This page has not been updated for quite some time.
There have been many more jury awards then mentioned on this page
The following wins and settlements will give you an idea
of what a successful fighter Geoffrey Fieger is in the courtroom.
In
the 20 years that he has been practicing law, he has taken over 85 civil
cases to jury verdict. He has won more than 75 of them, each for
$1 million or more. In addition, he takes an average of $100 million
in court ordered settlements a year.
Geoff
has fought to win for his clients, and assists them with the only attempt
at restitution that society allows when we are wronged-- their day in court.
The cases listed here are only those made public, many cases are low-profile
and clients request them to be tried privately.
Represented
Dr. Jack Kevorkian pro bono for about 9 years. Three
juries, five murder acquittals (43
others never brought to trial). Dr. Kevorkian represented himself
in his last trial and is serving time in prison. He is up for parole
in 2007.
Fieger wins $8 million
for parents for sons death - 7/25/02, Read about
it here
Fieger wins $4 million
award for client - 6/30/02, Read about it here
Detroit Police settlement
-
5/30/02, Read about it here
Fieger is co-councel for
$56.5 million jury award - 5/17/02, Read about
it here
$300K Settlement for set-up
shoplifter - 2/11/02, Read
about it here
$8
mil jury award for drowned boys' family - 11/15/01, Read
about it here
Hospital to pay $10 million
for woman's death - April 17, 2001, Read
about it here
Jury awards girl $319,000
in sex case - 6/29/01, Read
about it here
Northwest
Airlines reaches $7.1 million settlement in Detroit snowstorm lawsuit -
1/9/01 Read about it here
Jury
awards $6 million to family of woman struck dead by cop - 10/31/00, Read
about this case
Wayne
County, Michigan jurors awarded $3 million to the family of a man who died
during bypass surgery at Annapolis-Oakwood Hospital - 7/20/00
Kenneth Lane, a former Lincoln Park resident, died after doctors grafted
an artery in his heart to a vein instead of another artery, said attorney
Geoffrey Fieger, whose firm tried the case. Jurors deliberated about two
hours.
City
settles case for $1.45 million for victim raped - 6/16/00, Read
about this case
Fieger
wins $18 million malpractice verdict in PA for 8 year old - 5/4/00, Read
about this case
Nathaniel
Abraham case Successfully defended 13 year old Abraham
from the prosecution's charges of 1st degree murder. Is expected
to appeal the jury's verdict of 2nd degree murder. Successfully pleaded
with the judge at the sentencing, resulting in the judge's decision to
not sentence Abraham as an adult. Abraham will instead (pending an
appeal) remain in a juvenile facility until age 21.
Police
case settles for $3.45 million - 10/1/99. The March
1998 slaying of the 24-year-old Dante Foster, who was black, by Porter,
who is white, prompted the filing of federal civil rights lawsuit by Foster's
mother, Rosselena Foster, calling the shooting racially motivated.
A Michigan State Police investigation cleared Porter of any criminal wrongdoing
in Foster's death. The shooting occurred after police uncovered
a plot by Foster to get credit to buy a car at a Main Street auto dealership
using someone else's identity. As Porter struggled with Foster
and tried to yank the keys out of the ignition of Foster's car, Porter's
drawn handgun fired, fatally wounding Foster. Foster's accomplice
in the attempt later pleaded guilty to an attempted larceny charge.
Two similar suits are pending against the police, Fieger is not involved
in those.
$30
million ($20 million in exemplary damages) was awarded on March 12, 1999,
for a motor vehicle accident with injuries. The
case arose from a motor vehicle accident that occured on Nov. 7, 1994,
where a semi-tractor trailing slammed into seven vehicles, including the
plaintiff. The plainiff's passenger was killed, and the plainiff was trapped
in her vehicle while it was burning. The plaintiff was rescued but suffered
burns, injuries and a psychiatric disorder (post-traumatic stress disorder).
Update
1/4/01:
Judge cuts $30 million jury award, down
to $3 million
$25
million verdict against the Jenny Jones show in early 1999.
The
show was held responsible for misleading a guest of a same sex crush show.
This led to the guest murdering another guest days after the show. Video
clip of Fieger and Jenny Jones in court and Story
about the judge upholding the $25 million jury award
$21
million verdict on July 19, 1999 in a sexual harassment case against Daimler/Chrysler,
a Jeep Grand Cherokee plant in Detroit.
It
is believed to be the largest single verdict in Michigan for sexual harassment.
Fieger said the award will ultimately total more than $45 million including
interest payments to his client, who was hired by the plant in 1992.
An appeal will reportedly be filed. This case is up for appeal
by Summer 2001.
