By David Donovan
Published: May 11,2012
The laws of supply and demand may apply to legal education after all. Eight years ago, over 100,000 students applied to law school nationally, but this year, in the face of relentlessly downbeat news about the employment prospects for lawyers, applications have cratered. Only about 67,000 applicants are expected—but the number of accredited law schools is higher than ever.
By David Donovan
Published: May 11,2012
In its tort reform act of 2005, the South Carolina legislature created new procedural hurdles for patients to clear before they could file suit for medical malpractice. On May 7, the South Carolina Supreme Court declined an opportunity to erect an additional one. After Willie James Fee died in the care of Piedmont Medical Center in 2009, his estate brought a medical malpractice claim against the hospital, alleging that its failure to monitor and treat Fee for bedsores and sepsis contributed to his death.
By The Associated Press
Published: May 11,2012
The state Supreme Court ruled last week that the punishment was too harsh for a low-risk sex offender who had been ordered to undergo satellite monitoring for life after violating parole and not given a chance for a hearing on the decision.
By The Associated Press
Published: May 11,2012
LEXINGTON (AP) — A judge has decided not to give the death penalty to a West Columbia man for killing a 7-year-old girl and her grandmother whose bodies have never been found. Instead, Circuit Judge Eugene Griffith on May 8 sentenced 52-year-old Kenneth Lynch to life in prison without parole. Griffith found Lynch guilty of murder in the deaths of 53-year-old Portia Washington and her granddaughter, Angelica Livingston. Lynch asked the judge to hear the case instead of a jury.
By The Associated Press
Published: May 11,2012
The father of a South Carolina woman killed last summer at West Virginia’s All Good Music Festival wants to refile his lawsuit to add another defendant.
By The Associated Press
Published: May 11,2012
LOS ANGELES (AP) —Bank of America said last week that it had begun mailing out letters to customers who may qualify to have their home loans reduced as part of a multistate settlement over alleged foreclosure abuses. The Charlotte-based company estimates that more than 200,000 of its customers could potentially be in line for a reduction in the principal balance on their mortgage.
By The Associated Press
Published: May 11,2012
For the second time in a year, a South Carolina officer has ticketed a motorist for displaying a replica of testicles on a vehicle.
By Amber Nimocks
Published: May 11,2012
The road to downtown beautification is sometimes paved with expensive surprises, a lesson learned by the town of Summerton in a Clarendon County court earlier this month. A jury decided the town and its design firm, LandPlan Group South, should share in the cost of glitches that arose during a revitalization project.
By David Donovan
Published: May 11,2012
The atmosphere in law school admissions offices these days is downright dreadful. Applications to law school are down 15 percent from this time last year, according to the Law School Admission Council, and down by a third from eight years ago. The projected number of law school applicants for fall of 2012 would be the lowest since 1996, when there were 21 fewer law schools nationally and 16 percent fewer seats to fill. If applications remain depressed nationally, it will raise acceptance rates or reduce the total number of seats at law schools—and maybe both. But experts say two factors are mitigating what would otherwise by an even steeper drop: federal student loan money, and students’ unerring faith in their own ability to beat the odds.
By S.C. Lawyers Weekly staff
Published: May 11,2012
McAngus Goudelock & Courie said Heath M. Stewart III has joined the firm’s Columbia office, where he will focus on general liability defense. W. Marshall Taylor Jr., formerly with McNair Law Firm’s administrative & regulatory section, has been appointed as the new general counsel for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. Taylor will report to DHEC director, Catherine Templeton.
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