South Carolina Lawyers Weekly articles from January 2007

South Carolina Lawyers Weekly archives from January 2007

Drew Hamilton Butler elected president of SCDTAA Young Lawyers Division.(South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys' Association)(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorney Drew Hamilton Butler of Richardson, Plowden, Carpenter & Robinson, P.A., has been elected president of the young lawyers division of the South Carolina Defense Trial Attorneys'...

South Carolina Lawyers in the News: January 8, 2007.(Brief article)
January 8, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP has announced the election of William R. Thomas to the executive committee of the Richland County Bar Association. He will begin serving this month. Thomas,...

Appeals Court says company's bonus plan ran afoul of Wage Payment Act.(Ross v. Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc.)(Case overview)
January 8, 2007... Byline: Gregory Froom A pharmaceutical company's sales bonus plan violated wage payment laws because it didn't set a specific date for disbursement, the Appeals Court ruled Dec. 21. The court upheld treble damages of $36,000 for a...

Venue in billboard dispute improper where signs located.(Rhodes and Piedmont Promotions, Inc. v. Eadon d/b/a C&B Fabrication)
January 8, 2007... Byline: Gregory Froom A $6.5 million verdict in a lawsuit over poorly constructed billboards in Fairfield County has been reversed because the case should have been transferred to the defendant's home county, the Appeals Court has ruled in...

Verdict against railroad upheld despite bad jury instructions.(Williams v. CSX Transportation, Inc. and Bowen)(Case overview)
January 8, 2007... Byline: Gregory Froom A $4.5 million verdict against CSX Transportation in the death of a motorist at a Lexington County railroad crossing has been upheld by the Supreme Court. The high court affirmed the compensatory damages award...

S.C. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: January 8, 2007.(South Carolina)(State v. Claypoole)(State v. White )
January 8, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Criminal Sexual Conduct - Accessory Before The Fact Where the appellant was convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and accessory before the fact to CSC with a...

S.C. Court of Appeals Unpublished Case Summaries: January 8, 2007.(South Carolina)
January 8, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Real Property Billboard Signs - Motion To Transfer Venue Where the respondents sued the appellant for various causes of action relating to billboard sign construction, the Circuit Court...

S.C. Supreme Court Case Summaries: January 8, 2007.(South Carolina)(Williams v. CSX Transportation, Inc.)
January 8, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Negligence Wrongful Death - Punitive Damages Where the personal representative of the decedent sued CSX Transportation after the decedent was killed at a railroad crossing, the trial...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: January 8, 2007.(Sucampo Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Astellas Pharma Inc.)(Lovelace v. Lee )
January 8, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Forum- Selection Clause - Licensing Agreement - Safety Agreement A pharmaceutical company's breach- of-contract claims against another pharmaceutical company should be...

Attorney Julian J. Nexsen honored for disinguished professional and public service.(DuRant Distinguished Public Service Award by South Carolina Bar Foundation)
January 15, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorney Julian J. Nexsen of Nexsen Pruet, LLC will be named as the 28th recipient of the DuRant Distinguished Public Service Award. The S.C. Bar Foundation board of directors will confer the...

Womble Carlyle offers new backup child care program for all offices.(Womble Carlyle Sandridge and Rice)(Brief article)
January 15, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC announced earlier this month that it now offers a backup child care program for employees in all 10 of its offices. In each city, the firm has entered...

Attorney Christopher W. Johnson named partner in the Columbia law firm.(Brief article)
January 15, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorney Christopher W. Johnson has become a partner in the Columbia law firm of Gignilliat, Savitz & Bettis, LLP.

South Carolina lawmakers pre-file compilation of proposals before their return to statehouse.
January 15, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Before legislators returned to Columbia last week to start the 2007 session, lawmakers pre-filed a compilation of proposals that could affect a number of legal practice areas. Many of the...

SC Appeals Court upholds DUI suspension despite trooper's lapsed certificate.(driving under influence)
January 15, 2007... Byline: Gregory Froom The license of a Greenwood County motorist was properly suspended after she refused a breath test, even though the trooper who offered the test was no longer certified to administer it, the Appeals Court has ruled in...

SC Appeals Court rules subcontractor gets all of lien debt despite others' reduced settlement.(Taylor, Cotton & Ridley, Inc. v. Okatie Hotel Group, LLC et al.)
January 15, 2007... Byline: Gregory Froom A subcontractor could collect every dollar of its mechanic's lien from the owners of a Lowcountry hotel -- even though other subs settled for two-thirds of what they were owed, the Appeals Court ruled Jan. 8. The...

S.C. Court of Appeals Case Summaries: January 15, 2007.
January 15, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Real Property Development - Mechanic's Lien - Settlement Credit Where the appellant owner argues that Sects. 29-5-20, 29-5-40 and 29-5-60 require the trial court to credit the owner for...

S.C. Court of Appeals Unpublished Case Summaries: January 15, 2007.
January 15, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Licenses & Permits Driver's License Suspension - Breathalyzer Where the appellant argues she did not refuse a breathalyzer because she was never offered the test by a certified individual...

S.C. Supreme Court Case Summaries: January 15, 2007.
January 15, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorney Disciplinary Matter RICO Claim Filing - Ethical Misconduct Where the full panel adopted the report of the hearing master, finding the respondent's misconduct in litigation was...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: January 15, 2007.
January 15, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Anti- Discrimination Law - Veterans - Home Loan Guaranty Entitlements The Bankruptcy Code's anti-discrimination provision, 11 U.S.C. Sect. 525, does not apply to the veteran...

