, USAA intervened and filed pleadings arguing Kuhn himself was responsible for the crash.
After USAA intervened, Kuhn then incorporated bad faith claims against USAA into his lawsuit against the driver, arguing they breached their obligations to him by arguing in court filings that Kuhn caused the accident after already determining he wasn’t at fault. USAA maintained Kuhn’s head injury wasn’t as serious as he claimed, and that a lengthy review process before making a $250K policy limit payout offer on the eve of trial reflected the complexity of the claim versus acting in bad faith.
A Las Vegas jury rejected those arguments, and the verdict sent shockwaves through the insurance industry - made even more impressive given that USAA refused to budge from their $10,000 settlement offer to resolve the case.
“We are still at a loss of why USAA did not resolve this earlier, other than them thinking that they could get by on their reputation,” Joshua Berrett of Bighorn Law told CVN after the trial.
A $100 million punitive verdict against a major national insurer is one of the least likely outcomes most attorneys would associate with a relatively minor rear-ender case, and it lands the spot for the third most impressive plaintiff verdict CVN covered in 2025.
Read more via the CVN News Blog
***
#4 - $145M+ Worker's Comp Bad Faith Verdict Beats Berkshire Hathaway’s $750K Pre-Trial Settlement Offer
Fermin Salguero-Quijada v. Norguard Insurance Company - Las Vegas, NV
Plaintiff attorneys: Sean Claggett (pictured) and Geordan Logan of Claggett & Sykes Law Firm
Click here to watch the full trial
Why it made the list:
This massive bad faith verdict and the Kuhn verdict were in fierce competition for the number three and four spots on our list, and Kuhn only came out ahead because of USAA’s $10k settlement offer versus the $750k settlement offer on the table in this case, stemming from an insurer’s refusal to cover certain medical treatments for a construction worker who suffered grievous injuries after falling off a ladder.
Plaintiff Fermin Salguero-Quijada sued Norguard Insurance Company, alleging they acted in bad faith by refusing to pay for specialized inpatient rehab treatment after he fell from a ladder while painting apartment complexes in Utah. His lawsuit alleged that denial of treatment caused his neurological injuries to become permanent, but Norguard maintained throughout the trial they made reasonable coverage determinations based on recommendations from Salguero-Quijada’s own worker’s comp physician.
The verdict, including $60 million in punitive damages, far surpasses Norguard’s pre-trial settlement offer of $750,000, according to Salguero-Quijada’s attorney, Sean Claggett of Claggett & Sykes Trial Lawyers, who predicted the award would land in nearly the exact range his extensive pre-trial focus group work indicated.
Read more via the CVN News Blog
***
#5 - $48M Awarded to To Georgia Man Disfigured By Dermatologist, Beating $2M Settlement Offer
Waldrop v. Payne, et al. - Fulton County, GA
Plaintiff attorneys: Lloyd Bell (pictured) of Bell Law Firm and Laura Shamp of Shamp Silk
Click here to watch the full trial
Why it made the list:
Last December, in one of the last trials CVN covered before the end of 2025, an Atlanta jury awarded $48 million for the skin cancer that disfigured a Georgia man who claimed a dermatologist’s malpractice caused him serious injuries.
The award includes $32 million for Tony Waldrop’s pain and suffering and $16 million to his wife for the skin cancer, discovered in 2014, that cost Waldrop most of one ear, his teeth, and salivary glands, and left him with a host of complications. That award came one day after the same Fulton County (Georgia) State Court jury found Dr. Joseph Payne, a dermatologist who treated Waldrop, responsible for the skin cancer injuries.
The $48 million verdict far exceeds the highest pre-trial settlement offer of $2 million, Patricia Waldrop’s attorney, Bell Law Firm’s Lloyd Bell, wrote in a statement to CVN after the verdict, though he added that the combined insurance policy limits were $4 million.
Read more via the CVN News Blog
***
#6 - $20M Verdict Hits J&J in Talc Trial Over Florida Doctor's Death
Casaretto v. Johnson & Johnson - Broward County, FL
Plaintiff attorneys: John Uustal (pictured) of Kelley | Uustal Law Firm and Christopher Tisi of Levin Papantonio.
Click here to watch the full trial
Why it made the list:
Last October, a Florida state court jury handed down a $20 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson after finding the company’s talc-based Baby Powder caused a Florida doctor’s death.
