Med-mal case leads list of ‘Largest Verdicts’

A rare medical malpractice verdict in Charleston County, the first in at least 15 years, one plaintiffs’ attorney said, tops South Carolina Lawyers Weekly’s list of the largest verdicts for 2016. A Lowcountry couple sued a doctor for misdiagnosing what eventually became a terminal prognosis of breast cancer, leading to a $6.9 million-dollar award for the plaintiffs.

The runner-up was a $5 million award to a Florence County woman who suffered a broken leg when she was struck by a vehicle while walking to the library.

Here are the criteria for a verdict to make the list:

1. The verdict must be for at least $1 million.
2. The case must either have been decided in a South Carolina court or, if in another state, handled by a South Carolina-based attorney.
3. The verdict was returned in the calendar year 2016.

If we have missed any million-dollar verdicts from 2016, please let us know. We’ll be glad to add that information to the online version of the feature so it can be as complete as possible.

And note that we will present the 2016 survey of million-dollar settlements in our Feb. 13 edition.