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; medical, dental and hospital malpractice; trucking and auto accidents; nursing home and daycare negligence; airborne bacteria exposure causing Legionnaires Disease; 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. David and the firm achieved one of the top 100 jury verdicts in the United States stemming from their $35.9 million verdict against PEPCO in Montgomery County, Maryland. Today, his practice focuses on representing people who have suffered catastrophic injuries or death.
David has been selected by his peers as one of the Top 10 Super Lawyers in South Carolina. He is frequently invited to speak on topics ranging from proving traumatic brain injuries to dram shop law and alcohol liability to trial techniques. He is a principal author of books “South Carolina Dram Shop Litigation: A Practice Guide,” “Insurance Bad Faith: A Primer on South Carolina Law” and a contributing co-author of “South Carolina Damages, Second Edition,” all published by the South Carolina Bar.
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

