Georgia’s largest jury verdicts award billions in damages

Here are some of the state’s largest jury verdicts:

$2.5 billion against Ford in February 2025

A federal jury in Columbus awarded $2.5 billion in February to the children of a couple killed in a 2022 rollover in one of the company’s “Super Duty” trucks. It is the largest verdict in state history.

Ford was accused of selling millions of “Super Duty” trucks with weak roofs and of failing to warn consumers.

Credit: Courtesy of attorneys for Mills family

Credit: Courtesy of attorneys for Mills family

Herman, 74, and Debra Mills, 64, were driving in Decatur County on Aug. 22, 2022, in their 2015 Ford F-250 Super Duty truck when it rolled over and the roof crushed them, said their children’s lawsuit.

Ford argued that the deformation of the roof in the crash did not cause the couple’s death. A company spokesperson said the verdict was “impermissibly extreme and not supported by the evidence,” and that Ford would appeal.

$1.7 billion against Ford in August 2022

Ford was hit with a $1.7 billion verdict by a Gwinnett County jury in August 2022, in a case brought by the sons of a couple killed in a “Super Duty” truck rollover in 2014.

It was the largest verdict in state history until February 2025, when the federal jury in Columbus punished Ford with the $2.5 billion verdict in a similar case.

In the Gwinnett County case, Ford was found 70% responsible for the deaths of Voncile and Melvin Hill, who were crushed by the roof of their 2002 Ford F-250 Super Duty truck when it rolled on a rural Georgia road.

The verdict was the third-largest of 2022 nationwide, according to TopVerdict.com, which publishes the largest verdicts in each state as reported by attorneys.

The Georgia Court of Appeals scrapped the verdict in November 2024, when attorneys for the plaintiffs said they would seek review by the Georgia Supreme Court.

$200 million against boatmaker in August 2021

A jury in Rabun County awarded $200 million in August 2021 to the parents of 7-year-old Ryan Batchelder, who died in a boating accident on Lake Burton in 2014. Tennessee boatmaker Malibu Boats was found liable for failing to warn of a hazard.

The Batchelder family, from Florida, were on vacation and renting the boat when the incident happened. A family member, Dennis Ficarra, was driving the boat. The jury held that Ficarra was 75% responsible for the boy’s death, but he was not a party in the case.

According to TopVerdict, the Malibu Boats verdict was the sixth-largest in the country in 2021 and the highest in product liability and watercraft accident cases.

The case was confidentially settled in 2023 while appeals were pending.

$160 million against Sony in December 2022

A DeKalb County jury awarded $160 million in December 2022 to the families of two men fatally shot at an Underground Atlanta rap concert, finding Sony Music Holdings liable for failing to protect patrons.

Ewell Ynoa, 21, and Giovan Diaz, 22, died on Nov. 12, 2017, after gunfire broke out during a performance by the rapper Cousin Stizz at the Masquerade venue in downtown Atlanta.

Jonathan Bautista, then 23, was arrested and charged with murder in both deaths. In 2022, Bautista was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to lesser charges of voluntary manslaughter, Fulton County court records show.

Sony settled with the families confidentially after the trial, ending the case in December 2023.

$140 million against landlord in December 2023

A DeKalb County jury awarded $140 million in December 2023 to the family of a tenant who died in a southwest Atlanta apartment complex fire.

The March 2017 fire at Venetian Hills left George Hughes, 63, dead and more than 30 other residents without a home.

Credit: john spink

Credit: john spink

At Venetian Hills, years of complaints about crime and substandard conditions failed to get its owners to clean up the complex, city code enforcement and police records show. To make more money, its owner turned Hughes’ apartment into a boardinghouse without required fire sprinklers, alarms and other safety equipment, according to evidence presented in the court case.

The verdict was the largest in Georgia in 2023, according to TopVerdict.

During the trial, Venetian Hills blamed Hughes’ death on a visitor who pleaded guilty to manslaughter and arson charges for starting the fire, not the lack of fire safety equipment, court records show.

The case is now before the Georgia Court of Appeals.

$135 million against solar farm developers in April 2023

A federal jury in Columbus awarded $135 million in April 2023 to a Stewart County couple who alleged their rural property was fouled by muddy runoff from a solar electricity project next door.

Credit: Shaun Harris

Credit: Shaun Harris

The jury found Silicon Ranch, a Nashville-based solar power developer, and its contractor negligently constructed a 100-megawatt solar facility that provides electricity to a Newton County data center owned by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.

In October 2023, the verdict was slashed to $5 million by the trial judge, who found the amount of punitive damages excessive. Just before a new trial on damages, the case settled in January 2025 for an undisclosed sum.

$118 million against care providers in December 2022

A Bibb County jury awarded $118 million in December 2022 to Betty Gill after her severely mentally disabled son allegedly was beaten by staff of the assisted living facility where he resided.

In her February 2015 complaint against the facility owners, operators and staff, Gill said her adult son, Joseph “Joey” Cason Jr., was repeatedly and violently beaten by at least four facility staff on Nov. 5, 2013. Gill alleged that the abuse was captured on video and that the staff involved were fired, prosecuted and sentenced to prison.

Facility owners and operators Total Care Community Living Properties, Total Care Personal Care Home and Pamela and David Reaves were found liable by default after failing to timely respond to the allegations. A jury awarded $20 million in compensation, $8 million in attorney fees and $90 million in punitive damages.

The Georgia Court of Appeals upheld the verdict in February 2024. Five months later, the Georgia Supreme Court declined the defendants’ request to review the case.

$103 million against driver in September 2023

A Fulton County jury awarded $103.5 million in September 2023 to Dale Adams in his case against the estate of Ashley Claxton, who allegedly drove into him while he was working inside a construction zone on Ga. 400 in Roswell in 2016.

Claxton, who died in September 2021, was charged with several driving-related offenses, including serious injury by vehicle and reckless driving, Fulton court and jail records show.

In his complaint, Adams said the incident happened just before 1 a.m. on May 24, 2016. Court records show that in 2018, when Claxton was 24, she took a plea deal and was sentenced to six months in prison.

Jurors awarded Adams $60 million in compensation and $43.5 million in attorney fees and litigation costs. The case still is being litigated.

$100 million against Atlanta in August 2022

A federal jury in Atlanta awarded $100 million in August 2022 to the guardian of Jerry Blasingame, a homeless man who was paralyzed from the neck down after being tased by an Atlanta police officer in July 2018.

The jury found that Blasingame, 65 at the time of the incident, was subjected to excessive or unreasonable force by officer Jon Grubbs, awarding $40 million against Grubbs and $60 million against the city of Atlanta.

Credit: Courtesy of Ven Johnson

Credit: Courtesy of Ven Johnson

Blasingame alleged he was walking near Windsor Street when Grubbs suspected he was panhandling. Blasingame alleged he was tased in the back by Grubbs without warning, causing him to fall down a steep slope and smash his head on a concrete slab.

In court filings, the trial judge noted that the city had conducted an internal investigation of Grubbs, cleared him of charges of using excessive force and disciplined him for improper use of his body-worn camera. The trial judge ultimately wiped out the city’s part of the verdict, ruling it could not be held liable.

Blasingame died in September 2023, court records show. In August 2024, the trial judge reduced the verdict against Grubbs to $21 million. The case is now before the Atlanta-based federal appeals court.