Recently, the largest ever jury verdict for a personal injury case was awarded in the United States. The verdict was that Donald Collins was to pay the family of Robbie Middleton $150 billion for the damages he caused.
The incident that caused these damages happened in 1998. 13-year-old Collins doused an 8-year-old Middleton in gasoline and lit him on fire. The burns Middleton suffered didn't kill him, then, but Robbie spent most of the rest of his life in a burn unit. He died just before turning 21 years old, from skin cancer that was caused by the extreme burns.
According to Robbie, whose family created a video deposition before his death, Collins had sexually assaulted him before, and then attacked him with the gasoline. Collins was never formally prosecuted in the criminal case, but is serving time for aggravated sexual assault of another 8-year-old currently.
While the family doesn't expect to see the money, they are hoping that the attention the case receives will make the county prosecute Collins criminally for what he did to their son.