Immunized: No slowdown seen in Top V&S of 2020

The thing that really jumps out at you about South Carolina Lawyers Weekly’s list of the Top Verdicts & Settlements of 2020 is how utterly ordinary it is. There are slightly fewer verdicts than is typical, but nothing about the list would give you any indication that anything unusual was going on in 2020, or that the last nine months of the year were in any way different from the first three.

Obviously very little about 2020 was ordinary, so the fact that attorneys continued to negotiate seven-figure settlements with their usual efficiency is both interesting and remarkable. When the courts first closed in March, there were several reasons to be concerned that the pipeline of civil lawsuits might freeze up with them. Attorneys on both sides had to quickly adjust to a world where hearings, depositions, and mediations are now being conducted remotely, and plaintiffs’ attorneys worried that the interruption of jury trials would give defendants an incentive to dawdle in many cases.

Neither of those things appears to have been much of a roadblock to settlements, though, at least for the cases with the greatest amounts of potential damages. Sam Clawson and Christy Fargnoli of Clawson Fargnoli Utsey in Charleston said that since March they’ve conducted all of their mediation remotely and haven’t seen any decrease in either the percentage of cases that get settled or the amounts those cases have settled for.

“That was a big concern of mine when the pandemic started. I thought it was going to be difficult to resolve cases without that stick of trial date pressure,” Fargnoli said. “I just haven’t seen that in our cases. I think as a plaintiffs’ attorney, when you prepare your case the way it should be prepared and send a comprehensive settlement demand to the other side, you have just as good of a chance of settling a case now as you did before.”

Even without a trial date on the calendar, there are still some factors that can spur defendants to try to resolve their cases expeditiously. The most obvious example is in cases where a defendant’s liability is likely to exceed the limits of their insurance policies. In those cases, an insurance carrier’s duty to protect their insured means that there may be little reason to delay settling a case for the full policy limits, and in many cases insurers have done exactly that.

What’s more, in cases where there are catastrophic medical injuries, there may be further impetus to settle because the value of the case may increase over time as the plaintiff continues to undergo medical procedures, which both increases the amount of present damages and lays the foundation for arguments as to future damages.

“Smart defense attorneys or smart insurers often recognize that the longer the case goes on, the greater the damages become, so in those cases it makes sense economically not to delay resolution any longer, even if the courts are presently closed,” said attorney Kenneth Berger of Columbia.

Policy limits and catastrophic damages are the stuff of the sort high-dollar cases that make the Top Verdicts & Settlements list, however. In cases where both the damages and the risks are a lot smaller, some attorneys say they’re seeing some defendants and insurers act content to make lower offers and take their time resolving cases. That, in turn, may only add to the backlog of cases that is building up as courthouses remain shuttered.

As such, plaintiffs’ attorneys are keen to see civil jury trials resume. Even the mere specter of their resumption has helped push parties toward agreements in some cases. Mark Bringardner, an attorney in Charleston, noted that he reached two large settlements in the summer as the courts were preparing to reopen for the first time, and it looked like the cases might finally go to trial.

“When the courts appear close to being reopening, during those periods of time it’s very helpful because it applies pressure on both sides to reach a settlement or face the risk of going to a jury trial,” Bringardner said. “That’s one of the few times in the case where the insurance carrier has risk, and without that risk being imposed on them, it’s easy for them to sit back and let the money they’ve got in reserve collect interest.”

It’s unclear, however, what those jury trials might look like once they resume, especially in the twilight period where COVID-19 is waning but not yet gone. How will social distancing affect trials? Will the experience of 2020 make jurors more sympathetic to plaintiffs who’ve lost their freedom of mobility, or more skeptical of malpractice lawsuits against frontline medical workers, or both?

Many of this year’s Top Verdicts & Settlements were either resolved, or well on their way to being resolved before the pandemic struck. It may be COVID’s impact on the civil justice system will be felt most keenly in 2021 and even 2022—by which point hopefully most other things in life will be mostly back to normal.

Follow David Donovan on Twitter @SCLWDonovan

 

1. Widow settles insurance bad faith claim for $8M

The widow of a Charleston business executive and philanthropist has settled a bad faith claim against an insurer that refused to pay $8 million to help settle defamation and other claims her late husband’s children had lodged against her, her attorneys report.

Wendy Wellin and her husband, Keith Wellin, became mired in a protracted legal battle with his children after Keith attempted to unwind multi-million dollar gifts to his children and the transfer of millions of dollars of Berkshire Hathaway stock to a family trust. The dispute intensified after Keith passed away in 2014.

The children contested his will and accused their stepmother of undue influence, coercion, intentional interference with inheritance, and defamation, alleging that she turned their father against them by falsely claiming that they were stealing money from him. The claims prompted more than 15 lawsuits across the country. In February, the claims directly related to Wellin’s will were set to go to trial when the children demanded a global settlement of $36 million to resolve all the claims, including the defamation allegations.

David Yarborough and Reynolds Blankenship of Yarborough Applegate in Charleston said that their client, Wendy Wellin, and one of her insurers, AIG, wanted to settle. But another insurer, Chubb, which held her homeowner’s insurance policies that covered defamation claims, believed that it could successfully defend them at a later trial.

Wellin’s attorneys agreed that the defamation claims were defensible but thought a trial was too risky because a verdict in the children’s favor could top $300 million, which would bankrupt Wellin. They advised Wellin to accept the $36 million demand, which was the collective coverage of the Chubb and AIG policies. AIG agreed to pay half, but Chubb capped its contribution at $10 million, leaving Wellin to pay the remaining $8 million.

Wellin sued Chubb’s parent company, Bankers Standard Insurance Co., claiming Chubb acted in bad faith by not agreeing to pay its fair share. Yarborough said that the case was one of the most complicated he has ever handled: the file was one of the largest that he has ever received, with millions of pages that covered all 15 lawsuits and seven years of litigation.

The complexity of the case initially seemed favorable to Chubb, as it involved peripheral legal issues that haven’t been resolved in South Carolina, Yarborough said. But an insurer’s bad faith is judged by whether it objectively took an unreasonable position or made an unreasonable decision, and Yarborough said that that was the crux of the case.

“We had to figure out how to simplify our theory of liability and make Chubb understand that those complex legal issues were not critical to our case,” Yarborough said. “We could prove Chubb had acted unreasonably and in bad faith regardless of the answers to those questions.”

Yarborough said that when Chubb didn’t provide discovery on that “main topic of focus,” he and Blankenship filed a motion to compel and sent a demand letter to Chubb, which then settled the claim for $8 million in October.

Thomas Lydon of McAngus Goudelock & Courie in Columbia represented Bankers Standard and Chubb. He could not be reached for comment.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — BREACH OF CONTRACT

Amount: $8 million

Injuries alleged: Bad faith failure to pay on insurance policy

Case name: Wendy C.H. Wellin v. Bankers Standard Insurance Company, et al.

Court: U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina

Case No.: 2:20-cv-01474

Judge: David Norton

Date of settlement: Oct. 14, 2020

Insurance carrier: Chubb, a subsidiary of Bankers Standard Insurance Co.

Attorneys for plaintiff: David Yarborough and Reynolds Blankenship of Yarborough Applegate in Charleston

Attorney for defendant: Thomas Lydon of McAngus Goudelock & Courie in Columbia

 

2. $5M settlement after woman killed while walking to work

The sister of a woman who was killed after she was hit by a truck just outside the gates of Joint Base Charleston has settled with the at-fault driver and the owner of the truck for $5 million, the sister’s attorney reports.

Mark Bringardner of the Joye Law Firm in North Charleston reports that Mary Glore was walking to work as a cleaner for Goodwill, which has a location on the base, in the early morning hours in March 2018. As she was crossing a parking lot, James Brown was driving a terminal tractor trailer, a vehicle used to move trailers within a yard or warehouse facility. Brown pulled into the parking lot to make an illegal hard U-turn to the left and hit Glore, who died at the scene as a result of catastrophic injuries, Bringardner said.

Terminal Investment Corporation had leased the truck to Cooper/Ports America. Bringardner said that the truck was not street legal and its headlights weren’t working. He said he also received information from several witnesses that the drivers of the trucks operated them “like maniacs through that area all of the time.”

“This was not a one-off situation,” Bringardner said.

Brown denied hitting Glore, while Terminal said that Glore wasn’t in a pedestrian area and wasn’t wearing bright clothing, Bringardner said.

“They tried to do everything they could to put the blame on her, but at the end of the day, they weren’t extremely confident in their arguments,” Bringardner said.

Glore was her sister’s caretaker and had worked at the Goodwill for 30 years. She was well-liked and well-known on the base, Bringardner said.

“Mary was not a high-wage earner, but she meant the world to her sister and other family members,” Bringardner said. “To have someone that you rely on that is providing financial support and is your best friend taken away from you, it changed her sister’s life. This settlement will make sure that she is taken care of for the rest of her life.”

The leasing agreement contained a clause that said Cooper/Ports America would indemnify Terminal. Paul Tecklenburg of Tecklenburg & Jenkins in Charleston represented Brown and Cooper/Ports America. He could not be reached for comment.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH

Amount: $5 million

Injuries alleged: Death

Case name: Estate of Mary Glore vs. Cooper/Ports America, LLC, et al.

Court: Charleston County Circuit Court

Case No.: 2019-CP-10-1949

Mediator: Tom Wills of Charleston

Date of settlement: June 11, 2020

Attorney for plaintiff: Mark Bringardner of the Joye Law Firm in North Charleston

Attorneys for the defendant: Paul Tecklenburg of Tecklenburg & Jenkins in Charleston

 

3. Fatal motorcycle crash results in $4.9M settlement with paving company

The family of a man who died after his motorcycle hit uneven pavement on a major highway has settled a lawsuit against the paving company for $4.9 million, the family’s attorneys report.

Richard Harpootlian and Phil Barber of Richard A. Harpootlian Law Firm in Columbia report that their client, whose name was withheld pursuant to a confidentiality agreement, was driving his motorcycle and exiting Interstate 20 onto Interstate 77 in Richland County in October 2018 when he lost control of his motorcycle and died.

Workers had been paving the freeway at the time of the accident, and the family contended that the paving company had left the road in an unsafe condition by failing to warn motorists with appropriate signs, failing to close the lanes to traffic, and not taking other appropriate safety measures, Harpootlian said. Ultimately the two sides reached a settlement on May 18.

The man had been employed at a local car dealership and was single. The defense disputed liability, Harpootlian said.

Other details about the case, including the identities of the defendant and its attorneys, were unavailable because of a confidentiality agreement.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — NEGLIGENCE

Amount: $4.9 million

Injuries alleged: Death

Case name: Withheld

Court: Withheld

Date of settlement: May 18, 2020

Attorneys for plaintiff: Richard Harpootlian and Phil Barber of Richard A. Harpootlian Law Firm in Columbia

Attorneys for defendant: Withheld

 

4. Family of toddler hurt in wreck, grandmother settle claims for $4.8M

The mother of a toddler who was severely injured when a dump truck forced the car he was riding in off of the road and into a concrete wall has confidentially settled claims with various insurance carriers for $4.1 million, and the child’s grandmother, who was also injured in the wreck, has settled her claims for $700,000, the family’s attorneys report.

John Price and Ben Parker of Charleston report that the child was riding in a sedan with his grandmother and his uncle, who was driving, as the family was traveling in Charleston County in 2018. The dump truck merged into their lane and hit their car, which then ran into a ditch and into a retaining wall that was under construction.

The child suffered a severe spinal injury and was initially diagnosed with paraplegia. He was in the hospital for several months, and spent part of that time on a respirator. Much of his treatment took place at Shriner Hospital for Children in Pennsylvania.

Parker said that the child has since made a “somewhat miraculous” recovery and now only has problems with his balance and bladder. Doctors attributed his recovery to his young age.

The grandmother suffered a rib fracture, a left humerus fracture, and post-surgery infections.

The settlements include liability coverage for the dump truck’s company owner, liability coverage for the uncle’s vehicle, and underinsured motorist stacking of the uncle’s vehicle and mother’s vehicles.

Due to a confidentiality agreement, other details about the settlement, including the names of the defendant company and its attorneys, were unavailable.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH

Amount: $4.8 million

Injuries alleged: Spinal cord injury; rib fracture, left humerus fracture, and post-surgery infections

Case name: Confidential

Court: Charleston County Circuit Court

Mediator: Jon Austin of Charleston

Date of settlement: Aug. 31, 2020

Special damages: $976,744 (medical expenses)

Most helpful experts: Sarah Lustig of Mount Pleasant (life care planning), Jack Scarborough of 360 Security Options in Charleston (investigations) and Marty Schussel of Engineering Experts, Inc. in Charleston

Attorneys for plaintiff: John Price and Ben Parker of Charleston

Attorneys for defendant: Confidential

 

5. Man struck by concrete truck hose settles suit for $4.5M

A man who was severely injured after he was whipped by a hose that had been pouring concrete from a truck has confidentially settled a lawsuit against the truck’s owner for $4.5 million, his attorneys report.

Austin Crosby and Ronnie Crosby of Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick in Hampton and Joe Baldwin of Grek Law Group in Greer report that their client, whose name was withheld pursuant to a confidentiality agreement, was working as a concrete pourer in a residential development in August 2018.

The client was a subcontractor working as part of the placement crew, and his job was to hold and direct the hose that discharged the concrete. Once the truck ran out of concrete, workers turned it off for about 20 minutes. When the operator of the truck, who worked for the company that owned the truck, restarted it, the force of compressed air, combined with a blockage in the hose, caused the truck’s heavy hose to whip, striking the client in the head and back, causing a traumatic brain injury.

The client was taken to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, where he spent six days, before he was transferred to Shepherd Center in Atlanta, where he spent almost a year.

The client alleged that the company that owned the truck was negligent because it had failed to follow industry safety standards. “Hose whipping” is a known hazard in the concrete-pouring industry, and any time a pump truck has been shut down for any amount of time, the operator of the truck is supposed to clear all people from the immediate area, Crosby said. In this case, the client was standing too close to the hose, and the operator shouldn’t have started the truck until he’d made sure everyone had cleared the area and was out of reach of the hose.

“He had not walked for the better part of a year and a half,” Austin Crosby said of the client. “He is able to walk now with the assistance of a cane. He still has very significant problems in cognitive functioning, but as far as mobility, he is now able to get around.”

Due to a confidentiality agreement, the identities of the defendant and its attorneys were unavailable.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — WORKPLACE ACCIDENT

Amount: $4.5 million

Injuries alleged: Traumatic brain injury

Case name: Withheld

Date of settlement: June 30, 2020

Attorneys for plaintiff: Austin Crosby and Ronnie Crosby of Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick in Hampton and Joe Baldwin of Grek Law Group in Greer

Attorneys for defendant: Withheld

 

6. Family of runner killed in crosswalk settles suit for $4.25M

A man whose wife died after she was hit by a delivery truck while she was jogging has confidentially settled a lawsuit with the at-fault driver and his employer for $4.25 million, his attorneys report.

Jason Reynolds and Stephen Samuels of Samuels Reynolds in Columbia said that the victim, whose name was withheld pursuant to a confidentiality agreement, was jogging with a group of friends in the early morning hours December 2018. She was crossing a road at a crosswalk and oncoming traffic had a red light, but the driver of a baked goods delivery truck ran a red light and hit her. She died at the scene.

Reynolds said the 37-year-old who died is survived by her husband and three small children.

“It is tremendously sad,” Reynolds said. “She was the mother of two little girls and a little boy, he was a great husband, and they are now left without her,” Reynolds said.

The sole liability issue was the fact that the deceased was in the crosswalk as the timer was counting down.

“The law is that you are not supposed to enter the crosswalk on the countdown, but no one in the world knows that,” Reynolds said. “She was absolutely in the crosswalk, but she also had on an illuminated running vest.”

The delivery driver’s employer initially denied liability, arguing that that the driver was an independent contractor, not an employee. The family contended that the company’s daily, weekly, and yearly monitoring of drivers’ routes, practices, and productivity contradicted that argument, as did the contracts between drivers and the company. The company had a “laundry list” of policies and procedures that drivers had to follow and provided them with equipment, Reynolds said.

“While they tried extremely hard to dress it up as an independent contractor relationship, their extensive monitoring and control proved otherwise,” Reynolds said.

Due to a confidentiality agreement, other details about the settlement, including the identities of the defendants and their attorneys, were unavailable.

SETTLEMENT REPORT – MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH

Amount: $4.25 million

Injuries alleged: Death

Case name: Withheld

Court: Withheld

Mediator: Earl Ellis of Columbia

Date of settlement: March 2020

Most helpful experts: Soan Chau of SCA Transportation Forensics in Cumming, Georgia

Attorneys for plaintiff: Jason Reynolds and Stephen Samuels of Samuels Reynolds in Columbia and Michael Goldberg of Atlanta

Attorneys for defendant: Withheld

 

7. Worker hit by shingles settles claims for $4.225M

A construction worker who was severely injured after roof shingles fell on his head has reached a pre-lawsuit settlement against a construction company and its subcontractor for $4 million, his attorney reports, after having settled a worker’s compensation claim for $225,000.

Chip Cannon of Riesen DuRant in Charleston said that his client, Marllon de Oliveira, who had just moved to the United States with his family from Brazil, was walking across a plywood walkway off of the front porch of an unfinished house in 2017. At the same time, a roofer threw a 68-pound pack of shingles off the roof. They hit Oliveira in the head, knocking him unconscious and requiring that he be taken to a hospital. Oliveira had “extreme swelling” and was put into a neck halo for a week, before a neurosurgeon performed a cervical fusion.

“Prior to his injuries, our client lived a very active lifestyle,” Cannon said. “He was physically fit and very much involved in the lives of his children. He was an active member within his church where he volunteered in numerous aspects.”

After the incident, Oliveira couldn’t lift more than 10 pounds, had trouble sleeping, gained a significant amount of weight, and developed extreme irritability and psychological issues. Life care planner Lindsay Moore and economist Oliver Wood were retained as expert witnesses. Wood concluded that future economic damages were close to $1.6 million; Oliveira’s medical bills, meanwhile, totaled $325,000.

Following the resolution of Oliveira’s worker’s compensation claim for $225,000, Cannon discovered that the contracted roofing company, Alpha Omega Construction Group, had subcontracted the work, and that the subcontractor, Melinda Amador, was the party responsible for the shingle removal. Cannon contended that the contractor and subcontractor each owed separate and distinct duties of care, with both having acted recklessly in their conduct.

“The plywood walkway was, without question, the one area someone should not have been throwing shingles from a roof,” Cannon said. “The amount of foot traffic coming and going to a construction site is steady, and everyone is thankful our client was not paralyzed or even killed. This is a reminder of the dangers construction workers come in contact with on a daily basis.”

Because the case was settled before any lawsuit was filed, the dispute was negotiated exclusively with Alpha Omega’s insurance company. Part of Cannon’s strategy was to incorporate “powerful” pictures of Oliveira and his family before and after his injuries, which said would have had a “huge impact” on a jury.

Under the terms of a settlement agreement reached on March 3, Alpha Omega’s insurer, Builders’ Mutual, agreed to pay $3 million, and Amador’s insurer, Evanston Insurance Co., agreed to pay $1 million. Both figures constituted the company’s full policy limits.

“We were able to get the Alpha Omega to pay because of their responsibility in failing to properly hire subcontractors and oversee their work,” Cannon said. “Had they done this, they would have presumably informed Melinda Amador on how to properly remove the shingles, but also a safer place to do so. Had a person just been on the ground assisting the man on the roof, he would have been able to control the flow of people in and out of the home.”

SETTLEMENT REPORT – NEGLIGENCE

Amount: $4.225 million (includes $225,000 in workers’ compensation)

Injuries alleged: Cervical fractures requiring fusion

Case name: Case settled before any lawsuit was filed

Date of settlement: March 3, 2020

Most helpful experts: Oliver Wood in Columbia (economist) and Lindsay Moore in Charleston (life care planning)

Insurance companies: Builders’ Mutual and Evanston Insurance Co.

Attorney for plaintiff: Chip Cannon of Riesen DuRant in Mount Pleasant

 

8. Family of boy who was electrocuted by power line settles suit for $4M

The family of a 13-year-old boy who was electrocuted after a metal pole that he was playing with touched a low-hanging power line has settled a lawsuit with the at-fault power company for $4 million, according to court documents.

The boy, Brayden Williford, was playing in a friend’s yard in Anderson County in October 2019 when they discovered metal poles behind a barn and began using them to mimic Olympic pole vaulters, according to a lawsuit filed in Anderson County Circuit Court. Williford’s pole came in contact with a live power line owned and maintained by Little River Electric Co-Op, which was hanging 13.9 feet off the ground.

Williford went into cardiac arrest, and despite efforts by EMS workers to revive him at the scene, was pronounced dead at a hospital an hour later.

The National Electric Safety Code requires that power lines hang no lower than 18.5 feet above the ground, according to the family’s complaint.

“This case was more about damages than it was about liability because it was crystal clear that the power line was hanging too low,” said Thomas “Field” Dunaway IV of Anderson, who represented the boy’s parents along with his father, Thomas Dunaway III, who recently passed away.

“Power companies have an obligation to reasonably inspect and repair their electrical lines in order to discover and remedy hazards and defects. Electricity is not only dangerous, even deadly, but it is invisible, noiseless, and odorless, rendering it impossible to detect the presence of the peril until the fatal work is done.”

Dunaway said that if the cooperative had had an adequate line inspection program in place, it would have easily noticed the defect. He said that as result of the lawsuit, the co-op overhauled their line inspection program.

“This case is another painful reminder about the dangers of electricity and the heightened duty of care that attaches to companies who are in business of supplying such a commodity,” Dunaway said. “Although no amount of money can ever replace a human being, especially an innocent child, the family did not want to further litigate this case and have to endure the painful memories of what happened to Brayden.”

Brad Waring of Butler Snow in Charleston, who represented the co-op, said that the lines were too low because at some point, something had struck the power line’s guy wire, a tensioned cable which adds stability to poles, making the lines sag.

“It was a horrible, tragic accident,” Waring said. “We are glad to bring it to a conclusion, and the family can move on.”

Tom Wills of Wills, Massalone and Allen in Charleston mediated the settlement, which was agreed to on July 24.

SETTLEMENT REPORT – WRONGFUL DEATH

Amount: $4 million

Injuries alleged: Death by electrocution

Case name: Williford v. Little River Electric Co-Op

Court: Anderson County Circuit Court

Case No.: 2020-CP-04-01219

Mediator: Tom Wills of Wills, Massalone and Allen in Charleston

Date of settlement: July 24, 2020

Most helpful experts: Edward Brill of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (electrical engineering)

Attorneys for plaintiff: Thomas “Field” Dunaway IV and Tom Dunaway III of Anderson

Attorney for defendant: Brad Warring of Butler Snow in Charleston

 

9. Widow of truck driver killed in explosion settles claim for $3.7M

The widow of a truck driver who died when his truck exploded after he hit a disabled dump truck has confidentially settled a claim against the dump truck’s owner for $3.7 million, her attorney reports.

Wes Kissenger of Harrison White in Spartanburg reports that the victim, whose name was withheld pursuant to a confidentiality agreement, was driving a gas tanker on Interstate 85 near West Pelzer in Anderson County in September 2015 when he slammed into a dump truck that was partially in his travel lane. The tanker exploded, killing him instantly.

The South Carolina Highway Patrol found the tanker driver to be at fault because he rear-ended the dump truck, but Kissenger said that his client contended that the driver of the dump truck had improperly blocked the travel lane after it broke down, and discovery revealed that he’d failed to use reflective triangles to warn other drivers that the truck was stopped and that the dump truck’s owner kept the truck on the road despite knowing that it had serious engine trouble. Kissenger said the dump truck’s driver admitted to the failure to properly position the truck and surround it with reflective lights.

The victim was 40 years old. He and his wife had four children.

Karl Folkens of Florence mediated the settlement, which was agreed to on Aug. 13.

Due to the confidentiality agreement, other details about the settlement, including the name of the defendant company and its attorney, were not available.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — WRONGFUL DEATH

Amount: $3.7 million

Injuries alleged: Death

Case name: Confidential

Court: Withheld

Mediator: Karl Folkens of Florence

Date of settlement: Aug. 13, 2020

Attorney for plaintiff: Wes Kissenger of Harrison White in Spartanburg

Attorneys for defendant: Withheld

 

10. Man hit by drunk driver settles claim for $3.6M

A man who was severely injured after he was rear-ended by an allegedly drunk driver has confidentially settled a claim against the at-fault driver and his employer for $3.6 million, his attorneys report.

Mark Bringardner of Bringardner Injury Law Firm in Charleston (and of counsel to Joye Law Firm) and Ronnie Sabb of Kingstree report that their client was rear-ended while he was driving home from work shortly before midnight in June 2017. He was taken to the hospital and underwent a cervical fusion–a procedure in which vertebrae in the spine are fused together–and knee surgery for a meniscus tear.

The at-fault driver fled the scene but was apprehended a short time later. He claimed he had no memory of the wreck and denied involvement, Bringardner said. His employer denied that the vehicle involved in the collision was theirs and denied that its employee was acting in the course and scope of his employment with the company at the time of the collision. The employer also disputed that the collision caused the plaintiff’s injuries, and disputed the nature and extent of them.

The defendants filed four motions for summary judgment, Bringardner said, and more than 20 depositions were taken. The defendants retained seven expert witnesses, including accident reconstructionists, a neurosurgeon, an orthopedic surgeon, a neuroradiologist, and a biomechanical expert, but ultimately the two sides reached a settlement on Oct. 16.

“My client has a long road ahead and needs significant future medical treatment,” Bringardner said.

Due to a confidentiality agreement, other details about the case, including the name of the defendants and their attorneys, were not available.

SETTLEMENT REPORT – MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH

Amount: $3.6 million

Injuries alleged: Neck injury resulting in cervical fusion, lower back injury, and knee injury resulting in surgery

Case name: Withheld

Date of settlement: Oct. 16, 2020

Special damages: $198,329 (past medical bills) and $621,557 (future medical bills)

Attorneys for plaintiff: Mark Bringardner of Bringardner Injury Law Firm in Charleston (and of counsel to Joye Law Firm) and Ronnie Sabb of Kingstree

Attorneys for defendant: Withheld

 

11. $3.5M settlement for man who was hit by SUV and suffered brain damage

A man who suffered brain damage after he was hit by an SUV while on vacation in Charleston has confidentially settled a lawsuit against the at-fault driver for $3.5 million, the victims’ attorneys report.

Kenneth Berger and Brad Lanford of the Law Office of Kenneth Berger in Columbia, Mark Bringardner of the Joye Law Firm in Charleston and Chris Finney of St. Louis, Missouri, report that the man and his wife are from the Midwest and were visiting Charleston in 2017.

The couple was walking down a sidewalk and approached the driver, who was about to turn right out of a parking lot. The driver backed up, ostensibly to let them pass on the sidewalk, but when the couple was in front of the SUV, the driver suddenly drove forward and hit the husband, knocking him to the ground, Berger said. His head hit the pavement, causing skull fracture and damage to his ear canal. He also suffered multiple leg fractures because the SUV rolled on top of him.

The husband was rushed to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with multiple cerebral hemorrhages and a midline shift of the brain due to intracranial pressure, Berger said. While those injuries didn’t require surgery, his leg injuries did. He spent one week in the hospital before discharging himself against medical advice. His wife and mother drove him back home, where he began treatment with neurological and orthopedic specialists, Berger said. After two months, doctors declared that he had made a “remarkable recovery,” but that wasn’t the case, Berger said.

“His wife, parents, extended family, and friends all noticed the man was a shadow of his former self,” Berger said. “His work, marriage, relationships, and mental health all suffered.”

A MRI in April 2018 confirmed bilateral encephalomalacia, or dead brain tissue, and permanent brain damage. Berger said the man had a well-documented pre-injury IQ of over 145.

“He was a near-prodigy as a child and a literal genius until his brain was damaged,” Berger said. “He traveled the world for work prior to being struck, and was among the most respected, technically-proficient performers in his field.”

The driver’s attorneys disputed the extent of the man’s injuries and contended that he was comparatively negligent in not making eye contact or confirming that the driver saw him before walking into the vehicle’s path, Berger said.

The injured man’s wife was a co-plaintiff who brought a loss of consortium claim and was represented by Bringardner. Berger said that separate counsel for the plaintiffs was a strategic decision, as it would have given the couple “two bites at the apple during opening statements, witness exams, and closing arguments” had the case gone to trial.

“The couple had been married less than two years when the incident occurred,” Berger said. “A wife in many ways lost a husband and received a brain injury patient.”

Due to a confidentiality agreement, other details about the case, including the identities of the defendant and the defense attorneys, were not available.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH

Amount: $3.5 million

Injuries alleged: Skull fracture, subdural hematoma, subarachnoid hemorrhage, permanent brain damage, broken leg and broken ankle

Case name: Confidential

Court: Confidential

Date of settlement: July 8, 2020

Attorneys for plaintiff: Kenneth Berger and Brad Lanford of the Law Office of Kenneth Berger in Columbia, Mark Bringardner of the Joye Law Firm in Charleston and Chris Finney of St. Louis, Missouri

Attorney for defendant: Withheld

 

12. Man injured while lifting scale settles workers’ comp suit for $3.2M

A hotel maintenance supervisor who became paraplegic after he lifted a laundry scale while at work has confidentially settled a workers’ compensation lawsuit against his employer’s insurance carrier for $3.2 million, the man’s attorneys report.

Thomas White of Steinberg Law Firm in Charleston and Peter Brown of Mt. Pleasant said that their client and his co-worker were trying to lift the scale, which was used to weigh guests’ outgoing laundry, when their client injured his back and spine in 2018. Their client initially went home, but ultimately went to the emergency room that night. Doctors ordered emergency surgery, but the surgery didn’t go well, and the client was left paralyzed from the waist down.

The attorneys said that the two main issues were the desire of their client and his spouse to have his spouse care for him at home full-time, rather than hiring a part-time health aid worker, and his desire to seek treatment beyond what the workers’ compensation carrier was willing to provide.

“Future home health care was one of the biggest-ticket items,” White said. “He is 46 and has a lifetime of medical care that he wanted to be able to direct, rather than be directed by the workers’ compensation carrier, who controls everything.”

Brown’s firm met or was in contact with the client several times a week, monitoring his medical treatment, which “allowed Tom to do what he does best and work the meat of the case and work toward mediation,” Brown said.

White said that their client is now doing well.

“He is glad this is over,” White said. “They really wanted to get out of the [workers’ compensation] system, and he didn’t want everybody in his house all day long. Mentally, he is doing much better now.”

Due to a confidentiality agreement, other details about the case, including the identities of the defendant and its defense counsel, were not available.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — WORKERS’ COMPENSATION

Amount: $3.2 million

Injuries alleged: Paraplegia

Case name: Confidential

Court: Confidential

Date of settlement: July 2020

Special damages: $2.35 million (future medical care)

Attorneys for plaintiff: Thomas White of Steinberg Law Firm in Charleston and Peter Brown of Mt. Pleasant

Attorneys for defendant: Withheld

 

13. Mt. Pleasant to pay $3M after man dies after arrest

The widow of a man who died after police held him down for more than 15 minutes and EMTs gave him a shot of a strong anesthetic has settled a pre-lawsuit claim against the town of Mount Pleasant for $3 million, her attorneys report.

Mullins McLeod Jr. and Michael Cooper of the McLeod Law Group in Charleston and Kevin Holmes of Steinberg Law Firm in Charleston report that James Britt pulled over to change his tire in 2019 and police received a report of a man urinating in the road. Cooper said that when police arrived, they placed Britt under arrest for being drunk in public.

Britt became combative and police held him face down on the ground for about 15 minutes. When EMT workers arrived and injected him with the anesthetic ketamine. Britt went into cardiac arrest but never regained consciousness. He was pronounced brain dead and two weeks later, he died.

Ketamine is commonly known as a horse tranquilizer and a club drug, but EMTs carry it to subdue people. Cooper said the EMTs injected Britt with 500 mg, the maximum dose allowed.

The coroner’s office ruled the death a homicide due to asphyxiation and ketamine intoxication, but no criminal charges have been filed. The town and Britt’s widow, Tabitha Britt, settled the case on Sept. 17, before a lawsuit had been filed. Had a suit been filed, Cooper said that his client would have alleged negligence and deprivation of civil rights.

Britt and his wife had a young son.

“Obviously, she is traumatized and given that we are coming up on the year anniversary since the incident and his death, now is a particularly sensitive time,” Cooper said. “Tabitha wants to stress how wonderful of a father Jamie was. She says he was the definition of a father and everything you would want a father to be to his child.”

The settlement is with the Town of Mount Pleasant and does not resolve the estate’s claims against Charleston County or the EMTs that administered the ketamine injection, Cooper said.

Drew Butler of Richardson Plowden in Charleston represented the Town of Mount Pleasant.

“The town of Mount Pleasant and their officers contested liability,” Butler said. “We had multiple experts who were prepared to testify that Mr. Britt’s death was caused by a Ketamine overdose and not by the actions of the town’s police officers. That being said, the political climate surrounding the facts of the issues left some uncertainty, and so the town chose to resolve the case in advance of protracted litigation. Both parties are looking forward to putting this behind us and moving on.”

SETTLEMENT REPORT — CIVIL RIGHTS

Amount: $3 million

Injuries alleged: Death

Case name: Case settled before any lawsuit was filed

Venue: Charleston County

Date of settlement: Sept. 17, 2020

Attorneys for plaintiff: W. Mullins McLeod Jr. and Michael Cooper of the McLeod Law Group in Charleston and Kevin Holmes of Steinberg Law Firm in Charleston

Attorney for defendant: Drew Butler of Richardson Plowden in Charleston

 

14. Motorcyclist settles crash claim for $2.75M

A motorcyclist who was injured after a driver stuck him while making an abrupt left turn has settled a claim against the driver for $2.75 million, his attorneys report.

Douglas Jennings and Liam Duffy of Yarborough Applegate in Charleston and Gerald Harmon and Jase Felts of Harmon & Felt in Pawleys Island report that their client, Bobby Pope, was riding his motorcycle south on Kings Highway in Myrtle Beach in October 2017. The driver, Diana Bull, made a left turn in front of him from the highway’s middle lane and hit Pope, whose motorcycle skidded across 40 feet of highway.

Pope suffered injuries to his right arm and right knee, including a fractured right humerus bone and damage to his right radial nerve. He underwent several surgeries on his right arm, and nerve damage caused a loss of sensation in his fingers, hand, and wrist. For several months Pope had to wear an “unwieldy, outrigger-style splint” on his right hand which suspended his fingers with rubber bands, Duffy said.

Pope had to give up his job as a furniture mover, and his ability to return to the workforce as a laborer was a focal point of the litigation, Duffy said. Rather than hiring a company to produce a “day-in-the-life” video, Pope used a GoPro camera to make his own recording that outlined the difficulties he had with simple tasks such as getting dressed and making sandwiches for his young children.

“It was an effective way to convey just how cumbersome our client’s wrist splint was, which helped defense counsel appreciate a component of the damages that would have otherwise been difficult to describe,” Duffy said.

Bull was driving her mother’s car, which had an underlying insurance policy of $500,000, and Bull had her own policy for $500,000 and a $2 million umbrella policy.

Jennings called the claim a “fairly straight-forward liability case” and that the settlement resolved the “uncertainty of a trial in the best interests of both the plaintiff and defendant.”

Hawthorne Barrett of Turner Padget in Columbia represented Bull.

“My client is pleased that we were able to reach a fair settlement, and she certainly wishes Mr. Pope well in his recovery and his future endeavors,” Barrett said.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH

Amount: $2.75 million

Injuries alleged: Right midshaft humeral fracture; right radial nerve damage; loss of sensation and contractures in fingers, wrist, and hand; and injury to right knee

Case name: Robert Pope v. Diana Sue Bull

Court: U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina

Case No.: 4:19-cv-00360

Mediator: Karl Folkens of Florence

Date of settlement: September 2020

Attorneys for plaintiffs: Douglas Jennings and Liam Duffy of Yarborough Applegate in Charleston and Gerald Harmon and Jase Felts of Harmon & Felts in Pawleys Island

Attorney for defendant: R. Hawthorne Barrett of Turner Padget in Columbia

 

15. Unpaid parking rental fees nets developer $2.6M

A judge has ordered the town of Mt. Pleasant to pay just over $2.6 million to a developer after the town backed out of a downtown parking garage and office development due to public opposition to the project.

Brandon Gaskins of Moore & Van Allen in Charleston said that his client, Shem Creek Development Group, formed in 2013 to build and operate a parking garage and office building on the corner of Mill Street and Coleman Boulevard in the Shem Creek neighborhood of Mt. Pleasant, which is popular with residents and tourists.

The company approached the town, and the two parties came to an agreement: SCDG would build office space and a tentative 276-space parking garage. Of those spaces, the town would rent 132 that would be reserved at all times for public parking, leaving the remaining spaces for office tenants. The city agreed to pay $185,000 annually for 15 years for the spaces.

