RALEIGH, N.C. (WRAL) – A massive $40 million verdict in a drunk driving case — likely the biggest such verdict ever handed down in state history — wasn’t improperly decided and can stand, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

The case is over a Franklin County wreck in September, 2020, that claimed the life of Susan Renee Chappell.

Notably, the jury ordered most of the verdict to be paid not by the driver who killed Chappell, Shemaro Deann Webb — but by her friend and passenger, LaDorothy Breanna Foreman. Foreman owned the car and let Webb drive it, despite knowing Webb was heavily intoxicated, the jury found.

You can read the rest of this story here.

©2024 Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc.