Scales of justice with money and a gavel. In the view of many insurance company defense attorneys, the duty to make an injured party whole has been catapulted into the realm of the absurd. (Photo: Andrii Yalanskyi/Adobe Stock)

While insurers have been reeling from runaway verdicts for decades, some of the most astonishing cases in the past five years bring new meaning to the cry of 'astronomical.'

A jury thrashed a local bar in Texas, for example, for $301 billion in damages after it found the watering hole over-served a man who later ran a red light, killing two women, according to VerdictSearch. This searchable online research library tracks verdicts and settlements.

Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Coverage & Policy Issues
Litigation
Commercial Lines
Loss Control