But opposition to the project emerged, according to an order by Judge Maite Murphy, who awarded the verdict after a four-day trial. A group called Save Shem Creek organized to stop the project and lobbied town council members and planning staff to prevent the completion of the project and to stop the town’s financial participation in it. When the town’s planning staff approved the design of the project, Save Shem Creek unsuccessfully sued to stop the project. While Mt. Pleasant has seen several controversial real estate developments in recent years, the town manager testified that SCDG’s garage project was the most controversial during his tenure.

The city ultimately refused to back the project. It also changed the zoning and setback regulations for the area, which reduced the number of parking spaces for the project.

“It’s debatable whether the town intended to interfere with the project by adopting the zoning changes, but there is no doubt that the changes the town made interfered with it,” Gaskins said.

Murphy wrote that despite the obstacles and lack of cooperation from the town, SCDG persisted in its efforts to develop the project.

“Despite the Town’s actions, SCDG remained committed to building the parking deck and providing publicly available spaces,” Murphy wrote.

To complete the project, SCDG partnered with an equity investor to create a joint venture to own, build, and operate the office building and parking garage. SCDG relinquished its sole ownership of the project and retained only a 15 percent membership interest in the new venture. The new resulted in 234 total parking spaces and 117 public spaces.

Murphy wrote that the town refused to reasonably exercise its discretion and deem the parking garage a “civic use,” which would have allowed for more parking spaces.

The town argued that SCDG breached the parking license agreement by failing to build the parking garage with the number of parking spaces required by the initial agreement.

But the initial design of the garage was conceptual, and the agreement didn’t require SCDG to create a specific number of spaces, Murphy wrote. SCDG said it only needed to design and construct a structure that contained a substantially similar number of spaces. Even if the agreement required SCDG to provide specific numbers of spaces, it didn’t make strict compliance with those terms essential to Mt. Pleasant’s obligations, Murphy wrote.

David Pagliarini of Hinchey, Murray & Pagliarini in Charleston represented the town. He could not be reached for comment.

VERDICT REPORT — BREACH OF CONTRACT

Amount: $2,604,316

Injuries alleged: Present value of unpaid rent

Case name: Shem Creek Development Group, LLC v. Town of Mount Pleasant

Court: Charleston County Circuit Court

Case No.: 2017-CP-10-05493

Judge: Maite Murphy

Date of verdict: July 6, 2020

Attorney for plaintiff: Brandon Gaskins of Moore & Van Allen in Charleston

Attorney for defendant: David Pagliarini of Hinchey, Murray & Pagliarini in Charleston

 

16. Worker hurt by load of wood settles suit for $2.6M

A woman whose legs were broken after a large load of wood fell off of a forklift has confidentially settled a lawsuit against her employer for $2.6 million, her attorney reports.

Richard Smith of Greenville reports that his client’s employer agreed to let her take a load of wood and donate it to a charity. She clocked out and asked an on-the-clock co-worker to help her load it into her truck. The client wrapped the wood in plastic, and the co-worker used a forklift to move it. As it was about to go into the truck, the load slipped off the forklift and knocked the client over, breaking her legs.

The client underwent multiple surgeries, including a hip replacement. She filed a workers’ compensation claim, but her employer denied it, arguing that she hadn’t been injured by an accident while working because she was off the clock when the incident occurred, Smith said.

The woman then filed a lawsuit, and two years later her employer pivoted, arguing that the accident was in fact a workers’ compensation claim. A judge dismissed that argument, however, and the client and the company settled the case just before it was about to go to trial, Smith said.

The date of the settlement was withheld, but occurred before jury trials were shut down due to the pandemic. Due to a confidentiality agreement, other details about the settlement, including the names of the defendant and its defense attorney, were also unavailable.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — WORKPLACE INJURY

Amount: $2.6 million

Injuries alleged: Broken legs

Case name: Withheld

Court: Withheld

Date of settlement: Withheld (case settled in 2020)

Attorneys for plaintiff: Richard Smith of Greenville and Paul Landis of Fayssoux & Landis in Greenville

Attorney for defendant: Withheld

 

17. Electrocuted worker settles premises liability claim for $2.5M

A cable wire installer who was electrocuted while working on a demolition and renovation project has settled a lawsuit against the project’s developers, construction, and electrical companies for $2.5 million, his attorneys report.

Matthew Altamura of Garrett, Walker, Aycoth & Altamura in Asheboro, North Carolina and Bill Padget and Carl Hiller—now with HHP Law Group in Columbia, but with the Finkel Law Firm in Columbia at the time of settlement—report that their client, William Cansler, was working on a commercial building demolition and refurbishment in Fort Mill when the injury occurred in 2017.

Cansler was standing on a ladder and scouting cable network paths when his arm made contact with an uncapped, live electrical wire, Altamura said. He was knocked off the ladder and into a wall before falling onto a concrete floor.

Cansler suffered “catastrophic” injuries including a displaced fractured pelvis, a displaced fractured pelvic ring, a hernia, a concussion, and a broken elbow. He is doing better now but still suffers from pain and numbness, Altamura said.

Cansler sued the construction company working on the project, Tyler 2 Construction, the electrical company, Preferred Electric Company (PECI), and three development companies. He alleged that all of the defendants had a duty of care to properly inspect the property and discover dangers and risks, take safety precautions to warn of or eliminate those risks, and keep the property in a reasonably safe condition. Cansler’s wife also brought a claim for loss of consortium.

Jared Garraux of Richardson Plowden in Columbia represented Tyler 2 Construction, Douglas Leadbitter of Gower Wooten & Darneille in Columbia represented PECI, and Julie Moose of McAngus Goudelock & Courie in Columbia represented the developers. None of the attorneys could be reached for comment on the settlement, which was agreed to in July 2020.

Altamura said that the defendants contended that Cansler had been contributorily negligent because he’d failed to properly inspect the ceiling for wires before beginning his work and had been working out of sequence. They also alleged that Cansler hadn’t been electrocuted at all, and that he’d fallen because the ladder he was using was too short and he’d been standing on its top step.

Hiller went to the work site and found the ladder and determined that it was the appropriate height, Altamura said. Cansler suffered a circular burn on his arm that proved his arm came into contact with the hot wire, and Altamura said that there was a witness to the electrocution.

Tyler 2 Construction and PECI, both of which are based in Charlotte, contributed a total of $1.5 million to the settlement, and the developers contributed $1 million. Tyler 2 has cross claims pending against PECI for indemnity, according to court documents.

The settlement included a lien waiver from a worker’s compensation claim that Cansler filed in North Carolina, which totaled $327,358.

SETTLEMENT REPORT – PREMISES LIABILITY

Amount: $2.5 million

Injuries alleged: Displaced fractured pelvis, displaced fractured pelvic ring, hernia, concussion, and broken elbow

Case name: William Cansler and Teresa Cansler v. IXX WR 3026 HSBC Way, Trinet HR III Inc. Tyler 2 Construction Inc, Preferred Electric Co. Inc and Jones Lang Lasalle Inc.

Case number: 2018-CP-29-00593

Court: Lancaster County Circuit Court

Date of settlement: July 2020

Most helpful experts: Cynthia Wilhelm of Chapel Hill, North Carolina (life care planning) and Bryan Durig of Summit Engineering in Raleigh, North Carolina (mechanical engineering)

Attorneys for plaintiff: Matthew F. Altamura of Garrett, Walker, Aycoth & Altamura in Asheboro, North Carolina and Bill Padget and Carl Hiller of HHP Law Group in Columbia (both of the Finkel Law Firm in Columbia at the time of settlement)

Attorneys for defendants: Jared Garraux of Richardson Plowden in Columbia for Tyler 2 Construction, Inc.; Douglas Leadbitter of Gower Wooten & Darneille in Columbia for Preferred Electric Co., Inc.; and Julie Moose of McAngus Goudelock & Courie in Columbia for IX WR 3023 HSBC Way, LP, Trinet HR III, Inc., and Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Inc.

 

18 (tie). Man electrocuted by sander settles lawsuit for $2M

A man who was shocked while using a floor sander has confidentially settled a lawsuit against the merchant that rented it to him for $2 million, his attorney reports.

Billy Walker of Walker Morgan in Lexington reported that his client, whose name was withheld pursuant to a confidentiality agreement, was using the floor sander to renovate his daughter’s bedroom in 2016. When he plugged the sander in, it delivered him a severe shock that knocked him unconscious for several moments as his wife watched. He was taken to a hospital where he was observed for two days.

The sander had a worn cord that caused the shock, Walker said.

“It was just a cord that was frayed, and they didn’t bother to check it before they rented it to him,” Walker said.

The only externally visible injury the client suffered was a small burn mark, but the shock caused him to suffer neurological problems, particularly debilitating migraines that have caused him to quit driving and limit other activities. Walker said it’s not widely known that getting a low-wattage shock can cause such severe injuries.

“It really, really messed him up,” Walker said. The client ultimately had to have an electrical stimulator installed in his spine to mitigate the pain from the migraines.

Walker said his client is now doing the best that he can, but has to “try and not overdo it.”

Due to the confidentiality agreement, other details about the case, including the identity of the defendants and their counsel, were unavailable.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — PRODUCT LIABILITY

Amount: $2 million

Injuries alleged: Electrocution causing brain injury leading to migraines

Case name: Confidential

Court: Confidential

Date of settlement: Withheld (case settled in 2020)

Attorney for plaintiff: William “Billy” Walker of Walker Morgan in Lexington

Attorney for defendant: Withheld

 

18 (tie). Attorney, couple to share $2M settlement from defamation suit

A Charleston County couple and a Charleston divorce attorney will share a $2 million settlement after resolving a defamation claim against a man who allegedly placed defamatory signs about them around the city during contentious divorce proceedings with his wife, their attorneys report.

Barrett Brewer of Mt. Pleasant, Chris Staubes of Mt. Pleasant, and Samuel Clawson Jr. and Christy Fargnoli of Clawson Fargnoli in Charleston report that their clients, Samuel and Angela King, had been friends with Charles Elwood and his soon-to-be-ex-wife, who in 2017 filed a motion questioning Elwood’s mental fitness and seeking control of the business assets they shared.

Believing that the Kings were going to file an affidavit on his wife’s behalf, Elwood “lashed out” at them, Brewer said. Elwood made false child abuse complaints to the Department of Social Services about the Kings, and the local sheriff’s department opened up investigation into Angela King after Elwood made a false report that she had provided alcohol to minors.

Elwood also placed defamatory signs along major thoroughfares and other prominent places around Charleston, accusing his wife’s attorney of being unfit, among other things. Brewer said that Elwood posted pictures of the signs on his social media pages, although he denied being the author of them. The businesses that Elwood owned were also named as defendants in the suit because Elwood placed the signs while acting in his scope as owner of the businesses and paid someone to place them using checks from his business.

“They feel vindicated,” Brewer said of the clients. “They feel that the system worked in allowing them a voice to clear their names, and that they had an appropriate avenue to stand up to this defendant who tried to bully them.”

Thomas Wills of Wills, Massalon, & Allen in Charleston mediated the settlement, which was agreed to on Aug. 19. Brewer said that the plaintiffs worked out the division of the settlement proceeds amongst themselves.

David Anderson of Richardson Plowden in Columbia and Robert Kneece of Turner Padget in Charleston represented Elwood. Anderson declined to comment on the settlement.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — DEFAMATION

Amount: $2 million

Injuries alleged: Damage to reputation

Case name: King, et al. v. Elwood

Court: Charleston County Circuit Court

Case No.: 2018-CP-10-00478

Mediator: Thomas Wills of Wills, Massalon, & Allen in Charleston

Date of settlement: Aug. 19, 2020

Attorneys for plaintiffs: Barrett R. Brewer of Mt. Pleasant, Chris Staubes of Mt. Pleasant and Samuel R. Clawson Jr. and Christy R. Fargnoli of Clawson Fargnoli in Charleston

Attorneys for defendants: David Anderson of Richardson Plowden in Columbia and Robert Kneece of Turner Padget in Charleston

 

18 (tie). Driver’s BAC no bar to $2M settlement in crash with unlit truck

A driver who was severely injured after he rammed into an unlit tractor-trailer that had pulled out in front of him has confidentially settled a claim against the truck’s owner for $2 million, even though blood tests showed that the plaintiff was intoxicated, his attorneys report.

Kevin Smith and Amanda Stearns of Hoffman Law Firm in Charleston said that their client, whose name was withheld pursuant to a confidentiality agreement, was driving in the predawn hours in July 2020 in Georgetown County when the driver of the tractor-trailer pulled out in front of him and he crashed into it. He was hospitalized for more than a month and had to undergo a cervical fusion of his spine.

