A Massachusetts jury has awarded $56 million to a 78-year old man who suffered catastrophic physical and brain injuries after his car was hit by an Amazon delivery van in 2024.
In addition to the amount of the award, the case is notable for defendant Amazon Logistics stipulating to agency liability for the tragic accident after Amazon previously insisted it was not vicariously liable. Amazon had denied it was liable because the driver responsible for the accident was not an employer of Amazon directly but was instead an employee of Agora Logistics LLC, an Amazon independent delivery service partner and a co-defendant in the lawsuit.
The head-on collision occurred on a New Hampshire road when the driver of an Amazon-branded delivery truck allegedly fell asleep at the wheel and crossed the center line and struck Carnwath’s vehicle.
In July 2026, two weeks before trial was to start, the driver admitted that he negligently caused the collision and Agora Logistics admitted that the driver was acting within the course and scope of his employment with Agora at the time of the collision and that Agora was vicariously liable for the driver’s negligence. Then a week before trial, Amazon itself stipulated that “In order to simplify the trial and conserve judicial resources, Amazon accepts liability in this case for the remaining claim against it.” The stipulation noted that the “sole claim to be tried” was the plaintiff’s alleged damages.
The stipulations by the defendants allowed the jury to focus on the issue of damages. Lawyers for the victim, Malcolm Carnwath, sought $300 million, while Amazon offered a maximum of $37 million. The jury came in at $56 million after two days of testimony and deliberation.
Carnwath was 77 years-old at the time of the accident. He suffered multiple strokes, traumatic brain injury, a leg amputation and other severely disabling injuries that have reduced his quality of life and necessitate 24-hours a day nursing care.
reported the award is the largest single-plaintiff personal injury verdict in the state’s history and the largest nationwide against Amazon, according to one of the plaintiff’s attorneys, Marc Breakstone, a partner at Breakstone, White & Gluck.
Another plaintiff attorney, J. Tucker Merrigan of Sweeney Merrigan Law LLP, in an interview with (CVNI, stressed the significance of the pretrial stipulations by Amazon over its agency liability.
“Amazon fought agency extremely hard through discovery before stipulating to it on the docket the week before trial,” he told CVN “That stipulation now sits on a public docket, and my hope is plaintiffs’ lawyers around the country cite it in their own cases.”
He also credited the state’s “speedy trial statute” that requires courts to fast-track trials involving a party 65 years old or older. “We invoked it, and Malcolm had his verdict about 20 months after the crash,” Merrigan added.
Carnwath’s original complaint was filed in May 2025. The jury was seated in Middlesex Superior Court.
Photo: Amazon delivery van. Amazon photo.
Topics Personal Auto Amazon
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