Yarborough Applegate Law Firm

05/26/2026

After a week-long trial in Chesterfield County, a jury returned a $30 million verdict for our client, who suffered catastrophic and life-altering injuries in a crash involving a tractor-trailer operated by one of America’s largest trucking companies.

The case arose from a March 2024 collision that left our client with severe physical injuries and a traumatic brain injury that permanently changed the course of his life.

We are proud to have stood beside our client and his family in seeking accountability and justice.

The verdict surpasses the prior largest known injury verdict in Chesterfield County history of $3 million.

In addition to Yarborough Applegate, Mr. Thomas was represented by our outstanding co-counsel, JR Joyner of Cheraw.

We are grateful for the jury’s sacrifice, service, and careful attention throughout the trial — and their willingness to deliver justice.

05/22/2026

05/22/2026

It’s not just what happened — but why it was allowed to happen.

A DOT worker killed on a South Carolina highway.

A service technician who didn’t come home from a routine job.

A tractor-trailer that should never have been on the road.

A lift without safety features that had been commercially available for years.

Different cases. Different defendants. The same investigative shift made the case turn for each one.

The case behind the case isn’t a theory. It’s a discipline.

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

🔗 Full series — link in bio.

05/20/2026

We are honored to be featured in the May issue of TRIAL Magazine for our work against a national gas station chain with a history of illegal alcohol sales to minors.

This record-setting $29,273,000 settlement underscores the danger of ignoring ID verification technology that would have prevented this tragedy.

According to Partner David Lail, “Technology exists to eliminate fake ID sales to minors, but the law doesn’t require it—yet. We proposed legislation to put an end to fake ID alcohol sales, but it never made it to the Governor’s desk. So, this story isn’t over. We will continue to fight for victims’ rights at the courthouse and the state house.”

If you support legislation that will stop fake ID alcohol sales and protect our community, we want to hear from you. Contact us today.

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Read the full case summary: https://www.yarboroughapplegate.com/blog/record-29-million-sc-dram-shop-settlement/

05/19/2026

When a workplace fatality or serious injury lands on your desk, workers’ compensation is usually the first question.

It shouldn’t be the last.

Five questions that determine whether you’re looking at a comp-only matter:

▪️ Was a piece of equipment involved?
▪️ Did it happen on property the employer didn’t own or control?
▪️ Was the equipment leased or rented rather than owned?
▪️ Were safer design alternatives available at the time?
▪️ Were there known hazards documented but unaddressed?

One yes could change the legal analysis and available options.

Workers’ comp may be the beginning of the recovery. Not the conclusion.

🔗 Full framework — first comment below.

05/15/2026

In equipment-related workplace fatalities, the investigation has to start early.

OSHA findings aren’t always admissible. They’re always useful.

In cases involving machinery or industrial equipment, those findings often contain the thread — a documented hazard, a prior inspection, a known condition that someone in a position of control chose not to address.

That thread is often where the case behind the case begins.

05/13/2026

Two questions worth running before a workplace injury gets filed as a workers’ compensation matter.

One: Who put the equipment into service — not just who made it?

The lessor’s duty analysis follows the product into commerce. If safer alternatives were commercially available and the leased equipment didn’t meet that standard — the exposure doesn’t stop at the manufacturer’s door.

Two: Does pursuing workers’ comp foreclose the third-party case?

No. The systems interact. When a third-party recovery is reached, the comp carrier gets reimbursed through subrogation. One doesn’t close the other.

Workers’ comp isn’t a reason to stop looking. In cases involving serious injury or death, it may be the most important reason to keep looking.

🔗 Full analysis — link in bio

05/12/2026

Most workplace fatality cases arrive with a clear default.

Workers’ compensation. No-fault system. Benefits paid. Case resolved.

That default serves a purpose. What it doesn’t do is account for the product that failed, the premises that created the hazard, or the lessor who kept putting dangerous equipment into service.

When a product is involved — or when the work happens on a premises someone else controls — the workers’ compensation claim may be the beginning of the analysis.

The question is whether anyone asks what comes next.

🔗 Full analysis — link in first comment below.

05/08/2026

Three installments. One question running through all of them.

Not what happened — but why it was allowed to happen.

The Case Behind the Case is a series on how catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases evolve when the investigation doesn’t stop at the obvious read.

Installment 1: Uncovering Additional Avenues of Recovery

Installment 2: Who Put This Truck On The Road?

Installment 3: Looking Beyond Workers’ Compensation

05/07/2026

In many catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases, criminal accountability simply doesn’t reach.

A trailer in disrepair. A death that was entirely preventable. And no criminal charge that meaningfully holds anyone responsible.

For the families in these cases — the civil justice system isn’t a secondary option.

It’s the only one.