Yarborough Applegate Secures $6.25 Million Settlement for Family Injured by Drunk Driver in North Charleston

Yarborough Applegate recently secured a $6.25 million settlement for a family whose lives were upended after a head-on collision with a drunk driver in North Charleston, South Carolina. Attorneys John Dodds and David Yarborough worked alongside co-counsel Charles M. Condon, Jr. of Charlie Condon Law Firm, LLC on the case.

THE CRASH AND ITS AFTERMATH

On December 22, 2022 a mother and her son were traveling eastbound on Rivers Avenue in North Charleston around 10 p.m. when they were hit head-on at a high rate of speed by a drunk driver traveling westbound in the eastbound lane. After a lengthy extrication from the vehicle, both victims were transported from the scene with severe orthopedic injuries.

The mother sustained an odontoid fracture, a left shoulder fracture, multiple vertebral fractures, multiple rib fractures, and a right ankle fracture. She underwent multiple surgeries and incurred in excess of $435,000 in medical expenses. Her son sustained a left clavicle fracture, multiple rib fractures, multiple vertebral fractures, multiple pelvic fractures, and a fractured right femur. He incurred in excess of $310,000 in medical expenses. Three other individuals were also injured in the collision.

Following the collision, the son began to develop symptoms of a traumatic brain injury, including headaches, trouble concentrating, difficulty sleeping, dizzy spells, and blurred vision. He also began to experience significant personality changes, psychosis, mood swings, and irrational beliefs. After suffering with his physical and mental injuries for approximately 8 months, he died of an accidental drug overdose, which we alleged occurred as a direct result of the collision. He was survived by his 15-year-old daughter. 

Law enforcement who responded to the collision did not have anyone on staff certified in administering a breathalyzer test. The drunk driver sustained injuries in the collision, which prevented investigating officers from administering a field sobriety test. A toxicology test was ordered by physicians at the emergency room, but was later canceled without explanation. Thus, with no measured blood alcohol level in excess of the legal limit, the drunk driver was charged with—and ultimately pleaded no contest to—reckless driving. The lack of a measured blood alcohol level also prevented Plaintiffs’ consulting toxicologist from performing retrograde extrapolation calculations to estimate the drunk driver’s blood alcohol content throughout the night of the collision. 

AGGRESSIVELY PURSUING ANSWERS

We filed motions for pre-suit discovery in order to obtain subpoena power to conduct a dram shop investigation. After successful motions practice, we were able to obtain court orders for forensic downloads of the cell phones belonging to the drunk driver and the drunk driver’s passenger.

Cell phone records revealed geolocation data, photographs, and text messages evidencing that the drunk driver and his passenger had been “bar hopping” at numerous bars in the Park Circle area of North Charleston in the nine hours before the collision occurred. We thereafter served subpoenas on various bars, resulting in numerous drink receipts for both the drunk driver and his passenger. “Many attorneys still treat mobile data as being presumptively ‘off the table’ in discovery without thoroughly considering the role of such data in a specific case,” notes Dodds. “In the right case, promptly notifying parties about their obligations to preserve cell phone data and then aggressively pursuing the data can make all the difference, as it did here.” 

Through our investigation, we learned that the drunk driver and his passenger were purchasing drinks for each other throughout the night, and drink receipts obtained from the bars did not indicate which drinks were consumed by the drunk driver and which were consumed by his passenger. Throughout discovery and during his deposition, the drunk driver claimed that he “blacked out” due to a head injury sustained in the collision and, therefore, had no knowledge of where he was or what he consumed. For the information that he could remember, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent throughout his deposition. This resulted in several key facts that were unknown, which made proving this case difficult. 

The drunk driver’s passenger was deposed, and while she also blacked out due to the overconsumption of alcohol, she was able to provide testimony about what drinks she would have consumed and what drinks the drunk driver would have consumed based on her familiarity in drinking alcohol with the drunk driver. Other key depositions included the investigating officer who testified that he believed the drunk driver was materially and appreciably impaired by alcohol at the time of the collision, as well as a bar manager who was forced to kick out the drunk driver and his passenger from his bar because they were so intoxicated. After over a year of thoroughly litigating liability and damages, the parties reached a global settlement for the full policy limits of the coverage available to the drunk driver and three separate bars.

“The family suffered tremendously as a result of this collision,” says Condon. “While money can in no way make up for their losses, we are pleased with the result and happy that it provides some semblance of closure to the family.”

Settlement Breakdown:

• $4,680,000 from one bar (share of $6 million policy limits between Plaintiffs and three other claimants)
• $725,000 from one bar (share of $1 million policy limits between Plaintiffs and three other claimants)
• $725,000 from one bar (share of $1 million policy limits between Plaintiffs and three other claimants)
• $47,290.44 from drunk driver (share of $75,000 policy limits between Plaintiffs and three other claimants)
• $100,000.00 from UIM carrier

Disclaimer: Every case is unique, and prior results do not guarantee future outcomes.