Landmark verdicts and settlements
Some of the most widely documented plaintiff verdicts and settlements in US history, and the attorneys who led them. Amounts are as reported in public sources at the time and may have changed on appeal. Nothing here is a judgment about any attorney or party.
Joe Jamail (Houston, TX)
Pennzoil v. Texaco · 1985–1988
Houston jury verdict of $10.53 billion for Pennzoil on Nov. 19, 1985 (about $11.1 billion with interest when the judgment was entered). Settled for $3 billion, paid April 1988. The NYT obituary says Jamail's fee was “said to be” $345 million.
Sources: NYT, Dec. 11, 1985 · UPI, Apr. 7, 1988 · NYT obituary, Dec. 24, 2015 (checked 2026-10-31)
Jan Schlichtmann (Boston, MA)
Anderson v. Cryovac / W.R. Grace (Woburn, MA groundwater) · 1986
Eight families alleged that contaminated wells caused leukemia. W.R. Grace settled in September 1986 for a reported $8 million. Terms were not officially disclosed. The case was the subject of A Civil Action.
Sources: Los Angeles Times, Sept. 23, 1986 · Washington Post, Sept. 23, 1986 (checked 2026-10-31)
Edward L. Masry (Westlake Village, CA), with Thomas Girardi and Walter Lack
Hinkley, CA chromium-6 claims v. Pacific Gas & Electric · 1996
PG&E agreed to pay $333 million to about 650 Hinkley residents in July 1996, after binding arbitration had awarded $121 million to 39 plaintiffs. Reported attorney fees totaled $133.6 million.
Sources: Los Angeles Times, July 3, 1996 · Los Angeles Times, July 23, 1998 (checked 2026-10-31)
Richard "Dickie" Scruggs (Pascagoula, MS)
Mississippi and multistate tobacco litigation · 1997–1998
Mississippi settled its tobacco suit in July 1997 for $3.6 billion over 25 years. A 1998 arbitration awarded his firm (Scruggs, Millette, Bozeman & Dent) about $874 million in fees across the Mississippi, Florida and Texas cases.
Sources: Los Angeles Times, Dec. 20, 1998 · Los Angeles Times, Dec. 12, 1998 (checked 2026-10-31)
Ronald Motley (Mount Pleasant, SC)
Asbestos litigation; state tobacco suits · 1998
Led asbestos mass-tort cases, then the state tobacco litigation that ended in the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement. Together with four earlier state settlements, those agreements total about $246 billion.
Sources: NYT obituary, Aug. 23, 2013 · Washington Post obituary, Aug. 23, 2013 (checked 2026-10-31)
Fred Levin (Pensacola, FL)
Florida Medicaid tobacco recovery · 1997
Drafted amendments to Florida's Medicaid Third-Party Recovery Act. Tobacco companies settled with Florida in August 1997 for $11.3 billion over 25 years. The state's contract with its 11 outside firms provided a 25% contingency fee; fees were later contested and set by arbitration. Levin's firm's fee was reported at more than $300 million (secondary source).
Sources: NYT, Aug. 26, 1997 · NYT, Oct. 5, 1997 · Wikipedia (fee figure) (checked 2026-10-31)
W. Mark Lanier (Houston, TX)
Ernst v. Merck (Vioxx); DePuy Pinnacle hip-implant bellwethers · 2005–2017
Ernst v. Merck: $253 million verdict (2005), cut to about $26 million under Texas's punitive-damages cap, then reversed by the Texas 14th Court of Appeals (May 29, 2008; plaintiff took nothing). Pinnacle hip: $502 million (Mar. 2016, later reduced to about $150 million), about $1.04 billion (Dec. 2016, later reduced to $543 million), $247 million (Nov. 2017).
Sources: Merck v. Ernst opinion, No. 14-06-00835-CV · NYT, May 30, 2008 · Reuters, Mar. 2016 · Reuters, Dec. 2016 · Reuters, Nov. 2017 (checked 2026-10-31)
Notes
- Jury verdicts are often reduced or reversed after trial. Where a later outcome is documented, it is shown.
- Reported fees come from public reporting and may not be exact.
- To check an attorney's current license and discipline status, use Attorney Discipline Search or the state bar.
- Corrections: if anything here is inaccurate or out of date, email us with a source and we will review and update it.
Coverage is limited for now to cases with extensive public documentation. Primary court records will be added over time.