$800K+ awarded to estate of Folly Beach bride killed on wedding night (2024)

More than a year after Aric Hutchinson's bride was killed by an accused drunken driver on their wedding night, he will directly receive more than $863,300 in compensation for her death.

Judge Roger Young approved settlements from Folly Beach barsThe Drop-In, the Crab Shack and Snapper Jacks, in addition to Progressive auto insurance and Enterprise Rent-A-Car during a June 18 motion hearing in Charleston County Circuit Court.

Hutchinson sued the businesses and other defendants in the weeks after a driver slammed a rented black Toyota Camry into a golf cart carrying the newlywed couple away from their wedding reception on April 28, 2023.

The driver, Jamie Komoroski, briefly tapped her brakes before rear-ending the smaller vehicle carrying the bride, groom and two family members at 65 mph on a 25-mph road.

The cart was thrown 100 yards. The bride, Samantha Miller, died at the scene. She was still wearing her white wedding dress.

Her new husband —Hutchinson, alleged several bars negligently served copious amounts of alcohol to Komoroski before she began driving away in a drunken haze.

The Crab Shack, the Drop-In Bar & Deli and Progressive auto insurance agreed to a settlement in September, but the settlement agreements hadn't yet appeared before a judge to approve it.

Judge Young approved settlements of $640,000 from the Crab Shack, $320,000 from the Drop-In and $75,000 from Progressive.

Snapper Jacks agreed to settle its claims in February. An attorney previously told The Post and Courier it would pay $1 million, the maximum the restaurant's insurer covered it for and the minimum liquor liability coverage allowed under state law.

Hutchinson's attorney, Danny Dalton, told the court June 18 the seafood restaurant landed on a $320,000 settlement. Enterprise agreed to a $24,000 settlement.

After attorney fees and other expenses are subtracted from these totals, Hutchinson will directly receive $863,331.50 on behalf of Miller's estate.

The bride's mother, Lisa Miller, previouslyquestioned Hutchinson's abilityto oversee her daughter's estate.

She filed a motion to intervene in the case in July, asking for a court-appointed special administrator to replace Hutchinson as the personal representative of Miller's estate.

She temporarily dropped the motion to intervene in September, refiled it again in late October, and dropped it again days ago, on June 3, 2024.

Hutchinson’s lawyers in December called her attempts to intervene "morally questionable" and said they were intended only to scuttle a financial settlement with several bars to obtain money she has no legal right to.

Along with the businesses whose settlement amounts were approved on June 18, Komoroski, her employer Taco Boy, and El Gallo Bar & Grill on Daniel Island were also named as defendants in the lawsuit.

El Gallo was dropped from the lawsuit after providing a receipt that showed Komoroski only ate lunch and purchased no alcohol.

Taco Boy, which had hired Komoroski before the collision but has argued in public documents that she neither entered the establishment nor was provided alcohol by its employees that day, has asked for the case against it to be dismissed.

The lawsuit is still pending against Taco Boy and Komoroski.

Wrongful death cases are not easy, and settlements can't bring back lost life, the judge told Hutchinson in court.

It seems like it's "not enough to put a dollar amount" on a life, Young said.

Komoroski is also facing criminal charges relating to the collision that took Miller's life. One count of reckless homicide and three counts of felony DUI are pending in court.

She wasreleased from jailon house arrest this spring after prosecutors failed to meet a court-imposed deadline to bring her to trial.