• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Dinks Finance

Dinks Finance

Personal Finance By and For Couples

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Smart or Selfish
  • Couples Finance
  • Make Extra Money
  • Build Wealth
  • Blogroll
  • About

The Ten Most Expensive Court Cases In History

December 1, 2020 by Melissa Batai Leave a Comment

Most Expensive Court Cases

In truth, the most expensive court cases are yet to happen. We can examine the already litigated and documented expensive court cases.  However, we must realize their value has already been eroded by inflation. Yesteryear’s millions are now today’s billions. Similarly, international comparisons are somewhat meaningless.  The most expensive court cases for the USA easily surpasses the most expensive elsewhere. These dimensions of time and country must prevail upon judging the 10 cases listed.

Most Expensive Court Cases

Case 1: Beresovsky v. Abramovich

This emanated in the jurisdiction of England and Wales, reflecting that London is at the apex of the commercial and legal worlds. In the case of Beresovsky v. Abramovich, it was the choice location to fight out a commercial litigation dispute with its origins in Russia and reputed to have been the biggest private court case to date. The August 2012 verdict found in favor of the defendant. Beresovsky’s £5 billion claim that he had been cheated out of his interests in their oil/aluminum holdings failed to convince the judge. When considering the cost of such cases, it is not just the claim for damages that must be assessed, but also the legal expenses incurred by both sides in the dispute. In this particular case, approximately £140 million was spent on funding the litigation.

London will likely be the site of more Russian cases. As one London lawyer said: “Litigation for Russian clients has been a massive source of revenue for a number of firms”.

Case 2: Equitable Life v. Ernst and Young

The case Equitable Live v. Ernst and Young is older and again highlights the importance of London as the centre of complex commercial litigation. In 2005, insurance giant Equitable Life brought a claim for damages of £2.6 billion against its former auditors, Ernst and Young. Legal fees even then were in the region of £100 million. Not only is such litigation horrendously expensive, it is also complex.  Thus, the case was dropped as negligence could not be proved. However, the case did go down as the most expensive civil suit to date.

Case 3: US Government v. Tobacco Industry

As a leading capitalist economy, it is not surprising that it is the USA that has been the location of some of the most expensive commercial law suits. In 1998, the US Government v. Tobacco Industry dispute began.  This lawsuit involved 46 US states and 5 territories, and the settlements costs reached $206 billion.

Case 4: US Government v. Glaxosmith Kline

us vs. satan
US courts have also brought high value pharmaceutical cases to trial. For example, the US Government v. Glaxosmith Kline case that stated the drug company unlawfully promoted prescription goods and failed to report safety data. A $3 billion settlement was reached.

Case 5: Chevron Bouncefield Explosion

Lucrative oil industry litigation disputes have also been some of the most expensive. Total spent £20 million in its 2008 claim against Chevron, as they argued over liability for the explosion at the Buncefield Depot. Chevron’s successful defense cost £38 million.

Case 6: BP Lawsuits

The US based case against BP, following the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, has already cost BP about $65 billion including $4.5 billion in fines and other payments.  However, the financial bleed is not over yet.

While the first series of lawsuits ended in 2015, another series of lawsuits were filed in 2019.  Under the original lawsuit, victims had to have medical evidence of health issues by 2012.  However, many victims have health issues that take years to develop, such as cancer.  These individuals have started new lawsuits against BP that are ongoing.

Case 7: Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co.

Patent disputes are another expensive commodity. They reflect the new technological advances and the emergence of the Asian economies on the global stage. Just one example is the smart phone dispute between US Apple and Korean Samsung. In such cases the patent law is extremely complex and the cases are expensive and long-running, involving many counter-claims. Typical of the size of damages was the $1 billion award against Samsung for a copyright infringement against Apple in 2012. Even after 2012, the two parties involved in this case continued to fight.  The case even made its way to the Supreme Court.  However, in all retrials, Apple remained the victor.