Subsequent inspection of the truck revealed “major problems with visibility and lights,” Smith said. Surveillance cameras captured the crash, and an expert said that it wasn’t fit for the road. Moreover, federal records showed that the company that owned the tractor-trailer had similar problems with other vehicles, Smith said.

Blood tests taken at the hospital showed that the client had a blood alcohol content of .25 and showed evidence of cocaine use. While the plaintiff wasn’t charged in the wreck, the trucking company argued that his intoxication had caused it. The plaintiff argued that the evidence wouldn’t be admissible in court, Smith said.

“The truck wasn’t visible–that was the proximate cause of the wreck,” Smith said. “It doesn’t matter if he was drunk, high, or perfectly sober, the tractor was still practically invisible.”

Smith said that focus groups were split on liability due to his client’s intoxication, but the attorneys sent the defense a Tyger River demand, and the case settled for $2 million.

Due to the confidentiality agreement, other details about the settlement, including the name of the defendant company and its attorneys, were unavailable.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH

Amount: $2 million

Injuries alleged: Spinal cord injury

Case name: Withheld

Date of settlement: October 2020

Special damages: $1.2 million (medical bills)

Most helpful experts: Ken Richardson of Mount Pleasant (accident reconstruction and vehicle inspection) and Sarah Lustig of Mount Pleasant (life care planning)

Attorney for plaintiff: Kevin Smith and Amanda Stearns of Hoffman Law Firm in Charleston

Attorney for defendant: Withheld

 

18 (tie). Family of pedestrian dragged by truck settles lawsuit for $2M

The family of a pedestrian who died after he was hit by a commercial truck and then dragged hundreds of feet has settled a lawsuit against the driver’s employer for $2 million, the family’s attorney reports.

Chris Hart of Columbia said that the driver was using a hand-held cell phone when he ran over the pedestrian in a crosswalk. The pedestrian became trapped under the truck and was dragged before another driver drove up beside the at-fault driver and blasted his horn to alert him that he was dragging the pedestrian. The driver told law enforcement that he hadn’t seen the pedestrian or realized that he had run over him, Hart said.

The pedestrian’s family contended that the driver was distracted by his cell phone and was using it in violation of the federal Motor Carrier Safety Act, but the driver and his company blamed the pedestrian, Hart said.

The settlement negotiations had two major turning points, Hart said. The first was when the law enforcement officer who investigated the incident said that he had never investigated a collision involving a vehicle and pedestrian. The officer had also taken a course regarding such collisions after the incident and failed it.

“This was very damaging testimony for the truck driver and trucking company because commercial motor vehicle collisions are not ‘regular’ accidents, and the lead law enforcement investigator was not aware of the very detailed process of post-accident investigations for commercial motor vehicles,” Hart said.

The second turning point came after attorneys reviewed the driver’s cell phone and social media posts.

“The truck driver’s social media was loaded with ‘selfies’ taken while driving the commercial motor vehicle, which is prohibited by the MCSA,” Hart said. “The cell phone records were the most damaging, as they revealed the truck driver was on the phone with the owner of the trucking company at the time our client was run over and dragged down the highway.”

Hart said the records showed that the truck driver and the owner of the trucking company would talk for several hours every day and night while the trucker was on the road.

Due to a confidentiality agreement, other details about the settlement, including the names of the defendants and their attorneys, were unavailable.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH

Amount: $2 million

Injuries alleged: Death

Case name: Confidential

Court: Confidential

Date of settlement: July 9, 2020

Attorney for plaintiff: Chris Hart of Columbia

Attorney for defendant: Withheld

 

22. Man hurt in pizza delivery crash recovers $1.99M from franchisor

A South Carolina man who was seriously injured in a car crash while riding shotgun with his pizza delivery man cousin has settled a lawsuit against the driver’s employer’s franchisor for $1.99 million, his attorney reports.

Roy Willey and Eric Poulin of Anastopoulo Law Firm in Charleston and Lane Jefferies of Anastopoulo Law Firm in Myrtle Beach report that their client’s cousin was delivering a pizza on a rural road in Lexington County in December 2016 when he made a U-turn, crossed the center line, and crashed into a tractor-trailer that was heading in the opposite direction.

The client suffered a broken collar bone, two broken ribs, and a broken spleen that had to be removed and required two surgeries on his pancreas and another procedure to repair a torn aortic valve.

The driver owned the car but worked for the franchisee of a national franchise. The client claimed that the franchisor had failed to properly train the driver.

“They were trying to rush the driver to get the food out, which is why he made a U-turn instead of a safer maneuver,” Willey said.

The client settled a claim against the driver of the tractor-trailer in September 2018 for $1 million, which was reported by Lawyers Weekly. Comparative fault was a significant issue in that case, given the delivery driver’s U-turn, but the client was able to show that there were many factors that the tractor-trailer driver and his company controlled that would have prevented the collision.

The client has made a good recovery and now works as a truck driver, Willey said.

Due to a confidentiality agreement, the name of the franchisor and its attorneys were unavailable.

SETTLEMENT REPORT – MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH

Amount: $1.99 million

Injuries alleged: Broken collar bone, two broken ribs, broken spleen requiring removed, surgery to repair pancreas and torn aortic valve

Case name: Confidential

Court: Confidential

Date of settlement: Feb. 19, 2020

Attorneys for plaintiffs: Roy Willey and Eric Poulin of Anastopoulo Law Firm in Charleston and Lane Jefferies of Anastopoulo Law Firm in Myrtle Beach

Attorney for defendant: Withheld

 

23. Man receives $1.95M after being blinded by vacuum hose

A former government employee who went blind after a hose on a vacuum truck exploded in his face has confidentially settled a suit against the third-party contractor that owned the truck for $1.75 million and collected $200,000 in worker’s compensation, his attorney reports.

Harry Oxner of Oxner and Stacey in Georgetown reports that his client, whose name was withheld pursuant to a confidentiality agreement, was using the truck to clean out a ditch in Georgetown County in January 2019 when the vacuum hose burst, severely injuring his eyes.

“It basically bubbled up into his face,” Oxner said.

Oxner said that the third-party contractor that owned the truck hadn’t inspected the hose even once in the five years it had owned the truck, even though it was required to do so at least once every three months.

Although the client, a father of four, underwent five surgeries to repair the damage, he is now totally blind and no longer works, Oxner said. He also suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and depends on his wife, who had to quit a well-paying job to care for him around the clock.

“He can’t cook, he can’t do all the things that you need to be able to do,” Oxner said.

Due to the confidentiality agreement, other details about the cases, including the identities of the defendants and their counsel, were unavailable, but Oxner said the contractor initially contended that it had been the county’s duty to inspect the hose, which was found to have several gashes, and that the client should have noticed that it was damaged. Ultimately, the two sides reached an agreement on Aug. 25.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — WORKPLACE INJURY

Amount: $1.95 million ($1.75 million settlement with third-party contractor and $200,000 in workers’ compensation)

Injuries alleged: Blindness in both eyes, post-traumatic stress disorder

Case name: Confidential

Date of settlement: Aug. 25, 2020

Special damages: $355,302 (past medical bills)

Attorney for plaintiff: Harry Oxner of Oxner and Stacey in Georgetown

Attorney for defendant: Withheld

 

24. Jury awards $1.8M in reckless driving case

A Charleston County jury has awarded $1.8 million to a woman who was injured after she was hit by a driver who ran a red light.

Rutledge DuRant and Trip Riesen of Riesen DuRant in Charleston said that their client, Melissa Glenney, was driving home from her night shift as a nurse at Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston in 2016 and passing through a downtown intersection when another driver, Lebby Robertson, ran a red light and t-boned her car on the driver’s side.

Glenney went to the emergency room with neck, head, and back pain. Over the course of the next year, doctors recommended epidural steroid injections to relieve her pain, but she wanted to use a more “conservative” approach and underwent physical therapy. That did not relieve the pain, and she opted for the injections to help her bulging discs, but those didn’t provide much relief either, DuRant said.

“We showed the jury how her life is different now,” DuRant said. “She continues to work, but she has had to make accommodations in her life.”

Those accommodations included transferring to another position at the hospital.

“She enjoyed a relatively pain free life before the wreck. The discomfort after the wreck became constant,” DuRant said. “She had been kayaking, hiking, dancing, bowling, and working out. All of that ceased.”

Her husband testified that she couldn’t sleep because of the unbearable pain, and now sleeps in what her teenage son calls “an old man’s bed.”

“They aren’t able to go on the walks like they went on before,” DuRant said, “Everything is more difficult.”

During the trial the jury heard from a certified life care planner who said that it would cost at least $800,000 to $1.1 million over the course of Glenney’s life to pay for injections to her cervical and lumbar spine, along with the possibility of one or two fusion surgeries.

DuRant said the defense claimed that Glenney’s injuries weren’t as bad as she claimed, and that whatever the case, the wreck didn’t cause them, but degenerative and pre-existing conditions may have.

The trial lasted a week, and the jury deliberated for two hours before returning its verdict on Feb. 25.

Joe Weston of Weston Craig Anthony in Mount Pleasant represented Robertson. He could not be reached for comment on the verdict.

VERDICT REPORT — MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH

Amount: $1.8 million

Injuries alleged: Neck and lower back pain from bulging discs

Case name: Melissa Glenney v. Lebby Robertson

Court: Charleston County Circuit Court

Case No.: 2018-CP-10-02583

Judge: Robert Young

Date of verdict: Feb. 25, 2020

Special damages: $1.5 million in compensatory damages and $300,000 in punitive damages

Insurance carrier: Allstate

Attorneys for plaintiff: Rutledge DuRant and Trip Riesen of Riesen DuRant in Charleston

Attorney for defendant: Joe Weston of Weston Craig Anthony in Mount Pleasant

 

25. Woman who broke ankle in crash settles suit for $1.75M

A woman whose car slammed into a logging truck that was improperly parked on the side of a road has settled a lawsuit against the at-fault driver and his employer for $1.75 million, her attorneys report.

Douglas Jennings and Liam Duffy of Yarborough Applegate in Charleston report that their client, Darlene Fulton, was driving to work in Florence one morning in October 2017. As she approached U.S. 52, the sun blinded her. At the same time, Henry Pryor, the driver of a tractor-trailer owned by Southern Wood Products, had parked his rig on the shoulder with its trailer sticking out about six feet into the road.

Fulton’s car hit the trailer. She suffered a fracture to her right ankle that required surgery and an external fixator, a metal frame that is attached to screws to hold bones in place. She presented evidence that the truck had been parked on the shoulder for 10 minutes and Pryor hadn’t placed reflective triangles or flares around his truck as the law requires, Jennings said.

“The danger of a stopped tractor trailer protruding into the roadway is a very well-known hazard, and this case highlights the safety precautions that truck drivers must take,” Jennings said.

Pryor said that he had stopped because his co-worker, who was driving a head of him, had pulled over because his truck was having brake problems, and the drivers testified that they decided to quickly diagnose and fix the brake problems and waved their arms when they saw Fulton approaching, Jennings said.

Jennings said that Fulton is now back at work as a nurse and doing better, but still has some lingering limitations and pain from the injuries.

Patrick McDonald of Resnick & Lewis in Charleston represented the defense. He could not be reached for comment, but Jennings said that the defense contended that Fulton should have seen and avoided the trailer, that it was her fault for not blocking the sun glare, and that she was late for work and in a hurry.

Ronnie Sabb of Charleston also represented Fulton.

“We had a deserving plaintiff in this case who is well-respected in our community which I am grateful the defense appreciated as we worked toward a resolution just prior to trial,” Sabb said.

Bill Lyles of Charleston mediated the settlement, which was agreed to in March.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH

Amount: $1.75 million

Injuries alleged: Orthopedic injuries including fractured ankle

Case name: Darlene Fulton v. Southern Wood Products Inc. and Henry Pryor

Court: Williamsburg County Circuit Court

Case No.: 2018-CP-45-00170

Date of settlement: March 2020

Mediator: Bill Lyles of Charleston

Attorneys for plaintiff: Douglas Jennings and Liam Duffy of Yarborough Applegate in Charleston and Ronnie Sabb of Sabb Law Group of Kingstree

Attorney for defendants: Patrick McDonald of Resnick & Lewis in Charleston

 

26. Widow of driver killed in crash settles case for $1.6M

The widow of a man who died after another driver hit him head-on while illegally passing another vehicle has settled a lawsuit against the at-fault driver for $1.4 million and collected an additional $200,000 from underinsured motorist policies, her attorneys report.

