Richard Daniel Addison, General Attorney in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

Dan Addison is a partner in Hall Booth Smith’s Charleston office with three decades of experience in medical malpractice, dental, and workers’ compensation. Before joining Hall Booth Smith, Dan was Managing Partner of his own firm, the Addison Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina, which specialized in workers’ compensation litigation, subrogation, insurance coverage, and mediation. He also spent more than a decade at a large firm in Columbia that specialized in conflict prevention, conflict management, and conflict resolution.

Dan also represented doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals in medical malpractice cases. Dan’s passion for the intersection of law and medicine stems from his childhood in a medical household, where he was raised by a father who was a doctor and a mother who was a nurse. His knowledge of the complexities and pressures faced by medical professionals, insurers, and patients alike gives him a deep understanding of the complicated medical issues underlying most matters and helps inform his approach to finding favorable resolutions that meet each client’s unique needs.

Dan earned a Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law and clerked for Thomas W. Cooper Jr. of the South Carolina Third Circuit Court. He also completed a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with a minor in Political Science from Clemson University.

Experience

Dental

Having grown up in a dentist’s household, Dan learned early about the challenges facing those in the field. His father was a dentist for four decades in Columbia, South Carolina, and was an officer of the South Carolina Dental Association. Dan worked for his father’s office throughout high school and college and absorbed a great deal of knowledge about patient care from his father during those years. Based on his three decades of courtroom experience and a lifetime of being surrounded by dentistry, Dan can provide a knowledge-based defense of dental practitioners in cases brought against them.

LeJeune Claims

Dan is no stranger to the life of a services member. Having grown up with a father that served in the Army Medical Corps and a brother who served for 30 years in the Air Force, service is part of his family fabric. Dan himself signed a contract to be a Naval Aviator, and he understands the sacrifices made by our service members.

Dan’s brother contracted a very rare form of cancer which was traced to exposures to Volatile Organic Compounds during service in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm. Dan was successful in helping his brother and his brother’s dependents pursue a VA disability claim for his cancer. The involvement in this very personal case lead Dan to help other Veteran’s with similar claims, including other members of his brother’s unit in Desert Storm.

When the Camp LeJeune Justice Act was under consideration, one of Dan’s lifelong friend’s led the Governmental Affairs team that pushed the bill through congress. That friend often “ran the traps” with Dan on the matters with bill before congress. With this experience, and per the involvement with his brother’s case, along with his 30 years of handling toxic exposure cases, Dan determined to help veterans and their dependents in claims against the Camp LeJeune Justice Act.

Medical Malpractice

Dan has been litigating in the health care field for 30 years. He has represented a variety of health care entities, including hospitals, physician practice groups, physicians, physician assistants, nurses, and other licensed personnel in medical malpractice litigation. His experience also includes defending clients in claims of alleged negligent care and treatment, negligent misdiagnosis, and lack of consent from the pre-suit stage through resolution.

Workers' Compensation

Dan has three decades of experience litigating complex workers’ compensation cases. He defends corporations and other employers in claims involving alleged exposure to hazardous substances unique to the claimant’s workplace and represents clients in other high-risk occupational exposure claims.

Dan is widely recognized and respected for his authoritative knowledge of occupational disease and related matters, and he is often invited to speak on panels and address professional gatherings about emerging issues and other matters of importance around workers’ compensation law. He also counsels clients on health care workers’ compensation disputes and trucking workers’ compensation cases and handles subrogation cases to help strategically manage risk, including claims involving workers’ compensation issues.

One of Dan’s most notable successes was the precedent-setting Skinner v. Westinghouse Electric Corporation lawsuit, 394 S.C. 428, 716 S.E. 2d 443 (2011), in which the claimant sought compensation for asbestosis allegedly caused by exposure to asbestos and other chemicals when he was employed at a Westinghouse manufacturing plant. Skinner later left that job to take a higher paying position with the National Guard. The South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission awarded Skinner a lump sum of $119,000, and upon appeal, the South Carolina Supreme Court held that asbestosis and other pulmonary disease cases were not compensable under the scheduled loss provisions and were only compensable if the claimant’s wage loss was proven.

Recognition

•The Best Lawyers in America , Workers’ Compensation Law - Employers, Best Lawyers, 2014-2026
•Legal Elite, Charleston Business Magazine, 2021-2023
•AV Preeminent Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell

Presentations

Dan often speaks at conferences, educational seminars, and other professional gatherings about evolving issues pertaining to workers’ compensation law.

Publications

•Sea Change Court Ruling on Settlements of Workers’ Compensation Cases in South Carolina
HBS Workers’ Compensation Blog; April 28, 2023

In the Press

58 HBS Attorneys Recognized as The Best Lawyers in America Award Recipients

August 16, 2024

Hall Booth Smith, P.C. is pleased to announce that 58 lawyers have been included in the 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America

Certification

•South Carolina Supreme Court Certified Mediator