Case 8 & 9: Personal Divorces

Most Expensive Court Cases
Photo by Anna Sullivan on Unsplash

Not all of the most expensive court cases are commercial ones. The vast individual wealth of some entrepreneurs has fueled some of the most expensive divorce settlements of recent years.

Even in 1999 the divorce settlement between newspaper magnate Rupert Murdoch and his ex-wife was a record $1.7 billion.

Consider how massive the Murdoch settlement was by looking at the Bernie and Slavica Ecclestone divorce. In 2008, nearly a decade later, theirs was but $1 billion.

Case 10: McMartin Preschool Trial

The McMartin Preschool Trial shows that expensive litigation is not exclusively restricted to the world of commercial disputes and billionaire divorcers. In the field of criminal law, the most expensive court case, The McMartin Preschool Trial, was in the USA and ran for seven years, between 1983 and 1990.  In this case, parents accused owners of a preschool in California of sexual abuse of children. Experts estimate the cost at $15 million.  However, after all that time and money, no one was convicted. The jury acquitted the administrator of the preschool, Peggy McMartin Buckey.

Conclusion

Civilized societies secure justice through the courts of law. Lawyers’ services will always be expensive. Laws are complex, and interpretation is not easy. There will always be winning and losing parties.  Likewise, the financial stakes will be high for both sides. In the light of these ever-escalating costs, even lawyers are feeling the financial challenge. Even corporate clients are challenging their legal bills. Increasingly, third party funding companies are funding litigation disputes. In return for financing the litigation, they take a share of the winnings as well as recovering their initial costs. (Lost cases go onto the debit sheet, and costs cannot be retrieved.) Needless to say, only strong cases achieve funding. Another option is to avoid litigation, which is perhaps why dispute resolution and mediation are often preferred alternatives!

More from Dinks Finance:

  • Credit Check Total Review
  • How To Pay For Plastic Surgery With Bad Credit?
  • Buy An Oil Well?
  • 4 Key Components Of Financial Planning

Filed Under: Guest Posts, Money Management, Money Mistakes, Wealth, Weddings Tagged With: court, lawsuits, lawyers, legal, trials

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Join Our Newsletter
  Thank you for Signing Up
Please correct the marked field(s) below.

1,true,6,Contact Email,21,false,1,First Name,21,false,1,Last Name,2

 

 

Couples Finance

  • What Dave Ramsey’s Take On marriage Is Missing
  • Tips For Newly Married Couples
  • Getting Together, Getting Hitched
  • Prenup Basics
  • Manage Your Money Together

Great Finance Blogs

  • My Stock Market Basics
  • Cafe Credit
  • Clever Dude
  • Modest Money
  • Mighty Bargain Hunter
  • Frugal Rules
  • Young Adult Money
  • Money Talks News
  • Saving Advice
  • Peer Finance 101
  >> Our *entire* blogroll

Companies Supporting The DINKS

Please consider visiting our gracious supporters:



Great Investing: Get Stock Advisor for Just $99/year

7binaryoptions.com: Your one stop information source for trading binary options.

My Dissertations  Hire an outstanding PhD editor and graduate today!

Myhomeworkdone.com provides homework help any time of the day, 24/7!

123 Term Papers works hard to deliver you a great term paper!

Get the Latest Coupon and Discount Codes at Freecouponcodes.net.

Shop and save on retro modern furniture at EMFURN. Daily deals and free shipping!

The best cheap web traffic that comes in handy for your website traffic needs.

Shop till you drop and discounted offers with Shopee promo codes.

Compare business electricity prices at utilitysavingexpert.com

cheap shopping online at DHgate.com

Footer

Get Started

  • Make Money As An Amateur Photographer
  • The Pros and Cons Of Mutual Funds
  • Building Wealth On $600 A Month
  • Yes, You can Buy An Oil Well
  • Kimball Musk’s Net Worth
  • Nine Ways To Make Extra Money

Explore

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

COPYRIGHT © 2020 Dual Income No Kids DinksFinance.com is a District Media site.