David Yarborough and David Lail of Yarborough Applegate in Charleston and Shelly Leeke of North Charleston said that the victim, William “Art” Mullinax, was driving home after finishing his shift at a steel plant in 2019 when another driver, Quan Gibbs, crossed a double line while attempting to pass a vehicle that was in his lane. Gibbs’ vehicle, which was traveling at 76 mph in a 45 mph zone, hit Mullinax’s head-on, and Mullinax died at the scene.

Mullinax’s wife, Paula, offered to settle claims with Gibbs’ insurer, State Farm, for the full value of Gibbs’ insurance policy limits, but State Farm failed to accept the offer within a timely manner. Mullinax then withdrew her demand and filed an offer of judgment for $1.5 million.

Under South Carolina’s Tyger River doctrine, the failure to settle the case for an amount within Gibbs’ policy limits within the time allotted could have exposed the insurer to a bad faith claim if Gibbs wound up on the hook for an excess verdict.

Initially, State Farm argued that it hadn’t acted in bad faith because Mullinax hadn’t been appointed the representative of the estate, and the estate hadn’t even been opened, at the time the demand was made. Ultimately, State Farm settled for $1.4 million, and Mullinax was able to collect an additional $200,000 from UIM policies. Oliver Wood, a Columbia economist, placed the value of Art Mullinax’s future loss of earning capacity and family services at $1,437,384, Yarborough said.

Yarborough said that more than a year after the wreck, Mullinax and the couple’s son, who came upon the crash scene, are “struggling.”

“They were just a super nice, salt of the earth folks who were high school sweethearts,” Yarborough said. “They had saved money to go on a cruise and had not been back for two weeks when this happened. She lost her best friend and the breadwinner of the family. This money means the world to her in giving her some stability.”

Mike Ferri of Grimball and Cabaniss in Charleston represented State Farm. He could not be reached for comment.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH

Amount: $1.6 million ($1.4 million from at-fault driver, and $200,000 in underinsured motorist insurance)

Injuries alleged: Death

Case name: Estate of Mullinax v. Gibbs

Court: Berkeley County Circuit Court

Case No.: 2019-CP-08-03129

Judge: Bentley Price

Date of settlement: Oct. 2, 2020

Most helpful experts: Oliver Wood of Columbia (economist)

Insurance carrier: State Farm

Attorneys for plaintiff: David Yarborough and David Lail of Yarborough Applegate in Charleston and Shelly Leeke of North Charleston

Attorney for defendant: Mike Ferri of Grimball and Cabaniss in Charleston

 

27. Man injured in watercraft accident settles lawsuit for $1.538M

A man who was severely injured when two personal watercrafts collided on the Intracoastal Waterway has confidentially settled a lawsuit against the operator of a watercraft rental company and the at-fault pilot for $1.538 million, his attorneys report.

Samuel Clawson Jr. and Christy Fargnoli of Clawson Fargnoli in Charleston report that their client, whose name was withheld pursuant to a confidentiality agreement, was a part of a group of five people who rented Yamaha watercrafts in June 2017.

After a safety orientation, a guide took the group out on the water and told them to stay within the boundaries of the riding area at each end and stay on the right side of the canal. The group rode in formation counterclockwise, until the other pilot tried to pass them on the left as they approached the boundary. The client turned toward the left and t-boned the other pilot.

The client suffered blunt force trauma across the left side of his body and was rushed to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with left side rib fractures, a collapsed lung, abrasions, contusions, lacerations, and acute pain due to trauma, Clawson said.

He remained hospitalized for three days. After returning home, he underwent extensive and lengthy follow-up treatment for a torn ligament in his left hand, a left leg fracture, a spinal injury that resulted in two surgeries, and Peyronie’s disease, a condition which causes painful, long-lasting erections, Clawson said.

“He has made a good recovery overall and his life has returned to normal in many respects, although there will always be some lingering issues with his various injuries from this accident,” Clawson said.

Past medical expenses were $188,000. The attorneys retained three experts to provide opinions on future medical expenses, economic loss, and liability. Lindsay Moore, a life care planner, said that the future medical expenses would be $169,000. Economist Roy Strickland said that the economic loss due to the impact of the injuries on the plaintiff’s business was $177,000. Joseph Ahlstrom, an expert in maritime safety, said that the at-fault operator had the Inland Rules of the Road.

The rental company settled for $38,000. The client demanded a settlement with the at-fault pilot, and, after much back-and-forth, his insurance company agreed to settle the case for $1.5 million after mediation. Karl Folkens of Florence mediated the settlement, which was agreed to on April 17.

Admiralty jurisdiction and general maritime law presented advantages in settling the case, Clawson said. Cases are tried without a jury before a federal judge, and joint and several liability and pure comparative negligence apply. Also, under a rule of maritime law known as the Pennsylvania Rule, if a ship is in some violation of a navigation statute at the time of a collision, its operator is presumed to be at fault, and the burden of proof shifts to the defendant, who must show that the statutory violation not only didn’t cause the injury, but couldn’t even have contributed to the injury.

“We were able to leverage this legal construct to our client’s advantage,” Clawson said.

Peter Hearn of Hearn & Hearn in Conway also represented the plaintiff. Due to a confidentiality agreement, other details about the settlement, including the identities of the plaintiffs and their attorneys, were not available.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — MARITIME WRECK

Amount: $1.538 million

Injuries alleged: Blunt force trauma causing lacerations, rib and fractures, collapsed lung, and Peyronie’s disease

Case name: Withheld

Court: Withheld

Mediator: Karl Folkens of Florence

Date of settlement: April 17, 2020

Most helpful experts: Lindsay Moore of Mount Pleasant (life care planning), Roy Strickland of Dixon Hughes Goodman in Charleston (economist), and Joseph Ahlstrom of State University of New York in Throgs Neck, New York  (maritime safety)

Attorneys for plaintiff: Samuel Clawson Jr. and Christy Fargnoli of Clawson Fargnoli in Charleston and Peter Hearn Sr. of Hearn & Hearn in Conway

Attorneys for defendants: Withheld

 

28. Shoddy home construction leads to $1.535M settlement

A family whose house was plagued by leaks and termites has confidentially settled a claim against the home’s builders and a termite company for $1.535 million, their attorney reports.

Jim Davis of Charleston reports that the family hired a contractor to build the 7,300-square foot home that had been specially designed for their disabled son. The design included wide doors, elevators, and single-level flooring throughout the home so the son could move freely. It also included a medical track system that allowed them to transport their son throughout the house, Davis said.

But once they moved in, they discovered that water was leaking in throughout the home. The builder attempted to make repairs over a two-year period before ultimately refusing to return to the house. The water attracted termites, which infested the house, and the termite company failed to properly treat the infestation, Davis said.

The clients filed a claim against the general contractor, roofing contractors, sub-contractors, and the termite company for breach of contract, gross negligence, and breach of implied warranty of workmanlike service.

“The family was devastated,” Davis said. “This was not just their dream home, but an essential home for their disabled son,” Davis said. Relocating from the home wasn’t an option due to the extensive permanently installed medical track hardware systems.

Bill Lyles of Charleston mediated the case, and the case settled after a 12-hour mediation. The family has now corrected all of the problems with the home.

“No more leaks or termites–the home is sound, and the family now has peace of mind knowing that they recovered sufficient money in mediation to protect their family during reconstruction, manage their disabled son’s needs, and fully repair the home,” Davis said.

Due to the confidentiality agreement, other details about the settlement, including the names of the defendants and their attorneys, were unavailable.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — BREACH OF CONTRACT

Amount: $1.535 million

Injuries alleged: Construction defects leading to water intrusion and termite infestation

Case name: Confidential

Court: Confidential

Mediator: Bill Lyles of Charleston

Date of settlement: Feb. 15, 2020

Attorney for plaintiff: Jim Davis of Charleston

Attorneys for defendant: Withheld

 

29. Bar, driver pay $1.5M to settle dram shop claims

A Myrtle Beach bar that overserved a patron who later caused a multi-vehicle crash in Myrtle Beach has paid $1 million to confidentially settle claims by three people who were injured in the collision, and the drunk driver will be responsible for an additional $500,000, their attorneys report.

Matthew Yelverton of Charleston, Luke Rankin of Conway, and Mark Sawyer of Greenville said that on the evening of Jan. 27, 2017 the drunk driver rear-ended a car that was waiting at a stop light. That started a chain reaction which caused collisions with two more cars. Two of the attorneys’ clients were in the car that was hit by the drunk driver, and the other client was in the car that they were smashed into.

One of the clients had to be extracted from the vehicle and suffered a traumatic brain injury, the attorneys said. Another client suffered a multiple-disc injury that required surgery and was hospitalized for several weeks. The pair were friends who were on a trip to Myrtle Beach from the Charlotte area together. The third client, who was in the other car, suffered a neck injury that required surgery.

The at-fault driver was intoxicated and was ultimately convicted of driving under the influence, Yelverton said. He said that he and his colleagues obtained receipts which showed that the bar overserved her, and an eyewitness also testified to her intoxication.

The bar denied overserving the drunk driver and said that it had policies and precautions in place to ensure that its staff doesn’t overserve customers. Yelverton and his colleagues hired a firm that sent in investigators and an “undercover operative” to the bar. Over the course of less than 90 minutes, a waiter served the operative seven vodkas with soda and four shots of liquor, which the operative dutifully consumed in the pursuit of evidence.

“Then they unleashed this drunk person into the world, not knowing whether he was going to drive or what,” Yelverton said. “This is yet another example of what happens when bars don’t follow their own policies and procedures and, as a result, serve intoxicated customers. This incident, along with the injuries sustained by my clients, was completely preventable.”

Due to a confidentiality agreement, the identities of the defendants and their attorneys were not available.

SETTLEMENT REPORT – DRAM SHOP

Amount: $1.5 million

Injuries alleged: Traumatic brain injury; disc injury; shoulder injury

Case name: Confidential

Date of settlement: October 2020

Most helpful experts: Tracker Investigations of Charleston

Attorneys for plaintiff: Matthew Yelverton of Charleston, Luke Rankin of Conway, and Mark Sawyer of Greenville

Attorney for defendant: Withheld

 

30. Man hit by postal service truck awarded $1.35M

A man who suffered severe back and neck injuries after a U.S. Postal Service carrier t-boned his vehicle has secured a $1.35 million verdict after a bench trial in federal court.

Mark Bringardner of the Joye Law Firm in North Charleston reports that his client, David Crimmins, was driving home in January 2016 when the mail carrier, John Boudreau, stopped his mail truck at a stop sign at a two-way stop intersection. He pulled forward and hit Crimmins’ car on the passenger side.

Crimmins, who was 45 at the time of the crash, suffered a disc herniation at the L4-5 level that required a microdiscectomy surgery and continues to undergo physical therapy and chiropractic treatment for severe back and neck pain caused by it. The treatment provides temporary relief, but he stays in pain and his quality of life has diminished significantly, Bringardner said. He had been an avid biker, boater, and golfer before the wreck.

“He would ride his bike for 20 to 30 miles, and that was reduced to next to nothing,” Bringardner said. He said that Crimmins wakes up every night in pain and has to sleep with special pillows, and has become much more cautious in his day-to-day and work life as a commercial real estate developer. A colleague testified that there were days after the accident when he could see that Crimmins was in pain.

After a two-day bench trial in August 2019, U.S. District Judge David C. Norton granted Crimmins’ motion for a directed verdict as to liability and found the government to be liable for negligence. In a March 30 order Norton ruled that Crimmins had not been comparatively negligent and was entitled to a full recovery of damages for past and future medical expenses, pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life and personal impairment, and past and future loss of income and earning power.

Lee Belinsky of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charleston represented the government. He could not be reached for comment.

VERDICT REPORT — MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH

Amount: $1,355,522

Injuries alleged: Disc herniation at the L4-5 level

Case name: Crimmins v. United States of America

Court: U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina

Case No.: 2:17-cv-3470

Judge: David Norton

Date of verdict: March 30, 2020

Highest offer: $300,000

Special damages: $67,453.37 (past medical bills), $631,712 (future medical bills), $200,000 (pain and suffering), $100,000 (mental anguish), $300,000 (loss of enjoyment of life and personal impairment), $25,000 (past and future loss of income and earning power)

Attorney for plaintiff: Mark Bringardner of the Joye Law Firm in North Charleston

Attorney for defendant: Lee Belinsky of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charleston

 

31. Woman hit by car in grocery store lot settles suit for $1.3M

A woman whose legs were fractured after she was hit by a car in a grocery store parking lot has confidentially settled a lawsuit against the at-fault driver for $1.3 million, her attorneys report.

