$1,375,000.00 Wrongful Death Settlement (partial)
Jan 15, 2015OUTCOME: Pending
Client was killed by vehicle.
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D. Nathan Hughey's Legal Cases (5)
Charleston, SC
Car accident Lawyer at Charleston, SC
Practice Areas: Car Accidents, Slip and Fall Accident ... +3 more
$2,000,000.00 South Carolina Truck Accident Settlement
Jul 01, 2014OUTCOME: Settled.
Client was riding motorcycle and was hit by dumptruck causing severe injuries.
1.65M pretrial settlement reached in Wadmalaw Island wreck by Attorney Nathan Hughey
Jan 01, 2011OUTCOME: $1.65 million
A Lowcountry man who suffered severe injuries to his left arm in a 2009 auto collision has settled for $1.65 million in mediation over alleged reckless driving – and he did it without ever filing a com ... plaint. In pre-litigation negotiations, lawyers for plaintiff James Fallon worked out the details of the settlement almost two years after Fallon was in a wreck on Wadmalaw Island in Charleston County. Not that it was easy. Fallon’s lawyer, [Charleston auto accident lawyer] Nathan Hughey, said it’s unusual to mediate a large settlement in an auto collision case. . . [his]client, who now has a spinal cord stimulator to alleviate pain, apparently made an impression on defense lawyers. Or at least his injuries did. “In this case, our guy had such bad injuries. They came and they evaluated him. They looked at him face to face and sized him up, and our guy presents well. And he was hurt,” Hughey said. That, along with Fallon’s life-care plan, economic-loss estimate, vocational evaluation and documentation of his accident costs, may have made the difference, [Charleston wreck lawyer Nathan Hughey said]. “They looked at all of the risk that they had in terms of going forward, and it was more so that they couldn’t possibly show that the accident was our guy’s fault,” Hughey [South Carolina auto accident lawyer] said. “Their guy did come into our guy’s lane, which made them liable, and so it was more of an issue of us saying here’s your opportunity to sit down and talk about resolving the case reasonably before we go after you on the threat of punitive damages,” [Charleston accident lawyer] Hughey added. Carl Edwards, a lawyer for the defendant, did not return a phone call seeking comment prior to deadline. Fallon suffered multiple fractures and nerve damage to his arm. After emergency surgery, he suffered chronic pain and was unable to return to work. In 2010, he received a permanent spinal implant to alleviate pain by stimulating the nerves in his arm. A doctor assigned an impairment rating of 100 percent to his arm. “I started out with a life-care plan and then, simultaneously, I had a vocational evaluation done. Once those came back, I sent them to an economist to come up with the loss. But before any of that started, I met with doctors and I worked up the medicals so that the experts would all have a clear picture of what was going on,” Charleston wreck lawyer Nathan Hughey said. Settlement Report Type of claim: Personal injury Principal injuries (in order of severity): Multiple fractures and nerve damage to left arm Special damages: $218,908 (medical bills) and $27, 917 (lost wages) Tried or settled: Settled pre-litigation Date concluded: Jan. 28, 2011 Amount: $1.65 million Expert witnesses, areas of expertise and hometown: Life-care planner Sarah Lustig, RN, LNC, CLCP (Mount Pleasant); economist Oliver Wood Jr., Ph.D (Columbia); and vocational and rehabilitation expert William W. Stewart, CRC, CVE, LPC (Columbia) Attorneys for plaintiff: D. Nathan Hughey of the Hughey Law Firm (Mount Pleasant)
$875,000.00 Assisted Living Neglect Case
Jan 01, 2010OUTCOME: $875,000.00 to client
Charleston Assisted Living Neglect Attorney Nathan Hughey recovered $875,000.00 for his client in a case involving injuries suffered during an outing on the facility's van. During a "mystery ride", Mr ... . Hughey's client was not properly strapped to the van, and her wheelchair tipped over, causing her to sustain a fracture to her neck, among other injuries. South Carolina assisted living abuse lawyer Nathan Hughey had a client who had been a life long supporter of the local community and volunteer in various organizations, and he attended her funeral. He was touched by the family members and prosecuted the case, resulting in a very sizable resolution for the family. In prosecuting the case, he was able to show that there had not been proper training with respect to the wheelchair, and that the staff members trying to strap the wheelchair to the van had no idea how to do so properly. Mr. Hughey obtained video from the family members showing how wonderful of a person the client was, and contrasted this with video shot in the hospital just before her death showing her pain and suffering.
$1,625,000.00 settlement Tucker v. Moore and Elliott Realty, Inc.
Jan 01, 2007OUTCOME: $1,625,000.00 settlemen
A woman whose leg was crushed when a dock collapsed at a Cherry Grove vacation home has settled her claims against the house's owner and a North Myrtle Beach rental agency for $1.625 million. In a set ... tlement reached Nov. 16, Elliott Realty agreed to pay the plaintiff $875,000. The homeowner paid an additional $750,000, according to the plaintiff's case report. Mt. Pleasant attorney D. Nathan Hughey, who represented the plaintiff, said he hopes the case serves as a wakeup call for owners of vacation homes and the real estate agencies that rent them. "I think it's a tacit acknowledgement that the people who rent those houses do have a reasonable expectation that they are going to be in a reasonably safe condition," Hughey told Lawyers Weekly. The plaintiff, who was visiting the Grand Strand area from Georgia, rented the house through Elliott Realty in the summer of 2002. The house was situated near a canal and had a dock. The dock was nearly a decade old at the time of the accident. The plaintiff walked onto the dock at low tide when a gangway collapsed and landed on top of her leg. She spent about 30 minutes in the canal before emergency workers freed her, according to the report. Hughey said her leg was essentially crushed by the falling gangway and the break exposed her bone to pluff mud in the canal. Her leg injury became infected and she underwent a dozen surgeries. Her condition left her wheelchair-bound and unable to work her former retail job, the report states. She sued the realty company and the homeowner in Horry County in 2005. The plaintiff's causes of action included negligence, violation of the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act and breach of contract. The case is Tucker v. Moore and Elliott Realty, Inc. Civil Action No. 05-CP-26-2715. Rusty Bolts Corroded bolts were to blame for the gangway's collapse, according to the case report. Elliott Realty stated in discovery that "the floating dock collapsed because the bolts holding the gangway to the seawall corroded over time because of the environment and then failed on the day in question," the report states. Photographs taken by Elliott realty showed the bolts and contained a caption stating "rusted [and] corroded bolts," according to the case report. Said Hughey, "We figured out that it would have taken something like $1.99 to buy the two bolts. What could have been prevented for $1.99 ended up ruining [my client's] life. That was powerful."