A South Carolina roadway bustled with traffic on a clear, sunny day. Part of a 30-year development project, the thoroughfare featured center dividers curving between the roadways. However, in places, the medians were shrouded with trees and vegetation. At one intersection, the trees and vegetation in the median interfered with drivers’ ability to see oncoming traffic. As a small family eased forward to attempt a left turn, an oncoming truck came speeding toward them — far above the posted limit. With no clear line of sight, they never had a chance to react. The truck slammed into the right side of the vehicle.
The family in the sedan was celebrating an important day together and were out for a joyride. The three passengers — a mother, a father, and a grandparent — lost their lives on impact. They left behind three girls, one still a minor at the time — three heads of household lost in one moment.
The family’s lawyer filed a claim against the at-fault driver. However, what initially appeared to be a tragic but straightforward car accident soon revealed a far more complex and troubling reality.
Chris Romeo of Romeo Deters and Michael A. Timbes of Thurmond, Kirschner & Timbes were brought on to fully investigate the contributing factors that led to the accident. Chris and Michael were no strangers to presenting complex investigation factors in a digestible way. Their first task was to discover precisely how this accident happened. What they found was something much more multifaceted than a speeding driver.
Chris and Michael realized that the intersection itself created a dangerous condition. The overgrown and improperly placed landscaping prevented drivers from seeing oncoming traffic in time to make safe decisions. However, the obstructions didn’t have a single cause. They resulted from years of decisions made by various parties involved in the design, construction, and maintenance of the roadways. The case quickly expanded beyond the drivers involved in the crash, with Chris and Michael identifying numerous entities connected to the intersection over a span of nearly two decades.
From the outset, the defense focused heavily on the speeding driver, emphasizing the excessive speed as the primary cause of the collision. While Chris and Michael acknowledged this factor, they wanted to shift the focus to the broader issue: the intersection’s design and the vegetation that rendered it unsafe. One of the biggest challenges was navigating multiple defendants, each attempting to shift responsibility elsewhere. Some pointed to other contractors, while others attempted to place blame on a governmental entity responsible for roadway oversight. Chris and Michael had to carefully structure their case to ensure accountability remained with the appropriate parties, while confronting statutory caps available to public entities.
Extensive discovery played a critical role. Chris and Michael sifted through hundreds of thousands of documents, uncovering key communications revealing what knowledge various parties had about the visibility concerns. Through calculated depositions, they identified several details supporting their theory that the intersection posed a known risk and was never adequately addressed. The team worked closely with experts, including an accident reconstructionist, engineers, and human factors specialists. These experts helped explain how visibility impacted driver perception and reaction time.
As mediation approached, Chris and Michael focused on simplifying the case into a clear and compelling message: if the obstructive landscaping had not been present, the drivers would have seen each other, and the collision could have been avoided. In order to show what could have been, they needed a visual presentation that illustrated the difference between the obstructed view and what the drivers would have been able to see if the intersection had been properly maintained.
Chris and Michael not only wanted to show how the decedents could have avoided the crash, but also the truck driver as well. The demonstrative used the truck driver’s dash cam to move from live view to an animated view of the driver’s perspective as he approached the intersection. The animation highlighted the biggest point of obstruction in the center median, then removed those trees and bushes to reveal a direct line of sight to the sedan. It then switched to an animated view of the decedents’ vehicle, once again showing the line of sight had the trees and bushes been removed.
Chris and Michael presented the video and mounting evidence to the defendants at mediation. Between the settlements reached at mediation and those that were secured in the weeks that followed, Chris and Michael secured a combined settlement for their clients of $40,400,000. For the family, the resolution marked the end of a long and difficult journey. While no outcome could undo the loss they experienced, it provided a measure of accountability and closure after years of litigation.
Christopher C. Romeo is a trial attorney known for representing clients in complex personal injury, wrongful death, and civil litigation matters. Co-founder of Romeo Deters, he has achieved significant verdicts and settlements in high-stakes cases. He has been selected to Super Lawyers “Rising Stars” and Top 40 Under 40 by the National Trial Lawyers Association. In addition to his practice, Chris has contributed to professional organizations and ongoing legal education efforts.
Michael A. Timbes is a trial attorney and co-founder of Thurmond Kirchner & Timbes, P.A., where he focuses on complex personal injury and wrongful death litigation, business disputes, and appeals. He has secured numerous high-value verdicts and settlements, including cases ranked among South Carolina’s top jury verdicts. He has also successfully handled numerous appeals. Michael has been repeatedly recognized as a Super Lawyer and serves as Chairman of the South Carolina Board of Law Examiners.
