Sex offender gets new trial due to lawyer’s errors
A now-suspended attorney’s missteps in dealing with an expert witness for the prosecution has spurred the South Carolina Supreme Court to allow a new trial for a convicted sex offender who was serving...
View ArticleU.S. law beats E.U. law in computer software case
In a fraud and copyright infringement case involving competing computer software companies, a Carolina-based judge’s ruling trumps a decision made across the pond, according to the 4th U.S. Circuit...
View ArticleFraud allowed comp carrier to rescind policy
The South Carolina Uninsured Employers’ Fund is on the hook for providing coverage to an injured roofer, after it was revealed that his employer obtained its workers’ compensation policy through fraud,...
View ArticleFor whom the statute tolls
The South Carolina Court of Appeals has given disabled residents throughout the state the gift of time by ruling that their disability does not cease in the eyes of the law when they are appointed a...
View ArticleManager can be jointly liable for negligence
A lawsuit against Wal-Mart and one of its store managers is heading back to state court after a federal judge ruled Nov. 6 that the manager can be held personally and jointly liable with the store for...
View ArticleOutside the family: Attorneys see more openings for collaborative law
Divorces can be bruising—not least of all for the attorneys involved. Frustration with the scorched-earth mentalities that often engulf them helped spur the development of collaborative law, a...
View ArticleState seeking reconsideration of decision on tolling of statute
The South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs has asked the state Court of Appeals to reconsider a decision that gives disabled residents the ability to extend the statute of...
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Doing things the hard way
The attorney for a war veteran killed by a sucker punch outside a Rock Hill bar told Lawyers Weekly in June that the man’s estate is not likely to collect any of the $1.8 million wrongful death...
View ArticleBiz Court order posting requirement questioned
If orders aren’t being published for public consumption on the South Carolina Business Court’s website and no one seems to notice or care about the oversight for more than two and a half years, does...
View ArticlePresumed waiver does not violate due process
After 16 years in America, an Argentinian “tourist” is being deported without a hearing after the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that despite the absence of a signed waiver, he in fact...
View ArticlePlaintiff as detective: Efforts to identify a hit-and-run driver measured
Hit-and-run victim Willie Jordan is no Sam Spade. After being struck down in the parking lot of a Columbia liquor store, Jordan didn’t do enough sleuthing to discover the identity of the driver —...
View ArticleEverything you think you know about Millennials is wrong
I really don’t know why an article about modular furniture finally pushed me over the edge, but that’s where I find myself, and so I’m here today to tell you that almost everything you’ve ever read...
View ArticleAlleged B&B not a violation of covenants
Stephen and Maria Wall have a pretty “suite” deal going on inside their Hilton Head home, and the state Court of Appeals has ruled against the property owners’ association claiming that the couple’s...
View ArticleMost Important Opinions 2017
Administrative APA & Mandamus – Savannah River Site – Nuclear Fuel Removal South Carolina v. United States (Lawyers Weekly No. 002-092-17, 37 pp.) (J. Michelle Childs, J.) 1:16-cv-00391; D.S.C....
View ArticleUSC, Charleston not buying GRE for admissions
In November, Wake Forest University School of Law became the first law school in the Carolinas to accept the Graduate Record Exam in lieu of the Law School Admissions Test to evaluate prospective...
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Turn on, tune in, pod out
What cable television did for TV and blogs and Twitter did for the internet—vastly expand the number and diversity of voices that people could choose from—the podcast is doing for your daily commute...
View ArticleFee provision covers efforts at collection post-judgment
The attorney’s fee provision in a promissory note covered the costs incurred in collecting the debt post-judgment, the South Carolina Court of Appeals has ruled. The court rejected the so-called...
View ArticleCourt distinguishes ineffective assistance and plain error
A North Carolina “career offender” serving 25 years after pleading guilty to gun and drug charges is looking at some degree of relief after the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Dec. 21 that...
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Relief for foster parents
For years, attorneys with the South Carolina Department of Social Services have argued that a state Supreme Court decision prevented foster parents from pursuing private adoption actions of children...
View ArticleCourt OKs removal of bickering attorneys
A trial judge did not abuse his discretion when, just two weeks before the start of a capital murder trial, he removed and replaced the defendant’s bickering attorneys, the state Supreme Court ruled...
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