McGowan, Hood, Felder & Phillips, LLC Helps Reach Landmark Settlement for Victims of Mother Emanuel Church Shooting

The massacre of nine innocent people in the Mother Emanuel AMZ Zion Church in Charleston, SC was one of the most tragic mass shootings in recent history. McGowan, Hood, Felder & Phillips, LLC partner Randy Hood and attorney Donovan Malloy were part of a group of attorneys who advocated on behalf of the families of the Charleston Nine. We are very proud to announce that Mr. Hood, Mr. Malloy and attorneys from other law firms have resolved all cases brought the by the families for $88 million pending judicial approval. This is believed to be the largest civil rights settlement for individuals claims in United States history.

All told, there were nine (9) wrongful death cases and five (5) survivor actions filed on behalf of the families.

About this historic case and landmark settlement

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 Charleston Nine families alleged that that Roof should have been prevented from obtaining a gun, had employees of the United States of America 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; this was filed by the United States of America and granted by the United States District Court for South Carolina. 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.

The families and their counsel continued to litigate the case after it was transferred back to South Carolina. Earlier this month, all parties to this action agreed on a collective settlement of all filed suits pending judicial approval in the amount of $63 million for the nine wrongful death claims, and $25 million for five survivor actions.

McGowan, Hood, Felder & Phillips, LLC is proud to have fought alongside our colleagues to obtain justice for the Charleston Nine. Some of the attorneys involved in this settlement for the claimants include partner Randy Hood and attorney Donovan Malloy; Senator Gerald Malloy of Malloy Law Offices, LLC; Bakari Sellers of Strom Law Firm, LLC; Mullins McLeod of McLeod Law Group, LLC; Gedney Howe and Alvin J. Hammer of the Law Offices of Gedney M. Howe, III, P.A.; Andy Savage of Savage Law Firm; Carl Pearce of Pierce, Sloan, Kennedy & Early LLC; Ronnie Sabb of Sabb Law Group, LLC; Steve Schmutz of Schmutz & Schmutz; David Wilkins; and Dick Harpootlian of Richard A. Harpootlian, P.A.

For media inquiries, please contact Attorney Randy Hood at 803-327-7828.

To schedule a consultation with McGowan, Hood, Felder & Phillips, LLC, please call 803.327.7800, or fill out our contact form.