Record-Setting Federal Jury Verdict
A federal jury returned a $126 million verdict for the Estate of Emily Gaines after a fatal crash caused by a speeding off-duty Moore police officer, placing the case among Oklahoma's largest publicly reported plaintiff verdicts.
The Verdict
Reported result information is tied to public sources and court records.
$126M
Jury Verdict
$90M
Civil-Rights Claim
$36M
State-Law Claim
Apr. 1, 2026
Verdict Date
Case Story
The legal details matter, but so does the human story behind the verdict.
Case: Estate of Emily Gaines v. City of Moore, et al.
Court: U.S. District Court, Western District of Oklahoma
Practice Area: Civil Rights
Outcome: Federal jury verdict; post-verdict issues include statutory cap and appeal considerations
Injuries: Fatal crash caused by a speeding off-duty Moore police officer; estate claims included federal civil-rights and state-law negligence theories
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Verdicts may be subject to post-trial motions, statutory caps, appeal, settlement, or collection issues.
If you are comparing lawyers, ask whether the firm is reporting a settlement, a jury verdict, a judgment, or an amount actually collected. Those are different things, and accuracy matters.
The case arose from the death of Emily Gaines after a December 2019 crash caused by Kyle Lloyd, an off-duty Moore police sergeant driving his personal vehicle at high speed. Public coverage reported that the federal jury awarded $90 million on the civil-rights claim and $36 million on the state-law negligence claim.
The City of Moore publicly acknowledged that the jury found in favor of the Estate of Emily Gaines against Kyle Lloyd and the City of Moore. The City also stated that it disagreed with the scope-of-employment finding and was considering post-verdict and appellate options.
Civil-rights cases against police and municipal defendants are among the hardest cases to win. Plaintiffs often face immunity defenses, disputed causation, government-funded defense teams, and complex jury instructions.
This verdict shows the power of disciplined civil-rights trial work when a jury is given the facts, the legal framework, and the human consequences of government misconduct.
This page describes the jury verdict, not an amount collected. Public statements from the City of Moore note that statutory limits may affect the City portion of the judgment and that appellate issues may follow.
That distinction matters. Laird Hammons Laird reports verdicts accurately, including the legal context that may affect judgment, appeal, or collection after trial.
Chris Hammons later appeared on Trial Lawyers University to discuss the road to the $126 million verdict and the firm's civil-rights trial work. The episode also discussed the $2 million Gregory Davis jail-death verdict.
For families and referral lawyers, the takeaway is simple: these cases require trial counsel willing to do the deep factual work before the defense ever takes the case seriously.
Public Sources
These links were used to keep the verdict language specific and grounded.
City of Moore
KOCO
CourtListener
Trial Lawyers University
Related Results
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes, but they show the kind of preparation serious cases require.
Unanimous federal jury verdict against the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority in a jail medical-care death case.
Learn about $2,000,000 Gregory Davis Jail-Death Verdict →Civil-rights matter alleging delayed emergency care while serious medical distress escalated.
Learn about $4,000,000 In-Custody Medical Neglect Claim →Learn how Laird Hammons Laird handles civil rights cases in Oklahoma.
Learn about Civil Rights Lawyers →Questions
A few plain-English answers about what this verdict does, and does not, mean.
No. Public reporting and the City of Moore statement describe it as a federal jury verdict. Post-verdict legal issues, statutory limits, appeal, and collection are separate from the amount the jury awarded.
No. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Each civil-rights case depends on the facts, the governing constitutional standard, available evidence, immunity defenses, damages, and the venue.
Civil-rights plaintiffs often must overcome immunity defenses, prove the constitutional violation, connect the violation to the harm, and present damages in a way a jury can understand.
Talk with Laird Hammons Laird about liability, damages, deadlines, and whether trial pressure may be needed to get the case valued honestly.