Inmate who kidnapped defense lawyer escapes prison again
Columbia criminal defense lawyer Jack Swerling said he was “taking the necessary precautions” after learning that a former client who kidnapped and terrorized his family more than a decade ago had...
View ArticleSuit: Doctor’s flawed report of child abuse shattered family
X-rays revealing fractured bones in 5-week-old twins spurred a hospital pediatrician to report the babies’ parents to the South Carolina Department of Social Services and Richland County Sheriff’s...
View ArticleEscapee captured, attorney relieved
Columbia criminal defense lawyer Jack Swerling and his family spent nearly three days with 24-hour security as authorities searched for an escaped inmate who’d kidnapped the Swerlings years ago. Today,...
View ArticleJudicial sale is complete when bidder pays deposit
A homeowner arguing that he had an equitable right to redeem his property up until the bidder in a judicial sale received the deed was misguided, the South Carolina Court of Appeals held June 28. The...
View Article‘The Pence Policy’ : Male-female interaction rule may have pitfalls for...
When The Washington Post published a profile of Karen Pence, wife of Vice President Mike Pence, in March, there was a brief anecdote near the story’s end that sent the internet into overdrive — a...
View ArticleAmended pleadings case makes new law
In a novel ruling, a federal judge in Columbia has denied an Anderson-based biotechnology corporation’s motion to strike a competitor’s counterclaims that were filed in response to an amended complaint...
View ArticleSeaboard case reversed, sent back for trial
Negligence claims against the town of Seaboard, can move forward after a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel found several disputes of material fact regarding whether a police officer was justified...
View ArticleAn inadmissible opinion: Coroner’s testimony on cause of death improper
A Spartanburg County coroner offered improper opinion testimony when testified as a lay witness that a victim’s death was due to homicide, the South Carolina Court of Appeals has ruled. The court...
View Article‘Context matters’ in retaliation claim
A police officer’s retaliation claim against the Columbia Police Department will move forward because the law is unsettled regarding whether the officer’s lateral transfer amounts to an adverse...
View ArticleNeeded for set-off: Amount of plaintiffs’ mediated settlements must be divulged
A Mount Pleasant couple will have to divulge the terms of a mediated settlement it reached in a slip-and-fall case in order to determine whether other defendants in the case are entitled to a set-off,...
View ArticleBoth sides in same-sex domestic violence case ask reconsideration
Attorneys for both sides in a case challenging portions of South Carolina’s domestic violence laws are asking the state’s Supreme Court to reconsider its July 26 ruling, in which a splintered court...
View ArticleFor first time, appeals court vacates paternity
A Marine’s fling with a woman while he was stationed at Parris Island in Beaufort about 16 years ago unleashed a messy paternity case that has prompted the South Carolina Court of Appeals to do...
View ArticleDead men can tell tales: ‘Dying declaration’ at issue in criminal appeal
Case law as dusty as it is macabre and dating back beyond the gunslinging days of the Wild West came back to life in a recent South Carolina Court of Appeals decision. At issue: the last words of a...
View ArticleDamages allowed for ‘loss of market access’
The owners of a group of shoddily built condos on Daniel Island will be able to collect damages for losses they incurred by not being able to sell their properties before the real estate market...
View ArticleNo duty to investigate
A South Carolina federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit accusing the Santee Police Department of turning a blind eye to drunken driving incidents as part of a scheme to lower the town’s crime rate. The...
View ArticleFederal laws don’t apply to alleged firing over views
A white woman fired after making ill-received comments in her workplace regarding racial issues is not protected by federal law, a federal judge in South Carolina ruled July 26, but may proceed with...
View ArticleEx-county administrator’s retirement benefits diverted
The South Carolina Court of Appeals has declined to hear a second round of arguments in a long-running and costly dispute between Anderson County and its former administrator Joey Preston over the...
View Article‘Prison Mailbox Rule’ applied to PCR petition
There is a bright-line rule that mailing does not constitute the filing of a post-conviction relief application for statute of limitation purposes. Rather, a PCR application is considered filed when...
View ArticleLawyers must testify about how they got documents
An unnamed criminal defense attorney and her investigator will have to answer federal prosecutors’ questions about they came to be in possession of allegedly fraudulent documents that were introduced...
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Feds can no longer seize ‘untainted’ assets pre-trial
Criminal defendants in the federal courts covered by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals may have an easier time coming up the funds to pay for their defense attorneys from now on. On Aug. 18 the...
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