Biography
Chris Hamilton is one of the country’s leading high-stakes trial lawyers. He has won record-setting verdicts and settlements in catastrophic personal injury cases, wrongful death lawsuits, and complex business disputes.
Chris chooses to work on cases where he knows he can make a game-changing difference by relying on his methodical preparation and truly extraordinary trial skills. He takes great pride when lawyers and clients trust him to handle the most important cases of their careers or lives.
In 2022, Chris won a historic $7.37 billion jury verdict in Dallas, Texas, which was the year’s largest verdict nationwide and 4th largest personal injury award in U.S. history against a corporation.
His nearly two decades of experience taking on negligence, fraud, and abuse by big businesses includes Chris’ work alongside the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office in a ground-breaking federal False Claims Act case. The $25 million settlement in 2021 directly against a private equity firm and a group of healthcare industry executives is the largest of its kind.
Chris has been featured in Courtroom View Network’s (CVN) list of the Most Impressive Trials of 2019, and his multibillion-dollar victory in 2022 topped CVN’s list of the Most Impressive Plaintiffs Verdicts of 2022.
The Dallas Business Journal recognized Chris for winning Texas’ largest personal injury verdict in 2014, ranked as the nation’s 17th largest. In addition, he was recognized by Top Verdict in 2016 for Texas’ 9th largest personal injury verdict. Verdict Search noted him in 2011 for one of the state’s Top 10 and Top 100 verdicts in the U.S.
Chris has been repeatedly recognized for his expertise in personal injury trials by other attorneys in the annual list of The Best Lawyers in Dallas by D Magazine, The Best Lawyers in America, Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America, Texas Super Lawyers, and National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Civil Plaintiff Attorneys, and is a member of the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and the Leader’s Forum for the American Association for Justice.
Chris’ cases have been featured in numerous media outlets, including Bloomberg, CNN, Texas Lawyer, Dallas Business Journal, Law360, The Dallas Morning News, Texas Lawbook, The Houston Chronicle, and The Austin-American Statesman additional local television reports, and print news stories nationwide.
Chris earned the Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year honor in 2017 from the American Association for Justice for representing hundreds of people unlawfully detained at DFW Airport during the travel ban. Chris, a fluent Spanish speaker, is a current member of the Board of Directors for the Texas Trial Lawyers Association.
His recent verdicts and successes for clients include:
- $7.3 billion jury verdict against a Fortune 100 cable TV operator in a wrongful death case alleging negligent hiring and supervision of a field technician who murdered a Dallas County resident—the 4th largest personal injury verdict against a corporation in U.S. history. Verdict resulted in a confidential settlement.
- $52 million settlement in a construction case involving catastrophic injuries from a scaffolding collapse.
- $39.4 million jury verdict in a commercial dispute involving a breach of partnership agreements, breach of fiduciary duties, and fraud in an alternative energy transaction recognized as one of the top 10 verdicts in Texas and top 100 verdicts in the United States.
- $36 million settlement in a wrongful death, dram shop case arising from the over-service of alcohol.
- $32 million settlement in a road construction defect case involving a traumatic brain injury.
- $27 million compensatory damages jury verdict in a wrongful death case alleging premises liability for inadequate security against The McDonald’s Corporation—the largest premises liability verdict in Texas history.
- $25 million settlement in a federal False Claims Act case against private equity firm HIG Capital and former South Bay Mental Health Center, Inc.
- $24 million settlement in a wrongful death case involving a commercial vehicle. Confidential settlement after a two-week trial in a high-profile wrongful death case.
- $19.7 million compensatory damages jury verdict in a medical malpractice case. One of the largest malpractice verdicts in Texas history.
- $18.3 million arbitration award for negligent misrepresentation in a commercial case involving the sale of a medical device company.
- Numerous eight-figure confidential settlements involving victims killed or seriously injured by 18-wheelers or commercial vehicles.
- Confidential eight-figure settlement in a medical malpractice case involving brain injury to a child.
- Won summary judgment in an insurance coverage dispute finding coverage for an eight-figure judgment where the insurance company had claimed multiple exclusions in denying coverage. Affirmed on appeal.
- Confidential settlement in a landmark case proving groundwater contamination from fracking, representing a family severely burned in an explosion.
- Successfully represented an insurance company in a bet-the-company insurance coverage dispute against a re-insurer, resulting in substantial recoveries to policyholders.
- Confidential settlement for a truck driver who lost his leg in a construction accident.
- Confidential settlement in a high-profile negligent security case against Target Corporation, where a customer suffered brain injuries following an unprovoked attack by third-party criminals.
- $11.5 million settlement in a False Claims Act case involving kickbacks claims against one of the largest medical device manufacturers in the world. The successful settlement occurred after the government rejected and declined to intervene.
- Confidential settlement in a breach of partnership and breach of fiduciary duty action relating to a partnership interest obtained in a high-profile divorce proceeding.
- $5.3 million jury verdict on an oral partnership agreement and for fraud claims in a dispute over collegiate licensing contracts. Verdict resulted in a confidential settlement.
- Confidential settlement in a high-profile section 1983 case against a school district where a district employee choked a disabled student.
- Confidential settlement in a trademark infringement case involving disgorgement of profits against a Fortune 500 company. Confidential settlement in an international business dispute for a local company alleging fraudulent inducement claims relating to a patent involving the novel application of inkjet technologies.
- Winning jury verdict on behalf of a real estate developer in an oil and gas dispute.
- $1 million jury verdict in a case involving a wreck with a commercial 15-passenger van where the victim sustained an aggravation of a pre-existing torn hip cartilage. Case was subject to a high-low settlement agreement.
- Take nothing defense verdict on behalf of Dallas County in a case in which Chris was appointed by the Commissioners Court as a Special Deputy District Attorney to defend the county in a whistleblower case against a sitting judge alleging several million dollars in damages.
- Successfully represented Southern Methodist University in a land dispute regarding the George W. Bush Presidential Library.
Results of previous cases are not indicative or promissory of future case results.
