Charleston lawyer hit with $1M in punitive damages

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A federal jury has awarded a Florida man $1 million in punitive damages against his former Charleston lawyer.

The Post and Courier reports (http://bit.ly/nPy0hD ) that a jury in Columbia ruled against attorney Robert Lowe Jr. in the legal malpractice case. The jury also awarded actual damages of $782,714 to Jack Tuttle of Tuttle Dozer Works.

The dispute dates to 2006, when Tuttle bought forest-clearing equipment from Gyro-Trac he says didn’t work. He wanted his money back and hired Lowe. But he says he got less than $200,000 of a $700,000 settlement with the company, and ended up paying $665,000 in litigation costs.

Lowe says he plans to appeal. He says Tuttle failed to follow his advice when he chose to settle, rather than take that case to trial.

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Information from: The Post and Courier, http://www.postandcourier.com