This page looks at settlement payouts and jury awards in personal injury cases in California. We provide statistics on reported settlements and jury verdicts, as well as factual summaries of recent cases resulting in payouts.
We also provide an overview of key personal injury laws in California, including the statute of limitations for injury claims, medical malpractice rules, comparative fault, and limits on damages.
Historical research published by Jury Verdict Research reported a compensatory median award of $150,000 in California personal injury trials, an average award of approximately $1.6 million, and a plaintiff recovery rate of about 45 percent. Those figures are useful background, but they should not be mistaken for current statewide averages. The dataset is not a live measure of 2026 verdicts, and the mix of catastrophic cases can push the mathematical average far above the result in a typical case.












