South Carolina Lawyers Weekly articles from August 2008

South Carolina Lawyers Weekly archives from August 2008

Lowcountry attorney Reese Joye dies at 70.(Obituary)
August 4, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Reese Joye, a Lowcountry personal injury litigator, has died. He was 70. Born in Bennettsville in 1938, Joye earned both his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering and law degree from...

S.C. Lawyers in the News: August 4, 2008.(Buist, Byars and Taylor)
August 4, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Briefly The South Carolina Bar Foundation recently awarded a total of $197,500 to several Upstate organizations. Among them: Law In Action, $30,000; The Upstate Community Mediation Center,...

S.C. Court of Appeals rules don't doubt sex abuse reports from disabled.
August 4, 2008... Byline: Gregory Froom Allegations of sexual abuse from mentally handicapped adults should not be taken with a grain of salt just because of their disabilities, the Court of Appeals has ruled in a defamation case. The dispute centered...

S.C. Business Court judges trawl for customers.(South Carolina)
August 4, 2008... Byline: Gregory Froom Businesses need customers to succeed. The same is true for South Carolina's Business Court pilot program, except that its patrons are corporate litigants that want their disputes resolved in a special forum with...

Ryan's Law: Mother of autistic son in Lexington secures coverage for others.(Lorri Unumb )
August 4, 2008... Byline: Diana Smith For people who don't know, there is something called "living the autism life." Attorney Lorri Unumb of Lexington lives it every day. And it's not easy. Unumb's 7-year-old son, Ryan, was diagnosed with autism in...

U.S. Dstrict Court rules not offering UM policy limits wasn't bad faith.(underinsured motorist)
August 4, 2008... Byline: Gregory Froom An insurance company did not act in bad faith when it wouldn't cut a check for the full amount of an insured's UM coverage before she filed suit against an at-fault, uninsured driver. That was true, a federal...

Administrative Law Judge Division Case Summaries: August 4, 2008.
August 4, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Vehicle Registration - Suspension - Accident - Sole Contributing Party The DMVH hearing officer erred in rescinding the respondent's suspension of his vehicle registration...

S.C. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: August 4, 2008.(South Carolina)
August 4, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Marijuana Possession - Voluntary Statement The appellant's statement that the marijuana belonged to him was properly admitted since it was voluntarily made, the Court of Appeals...

S.C. Supreme Court Case Summaries: August 4, 2008.(South Carolina)
August 4, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal PCR - Third- Party Guilt - Mistaken Identity The petitioner should have been granted relief in his PCR action since he was prejudiced by counsel's failure to cross-examine an...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: August 4, 2008.
August 4, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure N.C. Default Judgment - Collateral Estoppel - Bankruptcy Reversing a lower court on an unsettled question of North Carolina law, the 4th Circuit holds that North Carolina...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: August 4, 2008.
August 4, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Insurance Automobile Accident - Bad Faith - Unreasonable Offer To Settle - UM Benefits An insurer did not act in bad faith in failing to offer policy limits prior to the plaintiff's...

Fourth Circuit Court: insurance fund was state's alter ego.
August 11, 2008... Byline: Gregory Froom, Editor Several state agencies could get another shot at their products liability suit over allegedly defective roofing components -- this time in state court, even though they were the ones who chose to file in the...

South Carolina appeals court: Suit over environmental report can go forward.
August 11, 2008... Byline: Gregory Froom An environmental inspection company that underestimated the amount of hazardous waste on a Columbia tract could be on the hook in a suit brought by the buyer, who relied on the report. According to an unpublished...

Sidney & Sydney: Father-daughter Charleston law school classmates keep it in the family.(Sidney Jones and Sydney Jones Lynn )
August 11, 2008... Byline: Diana Smith Besides the similar spelling of their first names, dad-daughter duo Sidney Jones and Sydney Jones Lynn have only a few things in common. One of them is a law degree from the Charleston School of Law. As members...

S.C. Court of Appeals Unpublished Case Summaries: August 11, 2008.(South Carolina )
August 11, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Real Property Undeveloped Commercial Property - Debris Dumping - Negligence A company that provided an environmental site assessment was not entitled to a directed verdict on the...

S.C. Supreme Court Case Summaries: August 11, 2008.(South Carolina)
August 11, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Murder - Hearsay Evidence - Excited Utterance Exception The admission of the petitioner's girlfriend's hearsay statement to police was harmless error since the state presented...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: August 11, 2008.
August 11, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Diversity Jurisdiction - 'Citizen' Agency - Products Liability The 4th Circuit in S.C. Dep't of Disabilities & Special Needs v. Hoover Universal Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No....

South Carolina Lawyers In The News: August 18, 2008.(Altman & Coker )
August 18, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Briefly Litigator Ronald B. Cox recently joined the Columbia office of Nexsen Pruet as special counsel. He concentrates his practice in the areas of civil litigation, products liability,...

