Every year, South Carolina Lawyers Weekly presents a list of the top verdicts and settlements of the previous year—and this year, Yarborough Applegate was recognized in four out of the 30 top recoveries of 2019.
We offer a premium class of service to our injured and grieving clients, as well as our co-counsel, securing real results. Below are four of our recent cases that were included in South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Top Verdicts & Settlements of 2019.
Soddy crash results in $6.05M settlement
In 2014, our client, a 68-year-old man, was driving on Interstate 26 near Orangeburg when a swaying flatbed trailer carrying a 4,000-pound load of sod dropped a pallet of the grass onto the highway. After the lane was closed off and traffic slowed, our client was rear-ended by a car that was traveling at 80 mph, resulting in several traumatic brain injuries, including a diffuse axonal injury, subarachnoid hemorrhage, shearing injury, encephalopathy and extended amnesia, as well as orthopedic injuries.
“Traumatic brain injury is a disease process that causes lifelong problems,” William Applegate said. “While invisible, when an individual suffers one and is required to relearn everything from swallowing to talking over a period of weeks or months, the effects are astounding.”
We alleged that the driver who rear-ended the plaintiff was negligent, the sod hauler was negligent and not properly trained in how to tie down the sod to his trailer, and the sod loader who initially loaded the sod onto the trailer was negligent in its methods of wrapping and loading the sod.
To learn more about this settlement, read our full blog post here.
Family of boy who drowned in an apartment pool settles lawsuit for $6M
On May 18, 2018, a 3-year-old boy drowned after he entered a Hanahan apartment complex pool through an unlocked gate.
“There was a great amount of grief and everyone involved felt guilty,” David Yarborough said. “But the fact of the matter is, had the pool been guarded like it was required to be by law, and had they followed safety regulations, this never would have happened.”
In representing the family of the boy in this wrongful death suit, we alleged that there should have been a commercial-grade cover over the pool, since it had been closed for more than six months prior to the incident. In addition, the complex also did not have a Certified Pool Operator at the time of the drowning.
To learn more about this settlement, read our full blog post here.
Man hurt by makeshift stairs settles suit for $2.35M
Our client, a drywall worker, was carrying construction materials up a set of makeshift stairs in an Edisto Island home in 2016 when the stairs collapsed, causing him to fall 15 feet to the concrete below. He sustained a spinal cord injury with persistent bowel, bladder, and sexual dysfunction, right-lower extremity weakness with knee instability, and a closed head injury (a type of traumatic brain injury) with post- concussive disorder.
“Prior to his injuries, he was of great help to his family around their house by cooking, cleaning, repairing broken items, doing yard work, and even remodeling the home,” Yarborough said. “He used to love playing soccer with his kids and family members. All of that has changed as a result of this incident.”
In this workplace injury suit, we alleged that the subcontractor who built the stairs was liable because the stairs were not compliant with the building code, lacked the required bolts or bracing or ledgers, and were unable to support a reasonable and expected load during the course of construction. We also argued that the general contractor was negligent in the selection and supervision of the subcontractor and failure to inspect the premises; in addition, the homeowner should have inspected the stairs and taken the necessary steps to remove or warn of any dangers.
To learn more about this settlement, view our Results page here.
Golf cart crash results in $2M settlement
Our client, a 68-year-old woman, was seriously injured in October 2016 after a landscaper’s skid steer loader barreled off a Sullivan’s Island property and slammed into the golf cart she was riding in with her daughter. As a result of being hit, the woman was thrown through the windshield of the cart and landed on her head and face on the concrete. Her injuries included a mild traumatic brain injury, dental injuries, and fractures to her face, skull, shoulder, foot, and ankle, as well as tearing of the brain nerve fibers and hemorrhaging beneath the skull.
“While tremendously better than she was a year ago, she’s faced with the realization that her life will never return completely to the way it was,” Yarborough said.
The driver of the loader had 23 prior charges filed against him, most of them related to traffic violations and car wrecks. We argued that the landscaping company was negligent, as they should have run a background check on the worker and assessed the findings from a safety perspective—or, that it knew of the driver’s history, but chose to put him on the job site anyway. We also argued that the landscaping company failed to provide proper training to its employees, failed to conduct proper background checks on them, and failed to properly supervise them while allowing them to operate a 10,000-pound piece of equipment.
To learn more about this settlement, read our full blog post here.
If you or a loved one are facing a personal injury, contact Yarborough Applegate to get the representation you need today.
Disclaimer: Every case is unique, and prior results do not guarantee future outcomes.
Every year, South Carolina Lawyers Weekly compiles a list of the top million-dollar settlements in the state reported in its newspaper. Since 2011, Yarborough Applegate has appeared on this list every year, always securing at least 3 spots. In 2016, Yarborough Applegate earned 8 of the 18 spots on the list totaling $18.15 million in […]
Each year, South Carolina Lawyers Weekly releases a list of the top recoveries in the state reported in its newspaper. In 2018, Yarborough Applegate earned 8 of 25 cases on the list. The cases involved several automobile collision and dram shop cases, a negligent entrustment case, a backpay recovery and wrongful termination case and a […]
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