Kevin Smith and Amanda Itterly of Hoffman Law Firm in North Charleston report that the woman was walking through the parking lot when the car came up from behind and hit her. She suffered multiple fractures in both legs, and because of her age had multiple complications while in the hospital.

The woman had only a vague memory of what happened, and the driver claimed that she should have yielded the right of way, Smith said.

“Since the grocery store was on government property, it was very difficult to obtain a copy of the surveillance video,” Smith said. “We were first advised there was no video.”

But the attorneys hired an investigator who was able to get a copy of the video. It showed the woman was struck from behind, and that settled the liability issue, Smith said.

Once the video surfaced, the insurance company immediately offered the policy limits of $300,000, along with $1 million from the at-fault driver’s umbrella policy.

Due to a confidentiality agreement, other details about the settlement, including the name of the defendants and the defense attorneys, were unavailable.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH

Amount: $1.3 million

Injuries alleged: Multiple fractures in both legs

Case name: Confidential

Date of settlement: Withheld (case settled in 2020)

Special damages: $625,529.93 (medical bills)

Insurance carrier: Withheld

Attorneys for plaintiff: Kevin Smith and Amanda Itterly of Hoffman Law Firm in North Charleston

Attorneys for defendant: Withheld

 

32 (tie). Family secures $1.25M settlement after fatal wreck

The family of a woman who was killed after a driver hit her vehicle while she was parked on a private road has confidentially settled a lawsuit with the at-fault driver for $1.25 million, the family’s attorney reports.

Charles Hodge of Hodge and Langley Law Firm in Spartanburg reports that the crash occurred in 2019. The victim, whose name was withheld, was stopped waiting to make a right turn at an intersection when the at-fault driver, who was speeding, ran off the road and hit her vehicle.

When emergency workers arrived, the victim didn’t have a pulse. After 10 minutes of “frantic efforts” to revive her, her pulse returned, but she died a few minutes after she arrived at the hospital, Hodge said. She was the single mother of two “exceptional” young adults and a teenager.

“The entire family was extremely close,” Hodge said. “The job was to educate the insurer on the family dynamic and the enormity of the tragedy. The job is to humanize people. The insurance company can’t see them as numbers, and you can’t present the case as just numbers. When you have good clients, the case assumes a much stronger value.”

Hodge said he provided the carrier with full information on the wreck, the mother, and her children, as well as an economic report.

Due to a confidentiality agreement, other details about the case, including the identities of the defendant and defense counsel, were not available.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH

Amount: $1.25 million

Injuries alleged: Death

Case name: Confidential

Court: Withheld

Date of settlement: April 2020

Most helpful experts: Charles Alford of Greenville (economist)

Attorney for plaintiff: Charles Hodge of Hodge and Langley Law Firm in Spartanburg

Attorney for defendant: Withheld

 

32 (tie). Serious injuries in car crash spur $1.25M settlement

A woman who suffered multiple injuries after a driver turned in front of her has settled a claim against the at-fault driver for $1.25 million, her attorneys report.

Chuck Allen and Josh Allen of Allen and Allen in Anderson said that their client, Rebecca Vannelli, was driving south on Highway 81 in Anderson County in December 2019 when Helen Bartlett attempted to make a left turn in front of her. Vannelli’s car slammed into Bartlett’s.

Vannelli suffered serious injuries, including a traumatic brain injury, multiple bone fractures, a lacerated spleen, and collapsed lung. Vannelli was in the hospital for 17 days. She underwent surgery to insert hardware into her right leg and to repair ligament in the right knee. She also underwent 10 months of physical therapy.

“She is doing better and can walk on her own without assistance,” Josh Allen said. “She has an ankle injury that is not healing as anticipated. Doctors are hopeful it will heal on its own with treatment, but if not, an additional surgery to remove the ankle bone will be necessary.

James Walsh of Clarkson, Walsh and Coulter in Greenville represented Bartlett and her husband, who owned the car Bartlett was driving. He could not be reached for comment, but Josh Allen said the defense questioned the severity of Vannelli’s injuries.

SETTLEMENT REPORT – MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH

Amount: $1.25 million

Injuries alleged: Traumatic brain injury, multiple bone fractures, lacerated spleen, collapsed lung, and ligament tear in back of knee

Case name: Rebecca Marie Vannelli vs. Helen Marie Bartlett and Richard P. Bartlett

Court: Anderson County Circuit Court

Case No.: 2020-CP-04-01079

Date of settlement: Nov. 19, 2020

Special damages: $262,435 (past medical bills)

Most helpful experts: Dr. John Murray of Anderson (orthopedics), Dr. Rock Weldon of Greenville (vocational issues), Dr. Charles Alford of Greenville (forensic economist) and Dr. Yadira Baez-Lockard of Piedmont (forensic psychology)

Insurance carriers: Auto-Owners and Farm Bureau

Attorneys for plaintiff: Chuck Allen and Josh Allen of Allen and Allen in Anderson

Attorney for defendant: James Walsh of Clarkson, Walsh and Coulter in Greenville

 

34. Woman whose baby died in prison settles suit for $1.15M

A woman whose baby died after she gave birth in prison has settled a lawsuit against the South Carolina Department of Corrections and its health care providers for $1.15 million, her attorneys report.

Chris Mills of Columbia said that his client, Sinetra Geter, was pregnant with twins when she entered the Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Institution in October 2012. At 26 weeks, she experienced cramping and abnormal pain. She told the guards and was transferred to the prison infirmary. Although she was presenting the classic signs of labor, the medical staff did not perform a vaginal exam or have her transferred to an outside OB-GYN, according to her complaint.

A nurse told Geter that she would send a doctor a memo on her condition and Geter returned to her work duties in prison the next day. Throughout the day, she complained to guards about pain.

One told her the pains were probably stretched ligaments. She returned to the infirmary and was given a Tylenol, the lawsuit says. That night she went to the bathroom in excruciating pain and bleeding profusely. She delivered one of the babies in the toilet. An autopsy revealed that Baby Karmen was born alive and fully developed but died from application because no one cut the umbilical cord. She later delivered another baby, who is now healthy and “thriving,” Mills said.

“She had to go through labor the whole day and night and then see her child die,” Mills said. “The horror of having to go through that while depending on the government, who controls your access to medical care, is harrowing.”

Geter alleged gross negligence against the SCDC and negligence against Medustrial and MedFirst, which employed the prison nurses. Geter claimed that the nurses were aware of her high-risk pregnancy with twins but failed in their duty to provide medical treatment, breached their duty in failing to refer her out of the prison during labor to an OB-GYN, failed to monitor her condition, and failed to assist in delivery after notice, causing the death of the baby.

Beau Wilder of Wilder Pantanzis Law Group in Charlotte and Robert Phillips of McGowan, Hood & Felder in Rock Hill also represented Geter.

William Davidson of Davidson Wren & DeMasters in Columbia represented the SCDC. Steve Krposki of Earhart Overstreet in Charleston represented Med First, and Kip Darwin of Holcombe Bolmar in Spartanburg represented Medustrial. None of the attorneys could be reached for comment on the settlement.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

Amount: $1.15 million

Injuries alleged: Denial of medical treatment during labor and birth of child causing emotional and physical trauma to mother and the death of baby

Case name: Sinetra Geter v. South Carolina Dept. of Corrections, Medustrial and MedFirst

Court: Richland County Circuit Court

Case No.: 2015-CP-40-07561

Mediator: Rob King of King & Love in Florence

Date of settlement: January 2020

Insurance carriers: Insurance Reserve Fund (SCDC), Zurich (Medustrial), and Landmark American Insurance Co. (MedFirst)

Attorneys for plaintiff: Chris Mills of Columbia, Beau Wilder of Wilder Pantanzis Law Group in Charlotte, and Robert Phillips of McGowan, Hood & Felder in Rock Hill

Attorneys for defendants: Will Davidson of Davidson Wren & DeMasters in Columbia, Steve Kropski of Earhart Overstreet in Charleston, and Kip Darwin of Holcombe Bomar in Spartanburg

 

35 (tie). Family of man shot and killed in yard settles suit for $1M

The family of a man who was shot and killed while trying to detain a car thief on his property has settled a lawsuit against the homeowners’ association and property manager of his gated community for $1 million after they failed to repair a security gate or hire a guard that could have kept his assailant out of the neighborhood, the family’s attorneys report.

David Yarborough and Reynolds Blankenship Jr. of Yarborough Applegate in Charleston and Marvin R. Pendarvis of Peper Law Firm in Charleston report that Henry Brown, who was 71, discovered that thieves had entered his North Charleston neighborhood in August 2017 and stolen his neighbor’s car and the keys out of Brown’s car.

The thieves returned the next night. Brown’s neighbor confronted them, and Brown went outside with a gun and fired warning shots in an effort to help her, Blankenship said. Brown wound up pinning one of the men to the ground as the neighbor ran for help. As they waited for police to arrive, the man that Brown had pinned down reached for a gun and shot Brown in the head. He died instantly.

“All we know is that [the shooter] had a gun in his waistband and he pulled it out and shot him,” Blankenship said.

Two weeks earlier, lightning had struck and damaged the neighborhood’s guard house and security gate. Blankenship said that the community’s HOA and property management had made no effort to provide security measures, such as hiring nighttime guards, Blankenship said. Brown and his neighbor had both reported the thefts to the daytime guards, the property manager, and the police, Blankenship said.

Brown’s family contended that the HOA and the property manager had voluntarily undertaken a duty to provide security against unauthorized vehicular access and failed to maintain that security at a reasonable level after the gate broke. Their attorneys obtained an affidavit from one of the thieves, who said that they never would have entered the neighborhood if there’d been someone at the guardhouse.

The defense said that Brown should have stayed inside and “vehemently hammered on that, and understandably so,” Blankenship said.

The shooter, Leon Holmes, pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. The two other men involved in the crime were convicted of voluntary manslaughter.

John “Jay” McDonald Jr., of Clawson and Staubes in Charleston represented the HOA and the property management company. He could not be reached for comment.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — WRONGFUL DEATH

Amount: $1 million

Injuries alleged: Death

Case name: Brown v. The Park Recreational Development, Inc., and Spectrum Properties, Inc.

Court: Charleston County Circuit Court

Case No.: 2018-CP-10-04210

Mediator: John Tiller of Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd in Charleston

Date of settlement: Sept. 11, 2020

Special damages: $110,000 (lost military benefits)

Attorneys for plaintiff: David Yarborough and Reynolds Blankenship Jr. of Yarborough Applegate in Charleston and Marvin Pendarvis of Peper Law Firm in Charleston

Attorneys for defendant: John “Jay” McDonald Jr. of Clawson and Staubes in Charleston

 

35 (tie). Deadly failure to report broken ribs prompts $1M med-mal verdict

A York County jury has ordered a Rock Hill radiology practice and one of its doctors to pay $1 million to a woman whose husband died after the doctor failed to inform emergency room physicians that the husband had broken his ribs during a fall that ultimately contributed to his death.

Chad McGowan of McGowan, Hood & Felder in Rock Hill said that Rita Pratt, the widow of Bill Pratt, sued Rock Hill Radiology Associates and Geoffrey Gilleland in connection with Pratt’s late-night fall down a flight of stairs in March 2015. Pratt was taken to the Piedmont Medical Center emergency room and examined and treated by a physician. An initial read of scans showed that Pratt hadn’t suffered any broken bones in the fall.

But when Gilleland looked at the scans the next morning he discovered that Pratt had broken nine ribs. Hospital policy and normal practice required Gilleland to alert the ER physicians, who would have brought Pratt back to the hospital and placed him in a trauma center for lung treatment, McGowan said, but Gilleland failed to inform the ER physicians.

Instead, Pratt was at home where, over the course of two days, he developed pneumonia, which led to his admission to the Carolinas Medical Center Trauma Unit. He died two weeks later from pneumonia and complications of end-stage liver cancer.

After a six-day trial, the jury found that Gilleland and Rock Hill Radiology were liable for Pratt’s death, and that Gilleland’s actions were reckless, willful, or wanton. McGowan said that testimony revealed that Gilleland referred to Pratt as “a hospice guy” who therefore did not deserve normal care. Due to extensive cancer, the evidence suggested his life expectancy ranged from two months to two years, McGowan said.

“He claimed he did Mr. Pratt did a favor by not calling [the emergency room physicians], but by putting it in his report, so that when he was looking for pain meds, there would be a medical reason for hospice to get him narcotics,” McGowan said.

