Verdict: $1,575,000

The plaintiff, age 60, was a part-time bricklayer who had a carpal tunnel release surgery during which the defendant neurosurgeon cut a nerve in the wrist resulting in reflex sympathetic dystrophy in the patient's hand. The plaintiff's attorney Kurt Lloyd investigated and hired a hand surgeon who taught carpel tunnel release surgery and had published a leading textbook on hand surgery.

Weiner v. Pedersen, M.D.