Riley, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Benjamin Riley v. Ford Motor Co.

Summary

The South Carolina Supreme Court reviewed a products-liability and wrongful-death action arising from the death of Benjamin Riley after a Ford F-150 door opened during a collision. The court held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by granting a new trial nisi additur and that the settlement allocation between survival and wrongful-death claims should not have been reapportioned. The court reversed the court of appeals and remanded for further proceedings, holding Ford was entitled to offset only the $5,000 allocated to the wrongful-death claim.

Holdings

1. The circuit court did not abuse its discretion in granting a $600,000 new trial nisi additur. A nisi additur is permissible when the verdict is inadequate but not so grossly disproportionate as to require a new trial absolute, and the presence of some noneconomic damages does not categorically bar additur.
2. A court may not reapportion an agreed and court-approved settlement between survival and wrongful-death claims solely because the allocation appears proportionately unreasonable or advantageous to the settling plaintiff.
3. Ford was entitled to set off only the $5,000 allocated to the wrongful-death claim because a setoff must derive from a settlement for the same cause of action.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the circuit court abused its discretion by granting a new trial nisi additur after the jury awarded $300,000 in wrongful-death damages.
2. Whether South Carolina law permits a court to reapportion an agreed and court-approved settlement allocation between survival and wrongful-death claims merely because the allocation appears proportionately unreasonable to a nonsettling defendant.
3. Whether Ford was entitled to set off the full $25,000 settlement, or only the $5,000 allocated to the same wrongful-death cause of action.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded