Johnston County Jury Awards $3.41 Million to Family of 23-Year-Old Killed by Sucker Punch at Selma Bar

On the night of September 18, 2010, Clinton Massengill walked into Club Riptide in Selma, North Carolina. He never made it past the entrance. Brian Wayne Bailey of Middlesex hit him with an unexpected punch the moment he stepped inside. Massengill fell backward and struck his head on the concrete floor, suffering severe blunt-force trauma. He bled profusely and was transported for emergency treatment. Nine days later, he was dead. He was 23 years old.

Bailey faced criminal charges and was convicted of involuntary manslaughter on April 6, 2011. He was sentenced to a year and three months in prison and released on April 4, 2012. But the criminal process left Massengill's family with nothing. In 2013, the estate filed a civil wrongful death action in Johnston County Superior Court, case no. 13-CVS-923.

Tony Botros and Brent Adams of Brent Adams and Associates handled the civil case. At trial before Judge R. Frank Floyd, the firm secured a directed verdict on liability, establishing Bailey's responsibility as a matter of law before the damages phase began. That left the jury with one question: how much.

Jurors deliberated for roughly one hour. They awarded compensatory damages totaling $3.41 million, covering Massengill's medical bills, funeral expenses, pain and suffering, and the loss of companionship his family and next-of-kin suffered. The jury declined to add punitive damages, finding that Bailey's conduct, while fatal, did not meet the malice threshold required for punishment beyond compensation. The verdict was returned on May 29, 2015.

Bailey appealed. The North Carolina Court of Appeals docketed the case as No. COA16-1084 and, in a 2017 opinion, found no error, leaving the compensatory award intact.

Massengill's medical bills alone exceeded $72,000. He was from Four Oaks, a small Johnston County town roughly ten miles from where he died.