Yarborough Applegate has once again claimed a number of South Carolina’s highest-dollar verdicts and settlements for the year, including the top spot for an $8 million settlement over an insurance bad faith claim. Each year, South Carolina Lawyers Weekly publishes a list of the top verdicts and settlements in the state for the previous year. This year’s roundup ranked the top 35.
Widow settles insurance bad faith claim for $8 million (#1)
Our client, the widow of a Charleston business executive and philanthropist, brought 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. Yarborough Applegate attorneys David Yarborough and Reynolds Blankenship successfully settled the case just six months after filing the lawsuit.
Motorcyclist settles crash claim for $2.75 million (#14)
Douglas Jennings and Liam Duffy secured this settlement for our client, a motorcyclist who was injured after a driver struck him while making a turn across oncoming traffic on Kings Highway in Myrtle Beach. The 35-year-old suffered serious injuries as a result of the crash—injuries that ultimately forced him to give up his job as a furniture mover. His inability to return to the workforce doing manual labor became a focal point of the litigation.
Read more about the case and how we proved the significance of our client’s damages here.
Woman who broke ankle in crash settles suit for $1.75 million (#25)
On the eve of a trial, Douglas Jennings and Liam Duffy settled a lawsuit on behalf of a client who broke her ankle after her car slammed into an improperly parked logging truck.
The driver of the tractor-trailer was parked along the shoulder of a rural, two-lane highway, with the trailer sticking out about six feet into the road. The truck had been parked on the shoulder for approximately ten minutes and had not placed reflective triangles or flares around the truck, as the law requires. Our knowledge of the trucking industry and the specific regulations that govern parked commercial vehicles proved invaluable in establishing liability and overcoming the insurance company’s argument that the wreck was our client’s fault.
Read more about the case here.
Widow of driver killed in crash settles case for $1.6 million (#26)
Our attorneys David Yarborough and David Lail reached this settlement for the widow of a Moncks Corner man who was killed when another driver hit him head-on while illegally passing another vehicle.
Initially, the victim’s wife attempted to settle claims with the other driver’s insurer for the full value of his insurance policy limits of $50,000. However, when the insurer failed to accept the offer in a timely manner, we withdrew that request and filed an offer of judgment for $1.5 million. Under South Carolina’s Tyger River doctrine, failure to settle the case during the time allotted and for an amount within the other driver’s policy limits could have exposed the insurer to a bad faith claim, if the other driver wound up responsible for an excess verdict.
Read more about the case on our blog.
Family of man shot and killed in yard settles suit for $1 million (tied for #35)
Yarborough Applegate attorneys David Yarborough and Reynolds Blankenship successfully reached this settlement for the family of a man who was killed attempting to stop car thieves from stealing his vehicle from his driveway based on a claim of negligent security.
The victim lived in a North Charleston gated community that, at the time of the incident, had an inoperable security gate. Security guards controlled the gate during the day, but the HOA had made no effort to implement any stopgap measures for overnight security when their shift ended. As a result, the car thieves were able to enter the community unencumbered.
If you or a loved one is 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.
Each spring, South Carolina Lawyers Weekly publishes a list of the top verdicts and settlements in the previous year. For the second year in a row, one of our cases claimed the top spot on the list.
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.
The suit was brought on by our plaintiff, a Claflin University student and the lone survivor of the wreck. The hard-earned verdict was the culmination of years of work and followed a nearly two-week trial.
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 […]
We’re thrilled to share the news of a jury verdict reached last week on behalf of a Summerville veterinarian. Congratulations to another job well done by our attorneys Douglas Jennings and David Lail. Read on for full details. Nearly three years ago, a visibly dead pine tree fell from the lawn of a tenant-occupied property […]
David Lail of Yarborough Applegate settled a dram shop lawsuit for the family of a 24-year-old man killed by a drunk driver while riding his moped in August, 2017. The dram shop lawsuit brought by Lail against the drunk driver and the bar that served him resulted in a $1.85 million settlement for the victim’s […]