The defense claimed that the broken ribs were not “fractures,” but rather “little dents” of no significance, McGowan said.

“The problem they had is that the defendant’s radiology report clearly stated ‘nine non-displaced rib fractures,’ so they were trying to rewrite history,” McGowan said. The defense also claimed that Pratt was riddled with cancer and contracted pneumonia and died from the cancer, not the rib fractures.

Piedmont Medical Center was named in the lawsuit but settled mid-trial.

Pratt was a former professional musician who was the first white musician signed with Motown Records, and wrote songs for and performed with artists such as Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, and the Doobie Brothers.

“The family is about as expected to be after five years,” McGowan said. “They are trying to move on, but a trial dredges everything back up. Rita Pratt is very glad that the doctor was found responsible after so many years of denial and delay. That fact alone means the world of the Pratt family.”

McGowan said the family hopes the verdict “this serves as a lesson to other doctors not to write people off based on their medical condition.”

Ashley Creech, Eve Goodstein, Jay Wright, and Susie Campbell of McGowan, Hood & Felder also represented Rita Pratt.

In its Feb. 10 verdict, the jury apportioned 10 percent of the fault to Rock Hill Radiology and 90 percent to Gilleland. The jury returned a defense verdict for another doctor named in the lawsuit, Jonas Varaly, concluding that he had not deviated from the standard of care.

Matthew Henrikson of Greenville represented the Rock Hill Radiology and Gilleland. He could not be reached for comment.

Jack G. Gresh and Jonathan Arndt of Hall Booth Smith in Mount Pleasant represented Varaly.

VERDICT REPORT — MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

Amount: $1 million

Injuries alleged: Death

Case name: Rita Pratt, Individually and as the Personal Representative of the Estate of William C. Pratt, Deceased v. Jonas Varaly, DO; Rock Hill Radiology Associates, LLC; and Geoffrey Gilleland, MD

Court: York County Circuit Court

Case No.: 2016-CP-46-03181

Date of verdict: Feb. 10, 2020

Special damages: $360,000 (survivorship), $640,000 (loss of consortium)

Most helpful experts: Anthony Lupetin of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (radiology), Mike Chansky of Audubon, New Jersey (emergency medicine), and Hiren Shah of Chicago (hospitalist)

Attorneys for plaintiff: Chad McGowan, Ashley Creech, Eve Goodstein, Susan Campbell and Jay Wright of McGowan, Hood & Felder in Rock Hill

Attorneys for defendants: Matthew Henrikson of Greenville for Rock Hill Radiology Associates and Geoffrey Gilleland and Jack G. Gresh and Jonathan Arndt of Hall Booth Smith in Mount Pleasant for Jonas Varaly

 

35 (tie). Black box data key evidence in $1M fatal wreck settlement

A woman whose mother was killed after their car was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer has confidentially settled a lawsuit against the at-fault driver and his employer for $1 million, even after witnesses told investigators that the wreck was the daughter’s fault, her attorney reports.

Kevin Smith of Hoffman Law Firm in North Charleston reported that the daughter, whose name was withheld pursuant to a confidentiality agreement, was driving near Greenville in April 2018, with her mother in the backseat. When the daughter realized that she’d gotten off the highway at the wrong exit, she came to a quick stop in the exit lane, and a tractor-trailer that had been following behind them rear-ended their vehicle. The mother died at the scene.

The truck driver and three eyewitnesses all claimed that the daughter had cut back in front of the truck at the last minute to get back on the interstate, and the truck driver tried to go around her. One of the witnesses was the truck driver’s co-worker, who was driving another truck behind him. Both of the truck drivers and the other two eyewitnesses told police that there was nothing the truck driver could have done to avoid the wreck.

“We think that’s the story he [the trailing truck driver] gave the other two witnesses,” Smith said. “Their statements to the cops were nearly identical. It goes to show that eyewitnesses with no connections to either party can completely lie to law enforcement.”

When Smith accepted the “very difficult case,” he turned it over to focus groups that “dumped the case completely”—at least at first.

“Nearly every vote put the daughter 100 percent at fault,” Smith said. “Once those votes were in, we gave them additional information about the driver of the tractor-trailer. Some were legitimate and some were just made up. [Then] they gave us an idea of the background details that mattered to them.”

The turning point came when black box data from the tractor-trailer showed that the wreck hadn’t happened the way that the truck drivers and the witnesses had described it, Smith said. Although the daughter had stopped abruptly in the exit lane, she didn’t cut back in front of the truck driver, who would have been able to avoid hitting her if he’d been traveling a safe distance behind her, Smith said.

“After introducing that evidence, the focus groups were now giving us close to 100 percent liability on the truck driver,” Smith said. “Once we determined the motor carrier had no assets to go after, we made a non-negotiable, time-limited demand for the $1M policy limits and rejected offers to mediate.”

Amanda Stearns of Hoffman Law Firm in North Charleston and Joel Grist of Macon, Georgia, also represented the daughter.

Due to the confidentiality agreement, other details about the case, including the names of the defendants and their attorneys, were unavailable.

SETTLEMENT REPORT — MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH

Amount: $1 million

Injuries alleged: Death

Case name: Confidential

Court: Withheld

Date of settlement: March 2020

Most helpful experts: David Dorrity of Transportation Resources in Greenville (trucking safety) and Ken Richardson of Engineering Experts in Mount Pleasant (accident reconstruction)

Attorneys for plaintiff: Kevin Smith and Amanda Stearns of Hoffman Law Firm in North Charleston and Joel Grist of Macon, Georgia

Attorneys for defendant: Withheld

 

35 (tie). Spartanburg bar settles dram shop claim for $1M

A Spartanburg bar will pay $1 million to resolve claims that it overserved a patron who later drove drunk and ran his car into a moped, killing one person and seriously injuring another, the attorneys for the victims report.

Kenny Berger of Spartanburg and Chris Pracht and Kerrison Schmutz of Thomason & Pracht in Anderson report that Thomas Martin and Roschelle West were riding on a moped that Martin was driving in early morning hours of July 15, 2018 in Spartanburg when the driver, Jose Valdes, slammed into the scooter from behind, killing West instantly and seriously injuring Martin, who a suffered a traumatic brain injury and orthopedic injuries.

Martin was in intensive care for three months, then underwent extensive rehabilitation therapy in which he re-learned how to walk and feed and dress himself. He suffers from short-term memory loss and cannot be left alone at all, Pracht said. Berger said that Valdes was driving his BMW between 58 and 70 mph when he hit the couple, who were on their way home from their jobs at a local diner.

Earlier that evening, Valdes had been at Club South 29 in Spartanburg. A video showed that Valdes went into the club just before midnight and left at 1:35 a.m. The wreck happened less than two minutes later and a blood draw at 3 a.m. put Valdes’ BAC at .19. Although the plaintiffs had no solid evidence such as receipts that proved Valdes was overserved at the club, Berger said that there was solid circumstantial evidence that was the case.

Zach Brown of McAngus Goudelock in Greenville represented Club South 29. He could not be reached for comment, but Berger said that Club 29 did not admit any wrongdoing.

The $1 million settlement, agreed to on Dec. 14, reflected the full policy limits of the bar’s insurance.

“I think what it came down to was that the damages were so large that they couldn’t risk not paying the million dollars when the total exposure could have been within $20 million to $30 million” had the case gone to trial, Berger said.

SETTLEMENT REPORT – DRAM SHOP

Amount: $1 million

Injuries alleged: Death; traumatic brain injury and orthopedic injuries

Case names: Summer Grant as personal representative of the Estate of Melony Roschelle West & On Behalf of the Statutory Beneficiaries v. The South 29 Social Alliance a/k/a Club South 29 a/k/a South 29; Joyce Darlene Wylie v. The South 29 Social Alliance A/K/A Club South 29

Court: Spartanburg County Circuit Court

Case Nos.: 2019-CP-42-03044 and 2020-CP-42-04274

Date of settlement: Dec. 14, 2020

Most helpful experts: David Eagerton of Buies Creek, North Carolina (forensic toxicology) and Elizabeth Trendowski of Hartford, Connecticut (dram shop forensics)

Insurance carrier: Chubb Insurance

Attorneys for plaintiff: Kenneth Berger of Spartanburg and Chris Pracht and Kerrison Schmutz of Thomason & Pracht in Anderson

Attorney for defendant: Zach Brown of McAngus Goudelock in Greenville

 

35 (tie). Delayed MRI results in $1M settlement

A man who became partially paralyzed after a hospital waited too long before sending him for an MRI exam has confidentially settled a case against the hospital for $1 million, his attorneys report.

Bert “Skip” Utsey of Clawson Fargnoli & Utsey in Charleston and Don Kamb of Williams & Kamb in Greenville report that their client, whose name was withheld due to a confidentiality agreement, went to the emergency room several times in 2014 and 2015, complaining of cervical pain and neurological symptoms. Each time, he was discharged with pain medication. On another visit, an ER physician recognized possible spinal cord compression and ordered an MRI, but the staff needed to administer it was unavailable, Utsey said.

The hospital admitted the client for an overnight stay, during which time a nurse noticed the client’s symptoms were worsening, but he wasn’t seen by a doctor or given an MRI until the next morning, Utsey said. The MRI confirmed the diagnosis of a spinal cord compression, and the client underwent immediate spinal surgery, but by that time it was already too late. The client now has quadriparesis, a condition that causes serious weakness in all four limbs. He uses a wheelchair, can no longer work, and has to be cared for 24 hours a day, Utsey said.

The client’s past and future medical expenses exceed $1 million, but the hospital is considered a charitable organization and is therefore subject to a damages cap of $1.2 million per occurrence, and there were liability defenses and non-litigation factors–including delays in setting a trial date due to COVID–that influenced the decision to settle the case, Utsey said.

A separate claim remains pending against the treating emergency room doctors who sent the client home during his initial visits, Utsey said.

Utsey said the compression was caused by injuries that the man received at his job, where he lifted heavy objects.

Due to the confidentiality agreement, the name of the hospital and its attorneys were unavailable.

SETTLEMENT REPORT – MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

Amount: $1 million

Injuries alleged: Quadriparesis

Case name: Confidential

Court: Confidential

Date of settlement: Sept. 30, 2020

Attorneys for plaintiff: Skip Utsey of Clawson, Fargnoli & Utsey in Charleston and Don Kamb of Williams & Kamb in Greenville

Attorney for defendant: Withheld

 

40. Woman hit by HVAC truck driver settles claim for $970K

An elderly woman who was injured after she was hit by a heating and air conditioning repair truck driver who had a “deplorable” driving record has settled a claim against the truck driver and his employer for $970,000, her attorneys report.

Brett Woron of Woron & Dhillon in Columbia and Cantzon Foster of Columba report that their client, Brenda Cope, was driving in Richland County in April 2018 when Michael Brogdon, who was driving a truck owned by Dan’s Heating and Air, his employer, ran a red light and crashed into Cope’s car.

Cope sustained an intracranial brain hemorrhage and was knocked unconscious and spent one night in the hospital. She suffered sustained dental fractures eventually requiring surgery, and as a result of that surgery she had trouble eating and suffered weight loss and muscle mass.

After that, she suffered increased irritability, memory loss, and cognitive decline. Neurological testing confirmed her cognitive slowing, and, due to the length of time between the collision and the continued symptoms, the brain injury was likely permanent and would only worsen over time.

“She has some of the issues, but she’s living her life and doing fine,” Woron said.

Thomas Dougall of Dougall & Collins in Elgin represented the defendants. Dougall could not be reached for comment on the settlement, but Woron said “the defense liability theory fell apart” when Brogdon was deposed and gave inconsistent statements. Woron also said that Brogdon had a “deplorable” driving history, which should have precluded him from driving a work truck at all. He had multiple license suspensions and had been fired from previous jobs for causing accidents, Woron said.

SETTLEMENT REPORT – MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH

Amount: $970,000

Injuries alleged: Dental fractures and traumatic brain injury

Case name: Brenda Cope vs. Michael Brogdon and Dan’s Heating and Air

Court: Richland County Circuit Court

Case No.: 2019-CP-4003014

Date of settlement: Dec. 18, 2020

Most helpful experts: Sarah Lustig of Mount Pleasant (life care planning)

Insurance carrier: Main Street America Group

Attorneys for plaintiff: Brett Woron of Woron & Dhillon of Columbia and Cantzon Foster of Columbia

Attorneys for defendant: Thomas Dougall and Mical Kalwajtys Dougall & Collins in Elgin