Landmark Settlement Reached for Victims of Mother Emanuel Church Shooting

Senator Gerald Malloy of the Malloy Law Firm, Randy Hood of McGowan, Hood & Felder Law Firm, Bakari Sellars, Donovan Malloy of McGowan, Hood & Felder, and others have reached a settlement with the United States of America pending judicial approval of the Charleston Nine massacre cases in the USDC for South Carolina – Charleston Division. There were nine (9) wrongful death cases and five (5) survivor actions which were resolved collectively, pending judicial approval, with the United States of America for Eighty-Eight (88) Million Dollars ($88,000,000.00). This Eighty-Eight Million Dollar ($88,000,000.00) settlement is believed to be the largest resolution of individual Civil Rights cases in United States history.
On June 17, 2015, Dylan Roof entered Mother Emanuel AME Zion Church in Charleston, SC and spent nearly an hour with members of the church in a bible study before firing 77 bullets into innocent people. The only reason ever given for his massacre of Senator Clementa Pinckney and others was the fact that they had a different skin color. His entire agenda was predicated on hatred of members of the African American Community.
The families of the nine (9) deceased victims and the five (5) survivors filed suit collectively against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The Charleston Nine families alleged that that Roof should have been prevented from obtaining a gun if employees of the United States of America had followed mandated policies and procedures.
After the families filed their summons and complaints against the United States of America, they were at first stymied by a Motion to Dismiss filed by the United States of America which was granted. The Charleston Nine families then appealed the dismissal of their case to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The fourth circuit reversed the USDC for South Carolina judge’s ruling and remanded the case back to South Carolina. Eventually, the case was assigned to Federal Court Judge Margaret Seymour.

Some of the attorneys involved in this settlement for the claimants include Senator Gerald Malloy of the Malloy Law Firm, Randy Hood of McGowan, Hood and Felder Law Firm, Bakari Sellars, Mullins McLeod, Gedney Howe, Alvin Hammer, Donovan Malloy of McGowan, Hood and Felder Law Firm, Andy Savage, Carl Pearce, Ronnie Sabb, Steve Schmutz, David Wilkins, and Dick Harpootlian.
About McGowan, Hood & Felder, LLC
McGowan, Hood & Felder, LLC was started by three trial attorneys in 2003. Since then, it has grown to more than 20 attorneys with multiple office locations throughout South Carolina. The firm has gained a reputation for its work in catastrophic personal injury, medical malpractice, trucking crashes, nursing home negligence, sexual assault, vehicle crashes, products liability, and civil rights litigation, and represents individuals, business, and classes of people in complex claims.