Reviewed by: Daryoosh Khashayar, Founder and Managing Partner, Khashayar Law Group | ABOTA Member | Office: 1350 Columbia St., Suite 303, San Diego, CA 92101 | Last Updated: July 2026.
Related: Khashayar Law Group case results · Asbaghi v. Nydegger ($61.587M verdict).
There is no official, court-maintained list of the largest jury verdicts in San Diego County. Published “top verdicts” lists routinely disagree with one another because they mix settlements with verdicts, gross awards with net judgments, and verdicts that survived appeal with verdicts that were later vacated. This page is our attempt at a rigorous version: a ranking of the largest jury verdicts ever returned by San Diego County juries, state and federal, by gross verdict amount, with the post-trial outcome of every case disclosed and every entry supported by a cited source.
Methodology
This list ranks cases by the gross verdict returned by the jury, in San Diego County state and federal courts, regardless of what happened afterward. The “status” column then discloses what happened afterward, because many of the county's largest verdicts were later vacated, reversed, or reduced. Settlements are excluded from the ranking (they are noted where a vacated verdict later settled). Figures come from verdict reporters, published appellate opinions, court records, and contemporaneous news coverage; each entry cites at least one source. Where reporters disagree on a figure, we use the itemized or court-documented number and note the discrepancy.
The Largest Jury Verdicts in San Diego County History
| Rank | Gross Verdict | Case | Court / Year | Case Type | Post-Trial Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1.52 billion | Alcatel-Lucent v. Microsoft | U.S. District Court, S.D. Cal. / 2007 | Patent infringement (MP3) | Vacated by the trial court in August 2007 |
| 2 | $368.6 million | Buell-Wilson v. Ford Motor Co. | San Diego Superior Court / 2004 | Product liability (Explorer rollover) | Reduced by remittitur to $150M, then to $82.6M on appeal; later settled |
| 3 | $358 million | Lucent Technologies v. Gateway / Microsoft | U.S. District Court, S.D. Cal. / 2008 | Patent infringement | Vacated by the Federal Circuit (2009) |
| 4 | $145.1 million | Wi-LAN v. Apple | U.S. District Court, S.D. Cal. / 2018 | Patent infringement (VoLTE) | Vacated; $85.2M damages retrial (2020) also vacated (2022); later resolved |
| 5 | $105 million | Giaquinta v. San Diego Health Alliance, Inc. | San Diego Superior Court / May 2026 | Wrongful termination / retaliation | Recent verdict (includes $70M punitive); post-trial proceedings may follow |
| 6 | $94.5 million | Border Business Park, Inc. v. City of San Diego | San Diego Superior Court / 2001 | Breach of contract / inverse condemnation | Inverse-condemnation award reversed on appeal (2006); later resolved |
| 7 | $85 million | K.J.P. v. County of San Diego (Phounsy) | U.S. District Court, S.D. Cal. / 2022 | Civil rights / death in custody | Vacated as excessive; case settled for $12M (Dec. 2022) |
| 8 | $61.587 million | Asbaghi v. Nydegger, tried by Khashayar Law Group | San Diego Superior Court / 2016 | Legal malpractice / breach of fiduciary duty | Net verdict $46,190,250 after 25% comparative fault; no vacatur or reversal publicly reported |
| 9 | $56 million | Stone Brewing Co. v. Molson Coors | U.S. District Court, S.D. Cal. / 2022 | Trademark infringement | Affirmed by the Ninth Circuit (Dec. 2024) |
| 10 | $55.66 million | County of San Diego v. Rancho Vista Del Mar (De La Fuente) | San Diego Superior Court / 1990 | Eminent domain | Reversed on appeal (1993); reported $38.7M settlement (1997) |
| 11 | $46.475 million | Greener v. Del Mar Jiu-Jitsu Club | San Diego Superior Court / 2023 | Catastrophic personal injury | Affirmed on appeal; final after review denied (2025) |
Most Mega-Verdicts Don't Survive. The Ones That Did Are Telling.
The most striking pattern in this list: most of San Diego's largest jury verdicts did not survive as awarded. The three patent mega-verdicts (Alcatel-Lucent's $1.52 billion, Lucent's $358 million, and Wi-LAN's $145.1 million) were all vacated. The $85 million Phounsy civil-rights verdict was vacated and settled for $12 million. The 1990 De La Fuente eminent-domain verdict was reversed outright. Buell-Wilson was cut from $368.6 million to $82.6 million.
Only a handful of the county's largest verdicts stand essentially as returned: Stone Brewing's $56 million (affirmed by the Ninth Circuit in 2024), Greener's $46.475 million (affirmed, final in 2025), and Asbaghi v. Nydegger's $61.587 million, which produced a net verdict of $46,190,250 after the jury's 25% comparative-fault allocation and for which no vacatur or reversal has been publicly reported. Measured by verdicts that held up, Asbaghi sits at or near the top of San Diego County history.