Four elected as members of Nexsen Pruet in SC.(Melissa L. Azallion, Brian C. Bonner, Nikole Setzler Mergo and Suzanne Guitar Odom)
January 22, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Melissa L. Azallion, Brian C. Bonner, Nikole Setzler Mergo and Suzanne Guitar Odom have been elected members of Nexsen Pruet. * Azallion, of the Hilton Head office, focuses her practice on...

S.C. Lawyers in the News: January 22, 2007.(Elizabeth R. McMahon joins McWhirter, Bellinger and Associates, P.A.)(T. Patton Adams)
January 22, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff McMahon Joins McWhirter Bellinger's Columbia Office Elizabeth R. McMahon has joined the law firm of McWhirter, Bellinger & Associates, P.A., as an associate. McMahon works primarily in...

S.C. COA rules upstream contractor could rely on sub's unsigned coverage form.(South Carolina. Court of Appeals)
January 22, 2007... Byline: Gregory Froom A contractor won't have to pay the comp claim of its uninsured subcontractor's employee -- even though it relied on an unsigned certificate of insurance from the sub, the Appeals Court has ruled. The reason: there...

S.C. COA rules no comp benefits for trucker who had heart attack after stressful delivery trip.(South Carolina. Court of Appeals)(Jordan v. Kelly Co., Inc.)(Case overview)
January 22, 2007... Byline: Gregory Froom The Appeals Court has upset a comp award for a trucker who suffered a heart attack after what he said was an unusually stressful haul from Virginia to Texas. The claimant said that he was put under abnormal stress...

S.C. COA rules juror's misconduct entitles church to new trial on its claims against exterminator.(South Carolina. Court of Appeals)
January 22, 2007... Byline: Gregory Froom Juror misconduct will allow an historic Sumter church to get a new trial in its dispute with an exterminator over termite damage, the Appeals Court has ruled. Before deliberations began at the 2005 trial, one of...

S.C. COA Case Summaries: January 22, 2007.(South Carolina. Court of Appeals)(The Vestry and Church Wardens of the Church of the Holy Cross v. Orkin Exterminating Co., Inc. )
January 22, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Contract Termite Infestation - Juror Misconduct - Motion For New Trial Where the Circuit Court denied the appellant church's motion for a new trial based on juror misconduct, this was...

S.C. COA Unpublished Case Summaries: January 22, 2007.(South Carolina. Court of Appeals)(Anvar v. Greenville Hospital System)(Jordan v. Kelly Co., Inc.)
January 22, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Radiologist - Civil Conspiracy - Intracorporate Conspiracy Doctrine Where the appellant radiologist sued the respondent hospital and various doctors for civil conspiracy in...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: January 22, 2007.(U.S. v. Hernandez-Villanueva)(U.S. v. Buckner )
January 22, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Immigration Unauthorized Reentry - Miranda Warning - MS-13 Membership Although the defendant, a Salvadoran native, protests he was not given Miranda warnings when interviewed by law...

South Carolina Lawyers in the News: January 29, 2007.(Brief article)
January 29, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff McGee Returns To Leatherwood Walker Todd & Mann Margaret McGee has rejoined the firm of Leatherwood Walker Todd & Mann, P.C. as an associate attorney. McGee was an associate with...

Veterans find help at U of South Carolina Law School.
January 29, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff The University of South Carolina School of Law is helping veterans receive legal assistance. Through the efforts of Adjunct Professor Douglas Rosinski and Professor W. Lewis Burke, the...

Supreme Court finds man was more than scrivener when using software to draft woman's will.(Franklin v. Chavis )(Case overview)
January 29, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff An insurance agent engaged in the unauthorized practice of law when he used Quicken software to create a will for a hospitalized 91-year-old woman, the Supreme Court has ruled in a...

11 million-plus awards on 2007 survey.
January 29, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff A $22 million verdict in a lawsuit over industrial pollution that fouled a Lexington County water treatment plant was the largest of 11 multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements reported to...

Motor carrier's policy covered owner-operator's wreck en route to pick up first load.(Republic Western Ins. Co. v. Williams et al.)
January 29, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff A trucking company's insurance policy covered a Charleston owner-operator's accident, even though he hadn't yet picked up his first load when the wreck happened, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of...

S.C. Court of Appeals Unpublished Case Summaries: January 29, 2007.(Stuart v. Stuart )
January 29, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Domestic Relations Divorce - Dental Practice - Marital Property Where the Family Court declared the appellant husband's dental practice to be marital property, this was improper since:...

S.C. Supreme Court Case Summaries: January 29, 2007.(South Carolina)(Suber v. State)(Talley v. State )
January 29, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Assault And Battery With Intent To Kill - Lesser Included Offenses Where the PCR judge found the respondent's plea counsel was deficient for failing to advise the respondent of...

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit Case Summaries: January 29, 2007.(State of West Virginia v. Thompson )
January 29, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Medicaid Plan Amendment - Homestead Exemption - Undue Hardship The Department of Health and Human Services was entitled to reject the State of West Virginia's proposed...

U.S. C.A. 4th Cir. Unpublished Case Summaries: January 29, 2007.(Republic Western Ins. Co. v. Williams )
January 29, 2007... Byline: South Carolina Lawyers Weekly Staff Insurance Coverage - Leases - Commercial Transportation - Permissive Use Where: (1) an independent owner-operator of a Freightliner tractor was issued a policy from RWIC that covered...