Henson Fuerst Wins Record $40 Million Drunk Driving Verdict, Affirmed as Largest in North Carolina History

On the evening of September 18, 2020, Shemaro Deann Webb was driving a Nissan Altima south on U.S. Highway 401 toward Raleigh. She had been drinking. In a no-passing zone, she pulled out to pass another car, crossed the center line, and struck Susan Renee Chappell head-on as Chappell drove north. Chappell died of her injuries that night.

The Altima did not belong to Webb. It belonged to LaDorothy Breanna Foreman, who was riding in the car while Webb drove. A state trooper who worked the scene later testified that she saw open beer cans inside and outside the vehicle and smelled a strong odor of alcohol before she even leaned in. Sandra Chappell, administrator of the estate, brought a wrongful death case.

Thomas Henson Jr. of Henson Fuerst tried the case with co-counsel from White & Stradley. The claim against Webb was straightforward negligence. The harder claim was against Foreman, for negligent entrustment: letting a person she knew was drunk drive her car. The defense argued there was no proof Foreman ever handed Webb the keys. The trial team showed the jury that Foreman had at least impliedly consented to Webb driving, and that she knew how much Webb had been drinking.

The Franklin County jury found both defendants jointly and severally liable for $15 million in compensatory damages. It then added punitive damages: $5 million against Webb, and $20 million against Foreman, the owner who let her drive. The total reached $40 million.

The defendants appealed, arguing that Foreman should not have been held liable for negligent entrustment and that the award was excessive. On August 6, 2024, the North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed the verdict in full. The panel held that implied consent was enough to support an entrustment claim, and that the jury was entitled to "speak loud" with its punitive award. Nothing was reduced or remitted.

News coverage and the appellate judges described the result as the largest drunk driving verdict in North Carolina history. Webb is serving a 13 to 16 year prison sentence for the crash.