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The largest lawsuit settlement on record was between the U.S. government and tobacco companies in 1998 for $206 billion. Some of the other largest lawsuit settlements and jury awards include:
- $9 billion settlement between Merck and patients who claimed harm from Vioxx
- $4.85 billion settlement between BP and the U.S. government over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill
- $2.425 billion jury award to a couple who claimed Roundup caused their cancer
- $2.2 billion settlement between Bank of America and federal and state governments over mortgage fraud
Lawsuits seeking monetary damages can result in massive sums being awarded to plaintiffs. The reported amounts from verdicts and settlements over the years have reached staggering proportions in some cases. Determining the absolute highest amount awarded in a lawsuit settlement or jury verdict is difficult given the many civil suits filed, but some clearly stand out as being among the largest.
There are many factors that come into play in lawsuits that can affect the potential award amounts. These include the number of plaintiffs involved, the severity of harm alleged, the financial resources of the defendants, and the jurisdiction in which the case is filed. Class action lawsuits in particular often generate huge settlement totals due to the aggregation of many claims into one case.
While the legal details and issues may vary widely, the enormous dollar amounts in certain prominent lawsuits capture significant public attention. The record sums won indicate that the civil justice system has the capacity to levy substantial penalties against corporations, institutions, or individuals found culpable for misconduct or negligence. Understanding which lawsuits have resulted in the biggest monetary awards provides perspective on how high the financial stakes can be in civil litigation.
The Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement
The largest civil settlement in U.S. history resulted from legal actions brought by several states against the country’s major tobacco companies. In November 1998, the four largest cigarette manufacturers at the time – Philip Morris Inc., R. J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson and Lorillard – entered into the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement with 46 U.S. states. The baseline amount of the settlement was $206 billion, with payments to be made over the first 25 years.
The core claim against the tobacco companies was that they had deceived the public regarding the health hazards and addictive nature of smoking. The suits sought to recover Medicaid costs incurred by states treating smoking-related illnesses. Other provisions restricted advertising and marketing by tobacco companies aimed at youth.
In the landmark settlement, the defendant tobacco companies agreed to pay a minimum of $206 billion. Breaking the amount down:
- $1.5 billion per year for the first 5 years
- $9 billion per year for the next 5 years
- $8.5 billion per year for the following 5 years
- $8 billion per year for the next 10 years
- $6 billion per year for the last 5 years
In addition, the companies agreed to pay $1.45 million over 5 years to fund anti-smoking campaigns and education. Taken together, the total came to $246 billion. As the single largest civil settlement in history, the tobacco agreement set a new record for financial damages imposed in a lawsuit. The enormous sum signaled a major victory for government entities seeking to hold an entire industry accountable for decades of misinformation and deception of the American public regarding smoking.
State Settlement Adjustments
The settlement amounts owed by the tobacco companies were later adjusted through negotiations and arbitration. The adjustments reduced the baseline totals, but still left massive damages owed:
- Philip Morris: $206 billion reduced to $121 billion
- R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company: $145 billion reduced to $75 billion
- Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company: $23 billion reduced to $11 billion
- Lorillard Tobacco Company: $17 billion reduced to $10 billion
Even after reductions, the total owed by the four tobacco companies still exceeded $217 billion. Additional settlements were later reached with other tobacco companies bringing the total recovery by the states to nearly $250 billion.
Other Notable Mass Settlements
While no other settlement surpasses the tobacco agreement, there are other mass civil settlements that resulted in staggeringly high amounts:
- Merck Vioxx Settlement – $4.85 billion. Merck & Company agreed to pay nearly $5 billion to resolve claims its pain medication Vioxx increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. Of the total, $4.1 billion went to settle over 26,500 lawsuits by Vioxx patients and families.
- Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Settlement – $4.55 billion. BP reached a $4.5 billion settlement with the U.S. government and Gulf states over environmental fines and penalties stemming from the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP previously settled related civil and criminal charges totaling billions more.
- WorldCom Securities Fraud Settlement – $3.5 billion. Telecom company WorldCom agreed to pay $3.5 billion to settle civil fraud charges over an accounting scandal in which $11 billion in false accounting entries were made. At the time, it was the largest securities fraud settlement ever.
- Tyco International Settlement – $3 billion. Executives of Tyco International misappropriated $600 million from the company, which settled shareholder lawsuits related to the corporate scandal for $2.92 billion.
- Bank of America Settlement – $2.43 billion. A settlement was reached between Bank of America and federal and state governments over mortgage fraud committed by Countrywide Financial which BoA acquired. The bank also committed $7 billion more for consumer relief.
Like the tobacco settlement, these mass civil actions obtained recoveries in the billions of dollars on behalf of government entities, corporations, consumers, and other plaintiffs. The blockbuster settlement amounts establish these agreements as among the most lucrative lawsuit resolutions in history.
Largest Jury Awards
In addition to settlements, large monetary awards have also resulted from juries finding in favor of plaintiffs in civil suits. Among the biggest jury verdicts and awards:
- Roundup Lawsuit – $2 billion. In 2019, a jury awarded a California couple suffering from Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma $2.055 billion in punitive damages from Monsanto after concluding the company’s Roundup weed killer caused their cancers. A judge later reduced the award to $86.7 million.
