Liam Duffy

Liam Duffy

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Liam Duffy is a dynamic, high-motor trial lawyer with significant experience in complex, high-stakes injury and wrongful death cases. In the last several years alone, he has obtained over $110 million in jury verdicts and settlements on behalf of clients.

Liam’s practice focuses on representing people who have suffered catastrophic injuries—or families who have lost a loved one—because of negligent conduct. He has handled a variety of cases involving issues of workplace safety, products liability, tractor-trailer collisions, power line safety, dram shop liability, and more. And he has faced off in courtrooms against some of the world’s largest corporations including electrical utility companies, consumer and automotive product manufacturers, trucking companies, road construction contractors, and retail and hospitality enterprises.

Some of Liam’s recent results include:

  • $21 million verdict against Dominion Energy for the wrongful death of a landscaper who was electrocuted by an overhead powerline while trimming palm trees.
  • $16 million against Cadence Education, one of the nation’s largest daycare chains, for the wrongful death of an infant as a result of violations of safe sleep protocols.
  • $15.75 million against multiple defendants, including Sunbelt Rentals, for an injured worker in Louisiana who suffered a spinal cord injury as a result of a defective scaffold and unsafe worksite.
  • $9.75 million against a regional distributor for a global beer brand, its employee, and a dram shop defendant for injuries caused by the distributor’s employee while drunk driving.

Today’s world is technology-driven, and Liam’s practice is no different. He has a creative and forward-thinking approach to his cases and has spent hundreds of hours working to master and incorporate the latest, cutting-edge trial and case management technologies to better communicate with juries and advance his clients’ interests in the courtroom.

Because of his experience and commitment to his craft, Liam is regularly sought out as a speaker on litigation and trial strategy.  He has presented at numerous seminars hosted by organizations including the South Carolina Bar, the South Carolina Association for Justice, the Injured Workers Advocates, the Kentucky Justice Association, the Louisiana Association for Justice, and the Attorneys Information Exchange Group.  He has published numerous articles in AAJ’s Trial Magazine and SCAJ’s Justice Bulletin, and is the primary author of the leading treatise, Dealing with Objections to Written Discovery: The Modern Approach to Discovery Objections in SC State and Federal Courts. Year after year, Liam has been recognized by Super Lawyers as one of South Carolina’s “Rising Stars.”

Liam is also active in legal and community organizations. He is a member of the Attorneys Information Exchange Group (AIEG), the American Association for Justice (AAJ), and serves as the Legal Tech Chair and member of the Board of Governors for the South Carolina Association for Justice (SCAJ). Liam’s professional leadership and community involvement recently earned him recognition as the South Carolina Bar’s 2023 Young Lawyer of the Year.

About Liam
Education

Charleston School of Law, summa cum laude

College of Charleston

Memberships

South Carolina Bar

Attorneys Information Exchange Group

American Association for Justice

South Carolina Association for Justice

Recent Results
Verdict
$21 Million

Verdict in Wrongful Death of Landscaper

After a week-long trial, a jury awarded $21 million to the family of a 41-year-old landscaper who died after being shocked by a South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) power line while trimming a palm tree in Edisto Island, South Carolina.

Settlement
$16 Million

Settlement Following Infant Death at Daycare

On the eve of trial, we secured a $16 million settlement for the parents of a six-month-old infant who died after being improperly placed on his side for a nap at a South Carolina daycare.

Settlement
$15.75 Million

Settlement for Injured Louisiana Worker

Just days before a multi-week trial was set to begin in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, our team secured this settlement on behalf of a worker who was seriously injured on the job when she fell 20 feet from a scaffolding.

Settlement
$7.5 Million

Dram Shop Settlement

Wrongful death of a young woman killed by a drunk driver who was overserved alcohol by a national restaurant chain then purchased more alcohol at a convenience store.

Settlement
$6.5 Million

Commercial Motor Vehicle Collision

A rear-end collision with a commercial motor vehicle caused catastrophic injury to our client that prevented him from returning to the workforce.

Settlement
$5.5 Million

Dram Shop and Drunk Driver Settlement

Two people who were injured when their vehicle was hit head-on by a heavily intoxicated late-night driver who was going the wrong way on an interstate.

Practices
Recognition and Community Involvement
Yarborough Applegate Attorneys David Lail and Liam Duffy Participate in SCAJ Young Lawyers Seminar

The seminar was devoted to sharing and collaborating on strategies for discovery, depositions, and trial  and included a star-studded lineup of trial lawyers recruited by Duffy from across South Carolina and the country.

Liam Duffy Named to Charleston Business Magazine’s 2020 Best & Brightest 35 and Under

An annual tradition, the Best & Brightest 35 and Under Awards celebrates the women and men who are rising stars in our local business community.

Liam Duffy Selected to The National Trial Lawyers: Top 40 Under 40

This recognition comes on the heels of Liam’s central role in the firm’s record-setting, $21 million-dollar jury verdict last year in a powerline electrocution and wrongful death case.

Yarborough Applegate Attorney Liam Duffy
Liam Duffy Elected Chair of the SCAJ Young Lawyers Section

The organization’s motto, “Advocates for Fairness Under the Law,” illustrates the simple mission of trial lawyers serving those who they have sworn to protect.

Yarborough Applegate Attorneys Named to Super Lawyers

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.

Liam Duffy Presents at SC Bar Seminar on Secrets to a Successful Plaintiff’s Personal Injury Practice

His talk provided attendees with practical tips for spotting these kinds of cases, working them up aggressively to improve results, and ultimately trying them to a jury.

Yarborough Applegate attorney Liam Duffy sits in a chair, looking at the camera
Liam Duffy Speaks at Charleston School of Law

His talk focused on trial advocacy, motions practice and presenting persuasive arguments to a judge and jury.

Yarborough Applegate attorney Liam Duffy sits in a chair, looking at the camera
Attorney Liam Duffy’s Article Published in SCAJ Justice Bulletin Magazine

Yarborough Applegate attorney Liam Duffy continues his thought leadership amongst trial lawyers in his latest published article, “The Golden Rule in Opening Statement and Closing Argument: What It Is and What It Isn’t.”

Attorney Liam Duffy at desk
Attorney Liam Duffy Presents on Workplace Injury Cases at SC Bar CLE

Duffy revisited several third-party injury and death cases in which he and the Yarborough Applegate team have sought and obtained significant recovery outside of the workers compensation system.

William Applegate & Liam Duffy Featured on The Great Trials Podcast

Listen to how they obtained the largest jury verdict in Colleton County history for the wrongful death of 41-year-old landscaper Jose Larios.

Attorney Liam Duffy Presents at Kentucky Justice Association Seminar on Unique Premises Liability Cases

His talk, “Third-Party Premises Liability in Workplace Injuries & Deaths,” addressed handling premises and products liability in workplace injury settings.

Attorney Liam Duffy Presents on Catastrophic Workplace Injury Cases at IWA Annual Convention

Duffy’s presentation detailed the ways workers compensation attorneys can push to obtain full justice for their clients by identifying workplace injury cases that involve the negligence of a third-party. 

Headshot of Yarborough Applegate attorney Liam Duffy
Attorney Liam Duffy Presents on Workplace Injury Cases at Louisiana Association for Justice CLE

Duffy’s presentation covered our team’s strategic approaches that proved to be difference-makers in a recent workplace injury case.

liam duffy at his computer
Liam Duffy Presents at Kentucky Justice Association Seminar

Duffy drew on his professional experience as he detailed best practices on working with experts, including how to select the right experts and maximize their involvement, from early case investigation all the way through trial.

Attorney Liam Duffy at desk
Yarborough Applegate Attorney Liam Duffy Published in Justice Bulletin Magazine

Confidentiality in court proceedings can have harmful consequences. In some instances, it can be deadly. Yarborough Applegate attorney Liam Duffy tackles this topic in the latest SCAJ Justice Bulletin magazine.

Magazine open to a dram shop discovery article
Yarborough, Lail, and Duffy Published in National Article on Dram Shop Litigation

In the latest issue of Trial Magazine, Yarborough Applegate’s own David Yarborough, David Lail, and Liam Duffy detail ways our team has hit the ground running and mined for evidence while working up dram shop cases.

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