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Court cases and settlements that cost big companies billions

Billion-dollar payouts
Ever Given's owners: potentially up to $916 million (£658m)
JP Morgan, $920 million (£696m)
Westpac, $934 million (£716m)
National Football League, up to $1 billion (£771m)
Google (France), $1 billion (£771m)
General Motors, $1.2 billion (£862k)
Abbott Laboratories, $1.5 billion (£960m)
General Electric, $1.5 billion (£1.2bn)
Barclays Capital, $2 billion (£1.5bn)
Alibaba, $2.8 billion (£2bn)
Johnson & Johnson, at least $2.1 billion (£1.6bn)
Tyco International, $3 billion (£1.5bn)
Toyota, $3.4 billion, (£2.6bn)
Facebook, $5 billion (£3.9bn)
Citigroup, J.P Morgan, Barclays, RBS and UBS, $5.15 billion (£3.3bn)
GlaxoSmithKline, $6 billion (£4.5bn)
Visa and Mastercard, $6.2 billion (£4.7bn)
WorldCom, $6.2 billion (£3.5bn)
Dow Corning, Enron, $6.2 billion (3.8bn)
Johnson & Johnson, $6.8 billion (£5.3bn)
Vale, $7 billion (£5.1bn)
Enron,  $7.2 billion (£3.6bn)
Gazprom, $7.6 billion (£5.9bn)
Purdue Pharma, $8.34 billion (£6.1bn)
Monsanto, $10.9 billion (£8.5bn)
Imperial Tobacco Canada, Rothmans Benson & Hedges and JTI-MacDonald, $11.4 billion (£8.8bn)
Pacific Gas & Energy, $13.5 billion (£10.5bn)
Bank of America, $16.65 billion (£9.9bn)
Wyeth (formerly American Home Products Corporation), more than $20 billion (£15.6bn)
BP, $20.8 billion (£15.7bn)
Volkswagen, at least $36.9 billion (£28.4bn)
Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson, and Lorillard, $246 billion (£150bn)
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Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Billion-dollar payouts

Legal action costs companies both time and money, particularly if it goes to court, and it can even lead to bankruptcy. According to the Harvard Business Review, US corporations pay more than $20 billion (£14.3bn) a year to lawyers. Of course major lawsuits are not limited to American companies, and many major companies from around the world have found themselves in sticky legal situations. Click or scroll through as we look at some of the costliest court battles.

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Hannah Ward-Glenton

19 April 2021

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