States

April 3, 2023

Washington Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements

This page examines settlement amounts and jury awards in personal injury cases in the state of Washington. Our attorneys also provide a general overview of Washington personal injury law.

As a personal injury plaintiff in Washington, it’s natural to want to understand the potential range of settlement payouts for your claim. After all, money is ultimately the goal of a personal injury or wrongful death claim.

This page aims to explore how personal injury cases have been resolved in Washington, allowing you to compare your claim with Washington personal injury settlement statistics and examples of settlements and jury awards.

January 16, 2023

Average Injury Verdicts in California

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

This page looks at the settlement and trial value of personal injury cases in California. This page was last updated on January 18, 2023.

What Is a California Personal Injury Case Worth?

One study found that the average money damage award for personal injury trials in California is $1,814,094. The median verdict, perhaps a better statistic, is $114,305.

What is the median verdict in a California wrongful death case?

January 11, 2023

Average Verdict in Texas Personal Injury Lawsuit

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

According to a Jury Verdict Research study published this month, the average compensation for a personal injury lawsuit in Texas over the last six years is $826,892. The highest verdict was over $100 million, which obviously, inflated the average verdict. The median judgment is only $12,281.

Indeed, medical malpractice reform in Texas has not helped this number in recent years. A Texas medical malpractice lawyer is hard to find unless it is a birth injury case or other claims with long-term catastrophic injuries and future medical care or future lost wages. So the average Texas medical malpractice settlement or verdict in a wrongful death case without significant economic loss is likely to be less than you would typically see elsewhere.

Keep in mind, too, Texas is less a state than several countries in terms of how they value personal injury cases. So a verdict in East Texas might be very different from a verdict in San Antonio for the exact same case.

January 10, 2023

Mississippi Slip and Fall Settlements and Verdicts

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Mississippi law and Mississippi jurors give slip-and-fall victims a fair shake. Here are some recent slip and fall verdicts and settlements in Mississippi.

Mississippi Slip and Fall Verdicts and Settlements

Below are recent Mississippi slip and fall cases. A few years back in the Hattiesburg American, there was an article that slip and fall lawsuits in Mississippi were on the rise. The article offers nothing substantive to support the premise; the opposite may be true. We see fewer reported Mississippi slip-and-fall settlements and verdicts in 2023.

July 17, 2022

Pennsylvania Birth Injury Verdict Overturned: Charlton v. Troy

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

In Charlton v. Troy, a Pennsylvania Superior Court nixed a $40 million verdict, ordering a new trial in a birth injury lawsuit alleging excessive traction caused a severe spinal injury.

Facts of Charlton v. Troy

The case revolves around the events that occurred during the birth of the Charlton twins. Mrs. Charlton underwent routine prenatal testing at the hospital when she was 37 and a half weeks pregnant with twins. The ultrasound revealed that “Twin B” was 25 percent smaller than “Twin A,” indicating discordant growth and some tachycardia in Twin B.

February 9, 2022

Montana Supreme Court Medical Malpractice Opinoin

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

The Montana Supreme Court decided Higgins v. Augustine yesterday. This lawsuit involved a dispute over whether a doctor had breached the standard of care during a circumcision.

The lawsuit alleged that the doctor was negligent in performing the procedure, causing the child to suffer an injury, and sought damages. The case went to trial, and the jury returned a verdict in favor of the doctor. However, the plaintiff appealed the District Court’s decision to exclude specific evidence related to a witness’s expert testimony.

During the trial, the expert witness testified that the injury suffered by the child was not consistent with the use of the correct tools and suggested that the doctor may have used incorrect scissors or misused the correct scissors. However, the plaintiff had not adequately disclosed the witness’s opinion promptly, leading the defendant to move for its exclusion. The District Court agreed, and the plaintiff appealed this decision.

January 16, 2022

Emergency Room Malpractice in Georgia

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Many states are trying to carve out malpractice caps and different standards of care for emergency room doctors in medical malpractice cases.

The thinking starts out okay. Emergency department doctors should be given the benefit of the doubt because things are happening so quickly. But ER doctors are always getting the benefit of the doubt from jurors. There is statistical evidence of this.

More importantly, the standard of care already bakes in the fact that things are sometimes happening at the speed of light in the ER. That is why reasonableness is always based on all the facts and circumstances. Continue reading

March 25, 2021

New Mexico Supreme Court Blesses Malpractice Cap

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Last week, in Siebert v. Okun, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that the state’s damages cap in medical malpractice cases was constitutional, concluding the law did not violate the right to a trial by jury. This ruling struck down the Bernalillo County District Court’s 2018 ruling on Siebert v. Okun.

New Mexico’s Medical Malpractice Act

The New Mexico legislature passed the Medical Malpractice Act in 1976. The law caps damages in medical malpractice cases at $600,000. It applies to lost wages and pain and suffering. The cap excludes punitive damages and compensation for medical and rehabilitative treatments.

October 9, 2020

Whistleblower Lawsuits for Unnecessary Hospitalizations (Winter v. Gardens Regional)

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Earlier this year in Winter v. Gardens Regional Hospital, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals revived a False Claims Act case filed by the Director of Care Management in a California hospital that claimed nearly $1.3 in Medicare claims that sought reimbursement for inpatient hospitalizations that were not medically necessary.

The U.S. District Court of Utah dismissed the case, without leave to amend, for failing to state a claim under the FCA. Specifically, the court believed that the qui tam plaintiff’s complaint failed to state a cause of action under the FCA because the allegations as a matter of law were “subjective medical opinions” that demonstrated a mere “difference of opinion” as to the medical necessity of inpatient hospital admissions.

Facts of Winter v. Gardens Regional Hospital

August 25, 2020

Georges v. Ob-Gyn Servs. | Birth Injury Appellate Opinion

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

In Georges v. Ob-Gyn Servs., P.C. the defendants, a midwife, and a medical practice, unsuccessfully attempted to overturn and $1.6 million in interest that accumulated as the result of the defendants’ refusal to accept an offer of compromise after a $4.2 million jury award.

Facts of Georges v. Ob-Gyn Servs.

The plaintiffs’ birth injury lawyer filed their original complaint alleging that the defendants committed malpractice during the mother’s pregnancy, labor, and delivery of her child. The plaintiffs claimed this malpractice caused the child to suffer severe and permanent injuries. The lawsuit claims that as a result of the defendants’ medical malpractice in managing shoulder dystocia, a young girl sustained a severe, permanent injury to her right brachial plexus.