Jury Verdicts & Settlements

Latest jury verdicts, settlements, and legal outcome analysis

Race Discrimination & Wrongful Firing: $4.3M Jury Verdict

A San Joaquin County Superior Court jury returned a $4.31 million verdict against Community Medical Centers, Inc. for wrongfully terminating employee Randy Pinnelli. The jury found that Pinnelli’s race, his open opposition to workplace bias, and his formal internal complaints served as substantial motivating factors behind his sudden termination. Rejecting the defense's argument that the termination was performance-related, the panel determined that company leadership authorized and ratified the firing with malice, oppression, or fraud. The final award includes $1.81 million in compensatory damages for the firing and an additional $2.5 million for the company's independent failure to prevent racial discrimination and retaliation.

Insurance Law

Jury Backs Widow in $1M Life Insurance Lapse Lawsuit

A California widow took her late husband's life insurer to federal Court after it refused to pay the $1,000,000 benefit on his term life policy. The insurer said the policy had lapsed in March 2016 because a single monthly premium went unpaid. The widow argued the company never followed two California laws that require a 60-day grace period, a written 30-day notice before any termination, and an annual notice telling policyholders they can name someone else to receive lapse warnings. Her husband, who was incapacitated at the time, died in May 2016 while the family waited to learn the policy's status. After a trial before Judge Jinsook Ohta, the Court had already ruled the statutes applied to the policy and that the insurer broke the law by failing to notify her husband of his right to designate another person. On January 13, 2026, the jury sided with the widow, finding her husband did not knowingly let the policy lapse and that the insurer's missing notices caused the lapse.

Labor and Employment Law

Jury Awards $4.6M for Workplace Retaliation in MA

A 55-year-old former Wayfair manager won more than $4.6 million after a Suffolk County jury found the company retaliated against her for complaining about age discrimination and for taking protected medical leave. Mary Boyle left a 32-year career at Verizon to join Wayfair in 2019, then said the company blocked her transfer, cut her bonus, and ultimately fired her after she raised concerns and took leave. Interestingly, the same jury rejected her core claim that the company discriminated against her because of her age. The split verdict, returned in April 2026, separated the bias claim from the punishment that followed her complaints, awarding her back pay, emotional distress, and a sizable punitive sum.

Premises Liability

Oregon Jury Clears School District in Playground Fall

A Washington County, Oregon jury sided with the Forest Grove School District after a student's family claimed he fractured his leg when he fell into a hole near an exposed drainage grate during recess. The family argued the school failed to inspect, repair, and warn students about the dangerous field, and that the recess aide accused the boy of faking the injury instead of helping him. The school denied negligence and argued the student failed to use proper care for his own safety. On January 30, 2026, the jury answered "No" to the question of whether the school acted negligently, ending the case in the Defendants' favor without reaching damages.

Motor Vehicle Accident

Two-Crash Car Accident Jury Awards $450K, Splits Fault

A California jury awarded $450,000 to a driver injured in two separate rear and left-turn collisions, then reduced her recovery by splitting the blame three ways. The Plaintiff sued both drivers after a left-turn crash in September 2020 and a rear-end crash in December 2020. Following a trial before Judge Hayashi, the jury found all three people partly at fault, assigning 55 percent to the left-turning driver, 10 percent to the rear-ending driver, and 35 percent to the Plaintiff herself.

Labor and Employment Law

Florida Inside Sales Overtime Wage Lawsuit Verdict

Enrico Deluca filed a federal lawsuit against his former employer, MW International Ventures LLC (doing business as Social Mobile), and its owner, Robert Morcos, claiming that the company had misclassified his position to avoid paying overtime. Deluca, who worked as an inside software sales representative from March to August 2024, alleged that he regularly logged over 50 hours per week and was entitled to time-and-a-half compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The defense countered that Deluca was exempt from overtime under administrative, executive, and highly compensated employee exemptions, and further maintained that he had never worked more than 40 hours in any given workweek. Following a trial in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the jury found that while Morcos operated as an employer, Deluca failed to prove he actually worked any overtime hours. On May 20, 2026, Judge Jacqueline Becerra entered a final take-nothing judgment entirely in favor of the Defendants.

Breach of Contract

Florida Jury Awards Designer Unpaid Condo Renovation Fees

A Florida design and staging firm took a real estate investor and his trust to federal Court after a luxury condominium project soured over unpaid bills. The firm, owned by a licensed broker, had been hired to remodel, decorate, and stage a Miami penthouse that the trust bought for $1.9 million and planned to flip. The firm said the owners kept ordering upgrades far beyond the original $138,000 budget, accepted the finished work, and then refused to pay in full once the unit sold for nearly $3 million. The Defendants countered that the firm itself broke the contract and that they had already paid everything they owed. After trial, the jury sided with the firm on most of its claims, including breach of contract and unjust enrichment, and awarded $81,492.87. It rejected the firm's civil theft and conversion claims, declined to hold the Defendants liable on the larger renovation invoice, but found them liable for $14,433.79 in unpaid apartment rent.

Consumer protection

Elderly couple wins $8M+ over wrongful home foreclosure

Wallace and Barbara Owen, a retired couple in their late sixties, lost their Salem, Oregon home to a wrongful foreclosure in September 2022 after American Advisors Group falsely declared them in default on their reverse mortgage — without ever inspecting the property. The couple had never left their home. Foreclosure notices mailed by Aldridge Pite LLP never left the state of Georgia and never reached the homeowners, yet Clear Recon Corp proceeded with the trustee's sale anyway. After the sale generated over $175,000 in surplus funds above the debt owed, both Clear Recon Corp and Aldridge Pite withheld that money from the elderly couple, demanding they sign a liability release before any funds would be returned. A Marion County jury sided decisively with the Owens on January 30, 2026, finding all three active Defendants liable for Unlawful Trade Practices and Financial Abuse of a Vulnerable Person, and awarding over $8 million in combined actual, non-economic, and punitive damages.

Negligence

Insurer Ordered to Pay $2.8M After Denying Storm Claim

Anacapa Marine Street, LLC owned a 17-unit apartment building in Santa Monica, California. In December 2023, a rainstorm struck while a roofing contractor worked on the building. The contractor failed to properly cover the exposed roof, and rainwater flooded the interior, causing severe structural damage across multiple units and forcing tenants out of their homes. Anacapa filed a claim with its insurer, Travelers Casualty Insurance Company of America, which held an active apartment policy on the property. Travelers denied the claim. Anacapa took the dispute to federal Court, and a jury sided with the property owner on every count, awarding damages for repair costs, lost rent, compliance upgrades, extra expenses, and tenant relocation. After the Court applied two policy sublimits, Judge R. Gary Klausner entered a final judgment of $2,797,000 plus $22,222.74 in prejudgment interest on May 14, 2026.