About James L. Ward, Jr.
A native of Saluda, South Carolina, Jay developed his interest in the law from hours spent observing court proceedings in the town's courthouse. Jay began his career with two corporate defense firms, Sinkler & Boyd in Columbia, South Carolina, and Smith, Helms, Mulliss & Moore in Charlotte, North Carolina. His passion for helping people who have been wronged brought him to the plaintiffs' practice. Experience on both sides of the courtroom gives Jay superior insight into how defendants approach cases and the strategies they employ.
In his more than 20-year career, Jay has played significant lead and liaison counsel roles in complex class action and multidistrict litigation involving pharmaceutical drugs, healthcare fraud, defective products, antitrust, and consumer protection. Jay has also focused a large portion of his practice on the representation of states and local governments as special counsel in complex litigation. In addition, Jay has extensive experience handling a variety of catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death cases. Jay is based in the firm's Charleston office.
Proven verdicts and settlements at McGowan, Hood, Felder & Phillips, LLC
These results are credited to McGowan, Hood, Felder & Phillips, LLC. A result appears under an attorney's own name only when a published source names them as counsel on the case.
A South Carolina family reached a confidential $40.35 million settlement, structured under a high-low agreement, after radiologists reading a newborn's early chest X-rays missed a ribcage deformity that turned out to be a sign of neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer that grew into the child's spinal canal and caused permanent paralysis before it was caught.
A Spartanburg County jury awarded Dara Robinson $16 million against Spartanburg & Pelham OBGYN and three of its physicians after they delayed a cesarean delivery for roughly 30 hours despite fetal monitoring showing signs of distress, and her son died shortly after birth.
Seletha Gartrell, 54, of Aiken, arrived at Aiken Regional Medical Centers on December 6, 2012 with severe sepsis and was not given the antibiotics her doctors ordered for roughly 14 hours; she went into septic shock, suffered a cardiac arrest, and lost both legs above the knee, her left arm below the elbow, and fingers on her right hand. In March 2017 an Aiken County jury found the hospital negligent and awarded her $13.75 million, made up of $10 million in economic damages and $3.75 million in non-economic damages. The hospital publicly disagreed with the verdict, and no appeal or later reduction appears in any public record we could find.
Vernon Sulton, paralyzed by gunshot wounds he suffered as a bystander to an armed robbery, was admitted to HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital in Columbia with a stage two pressure ulcer on his sacrum; in the 11 days he stayed there it deepened to stage four, requiring a colostomy and skin-graft surgery. A Richland County jury found the hospital and six of its nurses negligent, awarding $306,693.25 to his estate, $4 million to his wife for loss of consortium, and $8 million in punitive damages against HealthSouth. On November 21, 2012 the South Carolina Supreme Court reversed the entire verdict and ordered a new trial, holding that the trial judge had wrongly instructed the jury that the hospital owed a heightened duty of care. What happened after the remand is not in any public record we could find.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.
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