David has history of achieving record-breaking jury verdicts and settlements for his clients. In December 2023, David and partners obtained a $44.6 million jury verdict against Amazon.com, Inc in the first case ever to hold Amazon vicariously liable under an agency theory for the vicarious and negligent acts of its delivery drivers, who Amazon claims are independent contractors. This was the largest personal injury verdict ever awarded in conservative Dorchester County, and is believed to be one of the largest jury verdicts in South Carolina history in an injury case not involving death. Read more about this case here.
In October 2021, David achieved the largest dram shop verdict ever in Charleston County, South Carolina, for the sale of alcohol to minors by a Sunoco gas station. David and the firm also achieved one of the top 100 jury verdicts in the United States stemming from their $35.9 million verdict against PEPCO in conservative Montgomery County, Maryland.
David has collected jury verdicts and settlements totaling hundreds of millions of dollars for his catastrophically injured clients in cases involving bad faith against insurance companies; industrial plant injuries resulting in worker deaths; product liability from automobile rollovers and industrial machine injuries; toxic chemical spills by railroad companies; pool drownings; trucking and auto accidents; nursing home and daycare negligence; dram shop and alcohol liability negligence by bars and restaurants; and negligence by retail stores, energy companies, apartment complexes, hotels, and construction contractors for job-site, balcony collapse and premises injuries.
He is a member of the Charleston Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), the South Carolina Association of Justice, the American Association for Justice, the Charleston County Bar’s Mental Wellness Committee, Lawyers Helping Lawyers, and the Board of Regents of TriCounty Family Ministries. For the past twenty-five years David has been heavily involved in mentoring and counseling of people suffering from alcoholism and addiction who are seeking recovery. He places a large emphasis on giving back to the local community both by doing free legal work and through generous financial and service contributions to local charities each year. He and his wife, Jessica, are both Charleston natives and have four children.
Prior to founding Yarborough Applegate, David was a partner at another Charleston-based law firm where he was part of a national trial team defending products liability cases in trials across the United States. His experience handling national litigation and having represented both plaintiffs and defendants in state and federal courts around the country provides him a varied perspective in discovery strategy, negotiations, and trial.
University of South Carolina School of Law
American Board of Trial Advocates (Charleston chapter)
South Carolina Association of Justice
American Association for Justice
Charleston County Bar’s Mental Wellness Committee
Lawyers Helping Lawyers
Board of Regents of TriCounty Family Ministries
This case marks the first time Amazon has tested with a jury the issue of whether it will be held responsible for injuries caused by one of 285,000 drivers it calls independent contractors.
The list, compiled each year by Super Lawyers magazine, honors attorneys via a patented multiphase selection process. It recognizes a mere 5 percent of attorneys in each state.
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.
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.
David Yarborough was voted into the Charleston chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) on Saturday, June 20, 2020 by the ABOTA National Board, making him one of a select group of members in the state of South Carolina.
Our co-founding partner, David Yarborough, was interviewed by Mark Bringardner of Joye Law Firm on his podcast, The Sidebar, this month, where he shared his experience on dram shop litigation and trial strategy, as well as offered invaluable advice on how to develop skills as a trial lawyer.
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 […]
Five of our seven attorneys have been named as 2020 Super Lawyers Honorees or Rising Star Honorees, and our founding partner, David Yarborough, has been selected to the Top 10 in Charleston and Top 25 in South Carolina.
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 […]
