South Carolina Lawyers Weekly articles from December 2006

South Carolina Lawyers Weekly archives from December 2006

Commentary: what is the best marketing plan for your law firm?
December 4, 2006... Byline: David Swanner I write about practice management and marketing a goodly amount and get a decent number of e-mails and questions about marketing and what is the best plan of action for their firm. There's no right or wrong, but...

S.C. Lawyers in the News: December 4, 2006.
December 4, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Clauer Appointed To American Board Of Certification Greenville attorney George L. Clauer III has been appointed to the board of directors of American Board of Certification. Clauer...

S.C. Supreme Court rules to hit insurer with punitives for misstating dog bite law.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Michael Dayton An insurance company whose adjuster misstated the law on dog bite liability was correctly hit with a $1.1 million bite out of its bottom line, the state Supreme Court has ruled. In a Nov. 27 opinion, the justices...

Appellate panel in MD reverses workers' comp award for allergic reaction to perfume claim.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Gregory Froom An appeals panel has vacated a workers' comp award for a Columbia hospital secretary who became disabled after perfume triggered an asthmatic allergic reaction on the job. In an order dated Nov. 14, the panel said...

S.C. Appeals Court rules used car dealer had duty to tell buyer truck had been wrecked, repaired.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Gregory Froom A Midlands man who unknowingly bought a used pickup that had been wrecked and repaired could recover on his Unfair Trade Practices Act claim against a Columbia dealer, the Appeals Court has ruled. In a Nov. 27...

S.C. Court of Appeals rules health insurer must pay to correct girl's head deformity.
December 4, 2006... Byline: Gregory Froom The state Employee Insurance Program must pay for treatments to correct an infant girl's head and neck deformities -- despite its claim that her problems were merely cosmetic, the Appeals Court ruled Nov. 27. ...

S.C. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: December 4, 2006.
December 4, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Insurance Medical Device - Medical Necessity - Cosmetic Purpose Where the respondents sought pre-authorization for a medical device for their infant daughter, and the insurer denied...

S.C. Supreme Court Case Summaries: December 4, 2006.
December 4, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Post- Conviction Relief - Ineffective Assistance of Counsel Where the PCR Court granted the respondent a new trial, this was improper since there is no probative evidence in the...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: December 4, 2006.
December 4, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Black Lung Benefits - Pneumoconiosis - Causation Testimony from the pathologist who performed an autopsy on the claimant's husband and found complicated pneumoconiosis was...

S.C. Workers' Compensation Case Summaries: December 4, 2006.
December 4, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Workers' Compensation Breathing Problems - Asthma - Smoking - Causal Connection Where the claimant, who smoked and suffered from asthma, alleges her job in the employer's work room was so...

S.C. Lawyers in the News: Secember 11, 2006.
December 11, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Buist Moore Smythe McGee Hires 3 Associates The law firm of Buist Moore Smythe McGee P.A. has hired three new associates: * William T. Dawson III, who received his B.A. in history from...

Fourth circuit's chief judge to step down on July 1st.
December 11, 2006... Byline: Cynthia Di Pasquale The top judge of the federal Appeals Court for South Carolina plans to step down next summer. Chief Judge William W. Wilkins, 64, informed President Bush last week that he intends to enter senior status at...

S.C Court of Appeals rules seller had duty to tell buyer accurate electricity costs.
December 11, 2006... Byline: Gregory Froom The Appeals Court has upheld a $5.6 million verdict in a dispute over misrepresentations about utility costs in the sale of a York County textile plant. In an unpublished opinion issued Nov. 27, the appeals panel...

S.C. new law school's approval lets students take bar exam.
December 11, 2006... Byline: Gregory Froom Is your firm planning to hire new associates next summer? The pool of potential in-state applicants could swell by 170 now that South Carolina's second law school has attained provisional accreditation from the...

Greenville lawyer disciplined for loaning out trust account to pyramid scheme.
December 11, 2006... Byline: Gregory Froom A Greenville lawyer has been suspended for nine months for allowing a religious pyramid scheme to use his trust account after the scheme's accounts were frozen by the government. Attorney David B. Greene was...

S.C. Court of Appeals Unpublished Case Summaries: December 11, 2006.
December 11, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Negligence Misrepresentation - Special Knowledge Where the appellant argues the trial court erred in denying its motions for directed verdict and JNOV because it owed no duty of care to...

S.C. Supreme Court Case Summaries: December 11, 2006.
December 11, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorney Disciplinary Matter Illegal Pyramid Scheme - Trust Account Where the respondent unwittingly became part of an illegal pyramid scheme disguised as an evangelical ministry, we...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: December 11, 2006.
December 11, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Excessive Force - Traffic Stop - Opinion Evidence A police officer who gave multiple kicks to a suspect who fled a traffic stop, but who already was subdued, can be convicted of...

South Carolina Lawyers in the News: December 18, 2006.
December 18, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Admirality Expert Joins Tecklenburg Law Firm Attorney R. Randall Bridwell a well-known admiralty expert and law professor at the Charleston School of Law, has become of counsel to The...

Briefly...(Jason M. Imhoff)(Brief article)
December 18, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorney Jason M. Imhoff has become a partner of The Ward Law Firm, P.A. in Spartanburg.

Store not liable for box cutter attack.
December 18, 2006... Byline: Gregory Froom A man who was attacked by two employees wielding box cutters at a Winnsboro Food Lion could not recover on his respondeat superior claim against the supermarket, the Supreme Court has ruled. The reason: the...

