Husband of bride killed in accident on wedding night receives $1.3 million in compensation

Now Miller’s husband of just hours of marriage, Aric Hutchinson, is set to receive more than $1.3 million in a settlement reached Wednesday in a wrongful death lawsuit filed weeks after the April 2023 wedding. Several businesses accused of serving the driver, including bars and a car rental company, agreed to pay tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle negligence claims, among others.

Driver Jamie Lee Komoroski and the companies “turned a fairytale love story into a fateful night filled with unspeakable tragedy,” the lawsuit says. Komoroski is not a party to the settlement.

A lawyer for Hutchinson did not respond to a request for comment Saturday. Lawyers for the companies involved in the settlement also did not respond to calls and emails.

Miller, 34, and Hutchinson had been a couple for about three years when they married in Folly Beach, SC, where they lived. Hutchinson’s mother, Annette Hutchinson, wrote on a fundraising page for Aric in May 2023 that Miller “immediately fit into our family” and “was everything to my son.”

About a week after the two met, Miller called Annette her “future mother-in-law,” she wrote in another post.

During the ceremony, Hutchinson and Miller exchanged vows they wrote themselves and placed rings on each other’s fingers. They then danced at their reception, fed each other pineapple cake and celebrated with their guests on the beach before departing.

Photos from the wedding showed Miller and Hutchinson holding hands and smiling, their faces “filled with all the hope and promise of a truly beautiful life together,” according to the lawsuit filed in Charleston County District Court.

As the couple left the hall through a row of sparklers, they paused for a kiss.

Miller was “happier than ever” that day, her mother Lisa Miller told the Washington Post last year.

“From then on, their own daughter was killed – there was a lot of screaming and crying,” she said. “It’s hard to understand.”

After saying goodbye, Samantha Miller and Hutchinson, along with his nephew and brother-in-law, got into a golf cart to drive to their rental property where they would spend the night. But about a block from the beach, a vehicle driven by Komoroski sped toward them and struck the back of the car, the lawsuit says.

Miller died at the scene. Hutchinson was seriously injured and the two others in the golf cart were also injured.

“What began as, and should have remained, the happiest day of Sam and Aric’s lives ended in a horrific and incredibly devastating, but entirely preventable, tragedy,” the lawsuit states.

Komoroski, who was 25 at the time, had spent the hours before the accident in several bars, where she was served “despite being clearly and visibly drunk,” according to the indictment. Her blood alcohol level at the end of the evening was more than three times the legal limit.

Komoroski is charged with involuntary manslaughter, driving while intoxicated causing death and driving while intoxicated causing serious bodily injury. She was released on bail in March, according to court records. When asked for comment on the charges on Saturday, her attorney would only say the case is pending.

The settlement provides for Hutchinson to receive payments from some of the companies he sued. About a third of the more than $1.3 million will cover legal fees.

Lisa Miller told The Post last year that in their grief, Samantha’s family members tried to remember the wedding itself, which Samantha had planned down to the last detail. She had hoped the day would be perfect, her mother said.

After the accident, Samantha’s older sister Mandi Jenkins said her family wanted to raise awareness of the tragedies that can result from drunk driving.

“Nobody should have to go through this,” she said. “And we’re going through it. That’s the reality; we can’t change it now. But maybe we can get someone else to think again.”

Brittany Shammas contributed to this report.