Million Dollar Settlements of 2009

Virginia Lawyers Weekly is pleased to present the “Million Dollar Settlements of 2009,” our annual compilation of big settlements from across the commonwealth. As in past years, our criteria for the list are simple:

1. The settlement must be for at least $1 million.

2. The settlement was reached in calendar year 2009.

3. The settlement involved a dispute with a strong Virginia component.

The 2009 survey features 36 settlements, three fewer than the 2008 list.

	Amount	Name of Case	Type of Case
1	$14.5 Million	Confidential	Products Liability
2	$5.5 Million	Confidential	Personal Injury
3	$5 Million	Shoemaker v. Eastern Sleep Products Co.	Personal Injury
4	$4.8 Million	CTC v. The Logan Sinclair LP	Eminent Domain
5	$3.8 Million	Town of Smithfield v. Windsor Castle LLC	Eminent Domain
6	$3 Million	Confidential	Personal Injury
7	$2.98 Million	Confidential	Personal Injury
8	$2.85 Million	Confidential	Personal Injury
9	$2.725 Million	Confidential	Personal Injury
10	$2.66 Million	Harper v. Heflin	Personal Injury
11 (tie)	$2.5 Million	Confidential	Personal Injury
11 (tie)	$2.5 Million	Confidential	Personal Injury
13 (tie)	$2.1, $1.1 Million	Confidential	Personal Injury
13 (tie)	$2.1 Million	ADI Technologies v. EMW Inc.	Contract
15	$2 Million	Shinaberry v. KA Bulk Transport LLC	Personal Injury
16	$1.8 Million	Confidential	Personal Injury
17	$1.75 Million	Comer v. Duvall	Personal Injury
18 (tie)	$1.7 Million	Ward v. Mercer	Personal Injury
18 (tie)	$1.7 Million	Confidential	Medical Malpractice
20	$1.625 Million	Confidential	Medical Malpractice
21	$1.6 Million	Rowe v. Mechanicsville Concrete Inc.	Personal Injury
22	$1.528 Million	Finelli v. Commonwealth	Medical Malpractice
23	$1.525 Million	Trollinger v. Dot Transportation	Personal Injury
24 (tie)	$1.5 Million	Riley v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co.	Personal Injury
24 (tie)	$1.5 Million	Confidential	Personal Injury
26	$1.475 Million	Confidential	Medical Malpractice
27	$1.275 Million	Confidential	Medical Malpractice
28	$1.26 Million	Spencer v. Town of Warrenton	Personal Injury
29	$1.25 Million	Confidential	Personal Injury
30 (tie)	$1.2 Million	Confidential	Medical Malpractice
30 (tie)	$1.2 Million	Smithers v. City of Richmond	Personal Injury
32	$1.1 Million	Confidential	Personal Injury
33	$1.084 Million	Confidential	Personal Injury
34	$1.025 Million	Fair v. Corral	Personal Injury
35	$1.005 Million	Elias v. Porter Equipment	Products Liability
36 (tie)	$1 Million	Confidential	Personal Injury
36 (tie)	$1 Million	Owens v. Garcia-Hernandez	Personal Injury

If we have missed any million-dollar settlements from 2009, please let us know. We’ll be glad to add that information to the online version of the story so it can be complete as possible. And during the coming year, we would greatly appreciate hearing about verdicts that will make it on next year’s list.