F. Earl Ellis Jr. wins worthy adversary award from S.C. Assn. for Justice.(Ellis, Lawhorne & Sims)(Brief article)
August 18, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff F. Earl Ellis Jr., of Ellis, Lawhorne & Sims was presented with the worthy adversary award by the S.C. Association for Justice, formerly known as the S.C. Trial Lawyers Association, at its annual...

S.C. Supreme Court: Alford plea triggered issue preclusion.(South Carolina )
August 18, 2008... Byline: Gregory Froom A fracas over an unpaid referral fee at a Ford dealership in Moncks Corner will not result in a civil recovery for one of the brawlers. The Supreme Court said the man's Alford plea on a single count of assault and...

SCTLA no more: Group takes 'trial lawyers' out of its name.(South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association changes name to South Carolina Association for Justice)(Brief article)
August 18, 2008... Byline: Gregory Froom The state's largest organization for plaintiffs' litigators has officially dumped the term "trial lawyer" from its name. Formerly known as the South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association, the group voted to change...

Cop's verdict over unmarked intersection upheld by S.C. Court of Appeals.(South Carolina)
August 18, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff A $300,000 verdict against the highway department will stand in the case of a Holly Hill police officer who wrecked during a high-speed chase, the appeals court has ruled in an unpublished...

S.C. Court of Appeals Unpublished Case Summaries: August 18, 2008.(South Carolina)
August 18, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Tort Patrol Officer - Automobile Accident - Appropriate Signage - Pursuit A patrol officer who ran his car off the road at an unmarked intersection during a pursuit can sue the state...

S.C. Supreme Court Case Summaries: August 18, 2008.(South Carolina )
August 18, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Sexually Violent Predator - Commitment - Constitutionality The Sexually Violent Predator Act, Sect. 44-48-10, does not violate Article XII, Sect. 2 of the South Carolina...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: August 18, 2008.
August 18, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights First Amendment - Defamation - Talk Show Host The 4th Circuit in CACI Premier Technology Inc. v. Rhodes (Lawyers Weekly No. 001-140-08) (38 pages) upholds a federal District...

South Carolina Court of Appeals lets some tort claims bypass arbitration clause.
August 25, 2008... Byline: Gregory Froom The Court of Appeals has helped shore up the legal divide that determines which tort-related claims go to arbitration under a broadly worded clause and which can head straight to court. In the case of an Upstate...

South Carolina Bar Foundation funds help fathers pay child support.
August 25, 2008... Byline: Diana Smith Deadbeat dads. It's a term that Shannon Scruggs of Columbia has heard in family courtrooms before. But it's not always an accurate label for fathers who are delinquent on child support payments, said Scruggs,...

S.C. Administrative Law Court: No probable cause for DUI arrest based on car description.(South Carolina)
August 25, 2008... Byline: Gregory Froom Police who roused a Mount Pleasant man from bed and charged him with driving under the influence did not have grounds to suspend his license when he refused a drug test. That's what the Administrative Law Court...

Administrative Law Judge Division Case Summaries: August 25, 2008.
August 25, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Licenses & Permits DUI - Probable Cause To Arrest A man's license can't be suspended for refusing a DUI drug test after police hauled him out of his bed and accused him of driving a...

S.C. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: August 25, 2008.(South Carolina)
August 25, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration Investment Services - Third- Party Transfer - Consent - Negligence In a broadly worded arbitration clause contained in an agreement for investment services, claims relating to...

S.C. Supreme Court Case Summaries: August 25, 2008.(South Carolina)
August 25, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Employment Retirement Benefits - ORBIT Trust - Constitutional Violation The city's decision to place funds for employee retirement benefits in a trust that invests in equity securities...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: August 25, 2008.
August 25, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal 'Other Crimes Evidence' - Fraud - Murder In prosecuting a woman with a gambling habit accused of defrauding numerous victims, including an elderly widower whose body turned up in...

South Carolina Workers' Compensation Court Case Summaries: August 25, 2008.
August 25, 2008... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Workers' Compensation Fall - Termination - Credit Card Theft A paralegal who fell down the stairs at work is not entitled to any additional benefits since there is no objective medical...

Commentary: On judicial elections, headscarves, outsourcing and wry grandmothers.
August 25, 2008... Byline: Ruth W. Cupp All of the want-to-be judges in the state need to sit on the front row at a forum titled "Judicial Selection in South Carolina: Ensuring Quality, Independence and Diversity on the Bench." This forum and a reception...

New digs, same gigs: Five U of South Carolina law profs. move on.(University of South Carolina )
August 25, 2008... Byline: Rick Brundrett Nathan Crystal fought back tears as he moved boxes out of his University of South Carolina School of Law office on a recent Friday morning. "The school has been very supportive of me," said Crystal, an ethics...