$1.2
million awarded in casino accident - Aug. 1999
A
ballroom dancer who suffered a fractured hip when struck by a waitress
carrying a tray of drinks in an Atlantic City casino was awarded $1.2 million
this week by a jury in the Detroit courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge
Patrick Duggan. The injury happened while Wanda Placido and
her husband, Anthony, were attending the annual Merv Griffin New Years
Eve celebration on Dec. 31, 1997.
In
April 1998, a federal jury awarded the family of Eddie Swans $12.9 million
at the end of a six-week civil trial for a wrongful death suit.
Swans, died in February 1996. The 40-year-old man had stopped
breathing minutes after being shackled by his wrists and ankles to a waistband
while lying face down in a city jail cell. At least three doctors
testified that Swans died as a result of a struggle with officers and their
restraint of him.
February
1998 - Won an $8-million verdict against Children's Center of Wayne County
in a case where an 8-year old girl was raped by a foster child.
Children's Center knew it had a sexual predator on its hands, and it purposefully
deceived a foster care mother into taking a monster into her home" Fieger
said. The mother accepted the 12-year-old boy into her home in August
1994, not knowing the boy had a history of being both sexually abused and
sexually abusive to other children. Within a month of being placed
in the home, the boy sodomized the girl, who was 4 years old at the time.
"Had the Children's Center bothered to spend five minutes reviewing the
foster child's file prior to placement, an innocent child would have never
endured this horrifying and traumatic incident," Fieger said. Entire
news story
May
1997, won a $15 million verdict on behalf of Sal Badalamenti.
Badalmenti (36) suffered a heart attack at work and was taken to the Troy
hospital, where he spent nearly nine hours in a hospital bed awaiting treatment.
Badalamenti went into cardiogenic shock after his doctor, David Forst,
decided not to perform an immediate angioplasty. Badalamenti's
blood pressure dropped to dangerous levels and he lost circulation.
Doctors later amputated his hands and legs.
Appeal
reverses malpractice award - Aug. 1999
The
Court of Appeals dismissed the $15 million judgment reportedly on failure
to present substantial and legally sufficient evidence and also courtroom
conduct. Fieger held a news conference and stated that he intends
to sue the three appellate judges and file complaints against them with
the state Judicial Tenure Commission. This is not the end of this
case. He said he plans to appeal the ruling to the state Supreme
Court. The original judge who from the 1997 case, is deceased.
Jan.
1998 - A jury awarded $6 million in damages to the family of Richard Irvin
Smith III, 9-year-old boy who died 3 days after being run over
by a van as he crossed a Detroit street. - January 1998
In
1993, Fieger won an $18.6 million verdict on behalf of Irene Martinez,
whose son was severely retarded and a spastic quadriplegic.
Fieger
argued that the boy was injured after Martinez received the drug Pitocin
to speed labor contractions. The woman's pelvis was not big enough to deliver
the boy, and he was delivered by Caesarean section hours later.
Botsford
General Hospital in Farmington Hills attributed the problems to a rare
genetic disorder, while Fieger argued the medical problems occurred because
the boy could not exit the birth canal.
At
the time, the verdict was the second-highest medical malpractice verdict
ever in Michigan.
In
1991, he won a $12.6 million jury award for a woman who suffered brain
damage at a Detroit hospital.
The
National Law Journal included the case in its nationwide summary of 1991's
largest verdicts.
The
case dated to May 1985, when Bonbita R. Kaczor was admitted to Cottage
Hospital in Grosse Pointe, where she was diagnosed with depression. Fieger
argued that Kaczor suffered from a reaction to Xanax, an anti-depressant.
While hospitalized for 30 days, Kaczor continued to take Xanax and her
condition worsened.
Later
she was transferred to a state hospital, where all drugs were stopped.
Kaczor suffered a violent reaction and was later prescribed a neuroleptic
drug, Haldol. Kaczor was injured after she was given more than twice the
amount prescribed and suffered memory loss. She requires life-long nursing
care. "It literally fried her brain," Fieger said at the time.
A
jury in 1995 awarded $7.26 million to a Fieger client whose
suffering from non-specific pelvic pain was not relieved after eight operations.
Sheila Hollmann said she was disfigured and unable to have sex after the
surgeries. The defense argued Hollmann had problems with scarring
before the operations and disputed the charge that she could not have sex.
The
maker of a playpen that collapsed and suffocated an 8-month-old boy agreed
to pay $1 million to the child's family, after a jury awarded them
the same amount. The family, represented by Fieger, sued Baby Trend Inc.
and Kmart Corp., which sold the product.
