Pretrial prisoners entitled to pre-lockup hearing
A North Carolina jail violated an inmate’s due process rights when it denied him a hearing prior to sentencing him to two stints in disciplinary segregation, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held...
View ArticleCharlotte Law placed on probation
The American Bar Association placed the Charlotte School of Law on probation on Nov. 14, making it the only one of 205 ABA-accredited institutions currently under such scrutiny. According to the ABA,...
View ArticleHigh court hopeful mum about party-crashing allegation
South Carolina Supreme Court justice candidate Ralph “Tripp” Anderson, chief of the state’s Administrative Law Court, is staying tight-lipped amid reports that he committed a political faux pas by...
View ArticleNo bar to discipline
The South Carolina Court of Appeals has rejected a social worker’s claim that the quasi-judicial immunity provided to Guardians ad Litem should have precluded a disciplinary action against her. The...
View ArticleClient out as firm fumbled feds’ letter to ex-partner
It’s usually rude to read other people’s mail, but for law firms, if the mail in question is addressed to one of your former attorneys and comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,...
View ArticleJury charge in sexual assault cases no longer allowed
The South Carolina Supreme Court wants trial courts to take note: They are no longer allowed to instruct juries in criminal sexual assault cases that the testimony of the victim doesn’t need to be...
View ArticleCompeting definitions of ‘intellectual disability’ clarified
A circuit court erred when, after finding a defendant incompetent to stand trial, it ordered the man involuntarily committed to the state Department of Disabilities and Special Needs for an...
View ArticleBreaking a taboo: Rules ban sex with clients, but rules sometimes ignored
Word that the California State Bar was mulling a blanket ban on lawyers having sex with clients has ignited fiery opposition from attorneys who say the bar needs to stay out of their bedrooms,...
View ArticleDeath penalty case hinges on jury questions
Attorneys for a man convicted of murdering his estranged wife say they plan to ask the state Supreme Court to reconsider a recent decision that reinstated the death sentence against their client. The...
View ArticleJurisdictional fail: Company didn’t prove citizenship
A Florida-based company’s general assertions that none of its members were citizens of South Carolina failed to convince a federal judge that subject matter jurisdiction existed in a case that...
View ArticleMost Important Opinions of 2016
Administrative ALJ Must Reconcile ‘Apparent’ Conflict with VE Pearson v. Colvin, Acting Comm’r of SSA (Lawyers Weekly No. 001-001-16, 19 pp.) (Motz, J.) No. 14-2255, Dec. 17, 2015; USDC at Norfolk, Va....
View ArticleThanks to blockchain, contracts of future may be written in code
Bitcoin, introduced in 2008 as the world’s first decentralized digital currency, was envisioned as a direct assault on government-issued fiat currencies. So far, it has spent its still-young life as...
View ArticleTeacher has no free speech rights in students’ grades, judge rules
A Spartanburg County school district did not violate a teacher’s First Amendment rights by allegedly changing the failing grades the teacher had assigned to two students accused of cheating, a federal...
View ArticleClient’s desire for appeal trumps ‘lack of merit’
The South Carolina Supreme Court recently issued a reminder to lawyers in the state. If a client asks them to file a notice of appeal, they are required to do so—regardless of whether the appeal has...
View ArticleWillful infringement finding worth its weight in ceramics
After a jury found Nov. 23 that the defendant ceramics manufacturer willfully injured the plaintiff by infringing on its trademarked phrase, it made its damages award — $1. According to the judgment,...
View ArticleShhh… The seller might be listening
Patrick Hubbard, a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law who is working on a project titled “Privacy in an Era of Ubiquitous Disclosure and Surveillance,” has been searching for a...
View ArticleWhen it rains…Following ABA probation, DOE pulls federal funds from Charlotte...
A little more than a month after being placed on academic probation by the American Bar Association, the Charlotte School of Law has been dealt another blow. The school was informed Dec. 19 that its...
View ArticleCharleston lawyer charged with DUI, cocaine possession
The new year’s off to a rough start for Charleston attorney Mark Peper, who was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence with an open container while possessing cocaine in the wee hours of...
View ArticleHomeowners could benefit from decision on homestead
Thousands of elderly homeowners in South Carolina might be entitled to receive property tax refunds under a new state Court of Appeals decision. In a Dec. 21 decision in Mead v. Beaufort County...
View ArticleNo contract…no breach
Until recently, it was an unsettled issue in South Carolina whether language used in a job description created an employment contract. Thanks to a Dec. 15 ruling by the U.S. District Court for the...
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