Woman injured in dock collapse settles claim for $1.625 million.
December 18, 2006... Byline: Gregory Froom A woman whose leg was crushed when a dock collapsed at a Cherry Grove vacation home has settled her claims against the house's owner and a North Myrtle Beach rental agency for $1.625 million. In a settlement...

Stress from Katrina recovery nets comp for firefighter.(Anderson v. St. Johns Fire Dept.)
December 18, 2006... Byline: Gregory Froom A Johns Island firefighter who suffered psychological problems after he worked long hours assisting with hurricane recovery on the devastated Gulf Coast has been awarded mental-mental workers' comp benefits. In a...

S.C. Supreme Court Case Summaries: December 18, 2006.(South Carolina)
December 18, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorney Disciplinary Matter Termination Of Child Support - Arrearage Where the respondent admitted misconduct in connection with his actions in attempting to seek termination of child...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: December 18, 2006.(U.S. v. McIver )
December 18, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Drug Distribution - Prescription Pain Drugs - Physician Defendant The 4th Circuit upholds the conspiracy and unlawful distribution convictions of an osteopath who operated a...

Workers' Compensation Case Summaries: December 18, 2006.
December 18, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Workers' Compensation Brain Injury - Psychological Injury - Hurricane Katrina Where the claimant, who was assigned to work in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, alleges he suffered an...

Verdicts & Settlements December 18, 2006: Woman injured in dock collapse at vacation home.
December 18, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff $1.625 Million Settlement Annie Sue Tucker and her husband, Jerry Tucker, residents of Cedartown, Ga., brought the action as a result of an incident in which a dock collapsed in the Cherry...

Verdicts & Settlements December 18, 2006: Estate settles in medmal dispute over cancer diagnosis.(Brief article)
December 18, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff $600,000 Settlement On March 27, 2001, Jessie Phillips was admitted to the William Jennings Bryan Dorn VA Hospital where Dr. Einar Anderson ordered that he undergo a chest x-ray. The results...

South Carolina Lawyers in the News: December 25, 2006.(Gallivan, White and Boyd partners with Stephanie G. Flynn)(Young Clement Rivers LLP appoints Joseph J. Tierney Jr.)(Sweeny, Wingate and Barrow appoints Benson H. Driggers)
December 25, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Flynn New Partner At Gallivan White Boyd Gallivan, White & Boyd, P.A. is pleased to announce that Stephanie G. Flynn has become a partner. Flynn joined the firm in 1999 after earning a...

Appeals Court rules prejudice showing not required to deny claim.(Kimmer v. Murata of America, Inc. and Liberty Mut. Ins. Co.)(Fisher v. S.C. Dept. of Mental Retardation)
December 25, 2006... Byline: Gregory Froom An Upstate company was not required to show it was prejudiced by an employee's third-party settlement in order to deny his workers' comp claim, the Appeals Court ruled Dec. 18. The claimant was involved in an auto...

Appellate panel rules passenger entitled to benefits despite co-worker's detour.(Palmer v. MCE Cars Inc. and American Home Assurance Co.)
December 25, 2006... Byline: Gregory Froom An employee of a Spartanburg car dealer injured in an auto accident as she returned from volunteering at a Christmas luncheon was entitled to comp benefits, a workers' comp appellate panel has ruled. The meal was...

Salesman's hotel fire death compensable even though business purpose of trip over.(Ardis v. Combined Ins. Co. and American Cas. Co.)
December 25, 2006... Byline: Gregory Froom A Wedgefield insurance salesman who died in a Marietta, Ga. hotel fire after attending a company meeting was covered by workers' comp -- even though the seminar ended the day before the fire, the commission has ruled....

S.C. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: December 25, 2006.(Dismuke v. S.C. Dept. of Motor Vehicles)(The Commissioners of Public Works v. DHEC)(Kimmer v. Murata of America Inc.)
December 25, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Driver's License Reinstatement - Suspension Where the respondent sought to reinstate his driver's license, contending the two-year term for the suspension of his license had run...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: December 25, 2006.(Evangelism Fellowship of S.C. v. Anderson School Dist.)(U.S. v. Guyon)(Korotynska v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co.)
December 25, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Alcohol Sales Regulation - N.C. - Strip Clubs North Carolina's revision of its statutes regulating alcohol sales in strip clubs passes constitutional muster, and the 4th...

South Carolina Workers' Compensation Court Case Summaries: December 25, 2006.(Palmer v. MCE Cars, Inc.)(Ardis v. Combined Insurance Co.)
December 25, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Workers' Compensation Automobile Accident - Volunteer Luncheon - Trip Deviation Where the claimant, who was a passenger in another employee's car, was injured in an accident when the...

Verdicts & Settlements December 25, 2006: Trucker recovers damages for psychological injuries.(Forrester v. APAC Southeast Inc.)(Brief article)
December 25, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff $466,560 Verdict The plaintiff was a truck driver for Wal-Mart who was struck by the defendant's excavator in a construction zone. Her 18-wheeler was totaled. Principal injuries (in...

Verdicts & Settlements December 25, 2006: Plaintiff settles claim over sandblaster explosion.(West v. Northern Tool and Equip. Co.)
December 25, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff $8.5 Million Settlement Products liability claim involving a sandblaster manufactured in Taiwan and sold and distributed by Northern Tool and Equipment Company, Inc. Explosion occurred as a...

Verdicts & Settlements December 25, 2006: Insurance company settles breach of contract claim.(Shiflet v. Allstate Ins)(Brief article)
December 25, 2006... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff $53,500 Settlement The plaintiffs sued Allstate Insurance Company for bad faith, claiming that Allstate improperly handled their claim and denied it on a pretextual basis. Principal...