The Biggest Personal Injury Motor Vehicle Accident Verdicts of 2026 (So Far)

Below are the biggest motor vehicle accident verdicts of the year to date, ranked by size and linked to news coverage.

1. Iskander v. Grossman & Erickson - $198 Million (California, June 2026)

The year's largest motor vehicle award came in one of the most closely watched civil trials in the country. On June 3, a Los Angeles County jury awarded $176 million in compensatory damages to the family of Mark and Jacob Iskander, ages 11 and 8, who were killed in September 2020 while crossing a Westlake Village street with their family in a marked crosswalk. Rebecca Grossman, co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation, struck the boys with her Mercedes SUV after she and former Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson had been drinking and, the family's attorneys argued, racing in separate vehicles at speeds up to 80 mph; their mother managed to pull her youngest son out of the way, but Mark and Jacob had nowhere to go. Grossman was already serving 15 years to life after her 2024 conviction for second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter, and hit-and-run. The jury found both Grossman and Erickson acted with malice, and a week later added $21 million in punitive damages against Grossman and $1.17 million against Erickson, bringing the family's total to roughly $198 million. Notably, Grossman's husband, Dr. Peter Grossman, is also liable for the compensatory award as the owner of the vehicle who gave her permission to drive it.

2. Madsen v. Beacon Roofing Supply - $81 Million (Utah, March 2026)

On March 13, a Provo jury awarded $81 million to the family and friends of Michael Madsen, a 12-year-old killed in December 2018 while lawfully crossing Pleasant Grove Boulevard in a marked crosswalk. Michael had the walk signal when a day cab pulling a flatbed trailer for Allied Building Products, owned by Beacon Roofing Supply, turned right without coming to a full stop and struck him, feet from the two friends walking home with him from the movies. The lawsuit alleged the company hired a driver with a documented history of serious traffic violations, including multiple tickets for driving more than 20 mph over the limit. The jury awarded $33 million to each parent and $7.5 million to each of the two friends who witnessed the crash, in what attorneys believe is the largest jury verdict in Utah history - all the more striking because a first trial had ended in a defense verdict. The parties reached a confidential settlement that supersedes the award and precludes appeal.

3. Perrigo v. Fames Transport - $52.1 Million (California, June 2026)

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded $52.1 million to Chad Perrigo and his wife after a 2021 collision in Santa Clarita in which a big rig turned left directly into the path of Perrigo's motorcycle, leaving him with severe, life-altering injuries. The liability chain is what makes the case significant beyond its size: the driver was working for an independent contractor hauling mail under a subcontract that originated with the U.S. Postal Service, yet the jury found the companies up the chain responsible anyway. The verdict included $6.5 million in punitive damages on top of $45.6 million in compensatory damages, after the defense's insurer initially offered nothing.

4. Mick v. OPG Logistics - $49 Million (Texas, May 2026)

An Ector County jury awarded $49 million to the family of Steffan Mick, a 29-year-old husband and father of two killed in January 2025 when an OPG Logistics 18-wheeler turned left across his path on FM 307 near Midland. Mick was driving home from work, within the speed limit, with his seatbelt on; jurors found the driver failed to yield and made an unsafe left turn, and that both the driver and the company were grossly negligent. The verdict comprised $40.5 million in compensatory damages plus $8.5 million in punitive damages. There's a sobering postscript: FreightWaves could find no active federal registration for the carrier, raising real questions about how much the family will ever collect.

5. Webb County Commercial Driver Verdict - $20+ Million (Texas, March 2026)

In March, a Laredo jury awarded more than $20 million in a personal injury case against a commercial driver who, in 2022, made a left turn from a right lane while signaling a right turn — a maneuver captured entirely on dashcam. The award is believed to be the largest motor vehicle crash verdict, and the largest non-fatality verdict of any kind, in Webb County history. The family's attorney said the size of the verdict reflected years of the company refusing to accept responsibility for a crash it knew was its fault.

6. Crawley v. Uber - $19 Million (New Jersey, January 2026)

On January 28, a Bergen County jury awarded $19 million to Brandon Crawley, a former New York Rangers draft pick whose professional hockey career ended after the Uber he was riding in on Christmas Day 2018 veered off a Glen Rock road and slammed into a utility pole. Crawley, who had called the ride precisely because he'd been drinking and didn't want to drive, suffered head injuries that developed into post-concussion syndrome and vision problems, forcing him out of the game after five AHL seasons. The verdict - $15 million for lost future earnings, $3 million in past earnings, and $1 million for pain and suffering - is reportedly the largest jury verdict against Uber in the country, and its real significance is doctrinal: the jury found the driver was effectively Uber's agent or employee under New Jersey law, piercing the independent-contractor classification rideshare companies have defended for years.

Patterns in 2026's Verdicts

Three threads tie these cases together. The first is liability beyond the driver: a husband held liable for a car he lent, a rideshare giant held responsible for a driver it calls a contractor, building-supply and logistics companies held to account for who they put behind the wheel. In 2026, the person holding the steering wheel is increasingly just the first name on the complaint. The second is the crosswalk cases: the two largest verdicts of the year both involved children killed in marked crosswalks by drivers who didn't stop, and in both, juries valued the loss - and the trauma of those who witnessed it - at figures few settlements would have approached. The third is documented conduct: dashcam footage in Laredo, witness testimony of a speeding contest in Los Angeles, driving records in Utah. As in the medical malpractice cases this year, the verdicts that reach eight and nine figures are the ones where jurors could see the negligence for themselves.

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