Largest State-Court (San Diego Superior Court) Jury Verdicts
Because federal patent verdicts dominate the all-time list, it is also worth ranking only the verdicts returned by San Diego Superior Court juries:
| Rank | Gross Verdict | Case / Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $368.6M | Buell-Wilson v. Ford (2004) | Reduced to $82.6M; settled |
| 2 | $105M | Giaquinta v. San Diego Health Alliance (2026) | Recent; post-trial proceedings may follow |
| 3 | $94.5M | Border Business Park v. City of San Diego (2001) | Reversed in part; resolved |
| 4 | $61.587M | Asbaghi v. Nydegger (2016), Khashayar Law Group | Net $46.19M after comparative fault |
| 5 | $55.66M | County of San Diego v. Rancho Vista Del Mar (1990) | Reversed; settled |
| 6 | $46.475M | Greener v. Del Mar Jiu-Jitsu Club (2023) | Affirmed; final |
Asbaghi v. Nydegger: the Largest Legal Malpractice Verdict in San Diego County History
On October 20, 2016, after a three-and-a-half-week trial before Hon. Kevin A. Enright and five days of jury deliberation, a San Diego Superior Court jury returned a $61,587,000 verdict in Asbaghi v. Nydegger (Case No. 37-2013-00066639-CU-PN-CTL) for legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty. The defendants, patent attorney Neil K. Nydegger and his firm, had allowed inventor Hooman Asbaghi's dental safety-needle patent (U.S. Patent No. 6,530,905) to be abandoned despite receiving his maintenance-fee check, costing him a licensing agreement and its future royalty stream. The jury allocated 25% comparative fault to the plaintiffs, producing a net verdict of $46,190,250.
Daryoosh Khashayar of Khashayar Law Group served as plaintiffs' trial counsel, with co-counsel Kambiz Adibzadeh of the Adibzadeh Law Firm. Verdict publishers reported it as the largest San Diego County jury verdict of 2016, and it remains the largest legal malpractice jury verdict in San Diego County history and one of the largest legal malpractice verdicts ever in California. The full case record, including the verdict breakdown and sources, is on our Asbaghi v. Nydegger case page.
Other Notable San Diego County Verdicts
Below the top tier, several San Diego verdicts are frequently cited in practice-area rankings: Gomez v. Vastek, Inc. ($20,938,667, San Diego, 2024; labor trafficking and employment claims, per TopVerdict's 2024 California labor and employment list); Barber v. Mossy Ford ($14.47 million jury verdict in 2011, approximately $22.8 million combined with pre-trial settlements; wrongful death arising from a negligent tire repair); Roque v. Octapharma Plasma, Inc. ($11,205,000, San Diego Superior Court, September 2024; age discrimination and wrongful termination, including $9 million in punitive damages); and Freeman v. Bitchin, Inc. ($9,102,108, San Diego Superior Court, November 2024; sexual harassment and retaliation).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the largest jury verdict in San Diego County history?
By gross amount, the largest jury verdict ever returned in San Diego County is the $1.52 billion Alcatel-Lucent v. Microsoft patent verdict (S.D. Cal. 2007), but it was vacated months later. The largest San Diego Superior Court verdict is Buell-Wilson v. Ford ($368.6 million, 2004), later reduced to $82.6 million. Among verdicts that were not vacated or reversed, the top tier includes Asbaghi v. Nydegger ($61.587 million, 2016), Stone Brewing v. Molson Coors ($56 million, 2022, affirmed), and Greener v. Del Mar Jiu-Jitsu Club ($46.475 million, 2023, affirmed).
What is the largest legal malpractice verdict in San Diego?
Asbaghi v. Nydegger: $61,587,000, returned by a San Diego Superior Court jury on October 20, 2016 (net $46,190,250 after 25% comparative fault). It is also reported as one of the largest legal malpractice verdicts in California history. Daryoosh Khashayar of Khashayar Law Group served as plaintiffs' trial counsel, with co-counsel Kambiz Adibzadeh.
Why do so many large verdicts get reduced or vacated?
Post-trial motions and appeals give trial and appellate courts several tools to disturb a verdict: remittitur (reducing damages as excessive), new-trial orders, judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and outright reversal on legal error. Punitive damages face additional constitutional limits. That is why a rigorous verdicts list must disclose post-trial outcomes. A gross verdict is a jury's answer, not necessarily the final judgment.
Does a bigger verdict mean a better law firm?
Not by itself. Verdict size reflects the injury, the defendant's resources, and the damages evidence as much as the lawyering. What a large verdict does demonstrate is that the firm tried the case to a jury and proved damages at scale, which is why insurers and defense counsel track which firms actually take cases to verdict. When evaluating any firm, ask about the case types they try, their verified results, and who will personally handle your matter.
Sources
Alcatel-Lucent v. Microsoft: Seattle Times. Buell-Wilson v. Ford: Court of Appeal opinion. Lucent v. Gateway: Federal Circuit decisions. Giaquinta v. San Diego Health Alliance: PR Newswire, Becker's Behavioral Health. Border Business Park v. City of San Diego: Court of Appeal opinion. K.J.P. v. County of San Diego: ABC 10News. Asbaghi v. Nydegger: Jury Verdict Alert, Daily Journal. Stone Brewing v. Molson Coors: National Law Review. County of San Diego v. Rancho Vista Del Mar: Court of Appeal opinion. Greener v. Del Mar Jiu-Jitsu Club: Times of San Diego. Roque v. Octapharma: Venable LLP. Freeman v. Bitchin: FDM Attorneys. Gomez v. Vastek: TopVerdict 2024.
Editorial note. This ranking reflects publicly reported jury verdicts as of July 2026 and may be updated as new verdicts are returned or post-trial outcomes change. Figures marked with post-trial reductions, vacaturs, or reversals should not be treated as final collectible judgments. Amounts reported by different verdict publishers occasionally differ; where they do, we use the itemized or court-documented figure. See our Editorial Policy.
Past-results disclaimer. Past results do not guarantee or predict future outcomes. Every case depends on its facts, evidence, defendants, insurance coverage, venue, applicable law, and litigation strategy.