The jury, in Florida’s 17th Circuit, wrapped a roughly six-week trial by finding J&J liable on design and manufacturing defect claims related to the 2019 mesothelioma death of Dr. Alberto Casaretto, Sr., 79. Casaretto, a South Florida nephrologist for much of his life, had used Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower products for years. His family contends that asbestos in the talc J&J used in those products caused his mesothelioma, a fatal cancer that develops in the lining of the lungs.
The verdict came in at the high end of the $15-20 million range in damages that the Casaretto family's attorney, Kelley | Uustal's John Uustal, requested in closings.
Read more via the CVN News Blog
***
#7 - $21.3M Truck Crash Verdict Beats $50K Settlement Offer
Angela Pope-Morgan, et al. v. Leilei Chen, et al. - Los Angeles, CA
Plaintiff attorneys: Paul Painter (pictured), and Stephen Morrison of Bowen Painter Injury Lawyers
Click here to watch the full trial
Why it made the list:
Last July, a California state court jury returned a roughly $21.3 million verdict in favor of two young women alleging they sustained serious traumatic brain injuries after their van was rear-ended by an 18-wheeler truck.
The Los Angeles County jury found FBM Group Corporation and driver Leilei Chen liable for a 2017 accident that plaintiffs Asia and Sarah Morgan claim left them with permanent neurological injuries after Chen supposedly became distracted by dropping a water bottle and rear-ended the van in which they were riding.
Attorneys for the defendants argued the accident resulted from the van’s driver traveling dangerously below the speed limit, but the jury ultimately found FBM Group 82 percent liable for the accident, while assigning 18 percent liability to the van’s driver, reducing the collectible award to just over $17 million.
Read more via the CVN News Blog
***
#8 - $29.5M Verdict at Trial Against Repo Company Over Tow Truck Crash That Left Child With TBI
Dingess, et al. v. Hasan, et al. - DeKalb County, GA
Plaintiff attorneys: Keith Mitnik (pictured) and J. Martin Futrell of Morgan & Morgan
Click here to watch the full trial
Why it made the list:
Last November, a Georgia state court jury handed down a $29.5 million verdict for the life-changing injuries a child suffered when she was struck by a tow truck while riding her bicycle.
Jurors delivered the damages award after determining liability in the first phase of a bifurcated trial. That decision found tow truck driver, Zartavius Hasan, and his employer, Associates Asset Recovery, 45 percent responsible for the 2023 collision that left the then-seven-year-old child with a traumatic brain injury.
Jurors apportioned 10 percent of responsibility to the child and 45 percent to the child’s mother, LaQuasia Dingess, likely reducing the post-verdict amount against defendants to $13.275 million. In a statement to CVN issued after the verdict, Morgan & Morgan’s Evan Rosenberg, representing the plaintiff, said the award exceeded settlement offers the defense had rejected.
Read more via the CVN News Blog
***
#9 - MA Jury Awards $40M+ at Trial Against Philip Morris & RJR Over Man's Lung Cancer Death
Amaral v. Philip Morris, et al. - Woburn, MA
Plaintiff attorneys: Gary Paige (pictured) and Cassandra Castellano-Lombard of Gordon & Partners, Randy Rosenblum of Dolan Dobrinsky Rosenblum Bluestein LLP
Click here to watch the full trial
Why it made the list:
Early last year, jurors handed down a $40.57 million verdict against the nation’s two largest cigarette companies, after finding them responsible for a Massachusetts smoker’s fatal lung cancer.
The Massachusetts Superior Court jury, in Middlesex County, deliberated across five days before finding cigarettes made by Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds were defectively designed and caused the 2019 lung cancer death of Jose Amaral, then 54.
The verdict includes $25 million in punitive damages imposed against Philip Morris and another $11.5 million in punitives imposed against Reynolds, in addition to more than $4 million in compensatory damages.
Read more via the CVN News Blog
***
#10 - $12.7M+ Awarded In Truck Crash Damages Case, Beating $2M Settlement Offer
Bradley Shepherd v. TruGreen LLC - Pierce County, WA
Plaintiff attorneys: Spencer Lucas of Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP
Click here to watch the full trial
Why it made the list:
A Washington State court jury awarded $12.74 million last September to a father and son who suffered serious injuries after being rear-ended by a lawn care company truck.
The Pierce County jury’s September 25th verdict far surpasses a $2 million settlement offer from defendant TruGreen LLC, according to attorney Spencer Lucas, of Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP, who represents plaintiffs Bradley Shepherd and his son Colton.
TruGreen conceded liability for the 2023 crash, but the parties clashed during the seven-day trial over what would be reasonable compensation for Shepherd and his son.
Read more via the CVN News Blog
***