- Actos Drug Injury Lawsuit – $1.7 billion. A Louisiana woman was awarded $1.7 million by a jury after finding the diabetes drug Actos caused her bladder cancer. The judge later reduced the award to about $37 million.
- Exxon Valdez Oil Spill – $1.26 billion. Years after the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, an Anchorage jury awarded $1.26 billion in compensatory damages to nearly 34,000 fishermen and others harmed economically by the disaster.
- Johns Manville Asbestos – $1.2 billion. The industrial products company was hit with a $1.2 billion verdict in New Jersey for exposing workers to asbestos who later developed mesothelioma and lung cancer.
- Samsung v. Apple – $1.049 billion. In one of the many patent disputes between the companies, a jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple over $1 billion for copying design features of the iPhone.
These and other plaintiff jury awards delivered among the biggest lawsuit payouts on record based on decisions of six or twelve jurors who ruled overwhelmingly in favor of victims and plaintiffs.
Punitive Damages
Punitive or exemplary damages are intended to punish defendants for especially egregious conduct. They can sometimes be extraordinarily high and can greatly inflate total award amounts. The Supreme Court has ruled that excessive punitive damages may violate Constitutional due process rights.
Major Settlements and Awards by Type
Categorizing some of the largest lawsuit payouts by the nature of the litigation also provides useful perspective:
Securities Fraud
- Cendant: $3.2 billion
- Enron: $7.2 billion
- Nortel Networks: $1 billion
- Tyco International: $3 billion
- Worldcom: $3.5 billion
Consumer Fraud
- Volkswagen Diesel Emissions: $15 billion
- Wells Fargo Account Scandal: $142 million
- Equifax Data Breach: $425 million
- General Motors Ignition Switch: $120 million
Product Liability
- Merck Vioxx: $4.85 billion
- Actos Drug Injury: $1.7 billion
- Boston Scientific Pelvic Mesh: $221 million
- GM Ignition Switch: $120 million
- Stryker Hip Implants: $1 billion
Environmental
- BP Oil Spill: $20.8 billion
- Exxon Valdez Oil Spill: $1.26 billion
- Tronox Environmental Pollution: $5.15 billion
- DuPont C-8 Pollution: $671 million
This breakdown shows the various contexts in which lawsuits have produced massive verdicts and settlements across different sectors of corporate misconduct.
Largest Lawsuits by Industry
Looking at the industries involved in the biggest lawsuits also helps identify patterns:
Tobacco
- Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement: $206 billion
Pharmaceuticals
- Merck Vioxx Settlement: $4.85 billion
- Actos Drug Injury Verdict: $1.7 billion
- GlaxoSmithKline Avandia Settlement: $3 billion
- Baxter Heparin Contamination Settlement: $650 million
Chemical/Manufacturing
- DuPont C-8 Pollution Settlement: $671 million
- Pacific Gas & Electric Erin Brockovich Settlement: $333 million
- Anderson Memorial Hospital Asbestos Exposure: $325 million
- Johns Manville Asbestos Verdict: $1.2 billion
Financial
- Enron Shareholder Class Action: $7.2 billion
- Worldcom Securities Fraud Settlement: $3.5 billion
- Bank of America Mortgage Settlement: $2.43 billion
- AOL Time Warner Securities Settlement: $2.5 billion
Automotive
- General Motors Ignition Switch Compensation: $120 million
- Toyota Unintended Acceleration: $1.2 billion
- Hyundai/Kia MPG Ratings Settlement: $760 million
Identifying the industries prone to large lawsuit awards and settlements paints a picture of where accountability efforts have centered through use of the courts.
Trends and Analysis
Analyzing the history of record-breaking lawsuits yields some revealing trends and patterns:
- Settlement amounts tend to exceed jury awards due to interest in avoiding risk on both sides.
- Consumers and governments have leveraged class actions and mass aggregations to hold corporations accountable.
- The largest awards tend to follow periods of corporate scandal and misconduct.
- Product liability suits have targeted dangers posed by drugs, devices, and consumer goods.
- Punitive damages for egregious actions can greatly inflate awards.
- Jurisdiction plays a role, with plaintiff-friendly venues producing larger awards.
- Appeals and settlement negotiations often substantially reduce awarded amounts.
- The trend is toward progressively higher settlements and verdicts.
Understanding these patterns within the largest lawsuits won provides insight into the civil justice system and how high the financial stakes can climb in these cases.
Conclusion
The Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement in 1998 for $206 billion clearly represents the largest civil settlement in global history. Other settlements have also climbed into the billions of dollars as class actions and mass joiner suits have allowed aggregate claims to be pursued against major companies. Jury awards have also resulted in verdicts as high as $1.7 billion. While the typical lawsuit settled or judged in civil court do not reach these levels, the potential clearly exists for damages to reach unprecedented heights in certain cases of mass harm, corporate malfeasance, or gross negligence resulting in substantial injuries and damages.
