Latest jury verdicts, settlements, and legal outcome analysis
A Santa Clara County woman won a $4.37 million jury verdict against BMO Bank after the bank placed her husband's mortgage on her credit report by mistake and failed to correct the error despite acknowledging it, causing her credit score to plummet and her business loan applications to be denied.
Plaintiff DonQuenick Yvonne Joppy, a Black registered nurse, filed a federal lawsuit against her former employer, HCA-HealthOne LLC (d/b/a The Medical Center of Aurora), alleging severe racial discrimination and retaliation under 42 U.S.C. § 1981. Throughout her two-year tenure in the Intensive Care Unit, Joppy was subjected to racially motivated microaggressions, isolation, and disparate treatment by non-Black management. After reporting these toxic conditions to supervisors and corporate headquarters, she faced immediate retaliatory actions, including an uncommunicated Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) and a blocked transfer. The conflict culminated following a May 24, 2019, incident where Joppy assisted with end-of-life palliative care for a terminal patient by disconnecting a ventilator under telephone instructions from a respiratory therapist. The hospital used this event as a pretext for termination, claiming she practiced outside her scope, despite the coroner ruling the death natural. On August 19, 2025, a federal jury returned a unanimous verdict for Joppy, finding that neither her termination nor her treatment would have occurred 'but for' her race and her complaints. The jury awarded her a landmark $20,000,000, comprising $5 million in compensatory damages and $15 million in punitive damages.
A North Carolina homeowner sued an HVAC company after it installed a 4-ton heat pump system she claimed was too large for her residence. The Plaintiff alleged the oversized unit caused short cycling, persistent moisture problems, and mold in every room. The Defendant denied the home required a smaller system and maintained it performed all obligations. On August 21, 2025, a unanimous jury returned a defense verdict, finding no negligence.
Diana Kuhlke sued pain management physician Joseph Savino, Pain Care of Oregon, LLC, and Crater Lake Surgery Center, LLC, alleging that a C7-T1 epidural steroid injection caused her to develop bacterial meningitis. Kuhlke claimed Savino failed to perform proper sterile preparation, used a neurotoxic antiseptic agent without confirming it was dry, failed to recognize a subarachnoid space violation, did not perform serial aspirations, and failed to respond to her post-procedural symptoms. She sought $520,000 in damages. The jury returned a defense verdict, finding no negligence.
A federal jury in the Northern District of California found SuccessfulMatch.com liable for infringing, inducing infringement of, and contributing to the infringement of five service marks owned by a competing online dating platform. The jury cleared the company's CEO of personal liability on all counts.
Taylor Wilson sued Olive Cleveland Partners, LLC after she slipped and fell on snow and ice in a warehouse parking lot in South Bend, Indiana. The jury assigned 45% fault to Wilson, 45% to Olive Cleveland Partners, and 10% to non-party snow removal contractor Pemberton, LLC. The jury determined total damages and entered a verdict in Wilson's favor against Olive Cleveland Partners, LLC.
A Miami-Dade County jury awarded $270,000 to Kenneth Dominguez after finding that Manon N. Foisy was solely negligent in a February 2022 motor vehicle collision at the intersection of Biscayne Boulevard and South 191st Street in Aventura, Florida. The jury found that Dominguez sustained permanent injuries and awarded damages for past and future medical expenses as well as pain and suffering.
A Buncombe County landlord sought to remove a tenant from his rental property after alleging the tenant threatened his father's life and caused extensive damage inside the home, including a busted door casing, torn-off trim, and sledgehammer holes through the ceiling and sheetrock. Filed under North Carolina's summary ejectment statute for criminal activity violations, the case went before a jury, which sided with the landlord on both possession and damages, awarding him $5,000.
A former Assistant Controller at a California gas station property company sued his employer after being terminated, alleging age discrimination and retaliation for reporting illegal payroll practices to state labor authorities. Though a San Bernardino County jury found he had disclosed legitimate payroll violations to a government agency and had reasonable cause to believe the law had been broken, it ultimately found his disclosure was not a contributing factor in his termination, resulting in a defense verdict on his employment claims. The jury did side with him on the company's separate breach of contract cross-complaint, and the Court awarded him over $300,000 in attorney's fees as the prevailing party on that claim.
