Civil Practice – Appeals – Service of Notice – Opposing Counsel – Wrong Addresses

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Before the deadline for serving notice of appeal on respondent, appellant’s counsel (1) electronically filed its notice of appeal with the circuit court and received an automated reply which acknowledged the filing and said that respondent’s attorneys had been “served electronically,” (2) emailed a .pdf copy of the notice of appeal to one of respondent’s counsel’s paralegals and (3) mailed a hard copy of the notice of appeal to respondent’s counsel but at the incorrect post office box number. Because respondent’s counsel did not receive a hard copy of the notice of appeal until after the deadline and because the .pdf copy was not emailed to counsel’s AIS email address, appellant did not timely service notice of appeal on respondent as required by the South Carolina Appellate Court Rules.
Appeal dismissed.
“A notice of appeal shall be served on all respondents within thirty (30) days after receipt of written notice of entry of the order or judgment.” Rule 203(b)(1), SCACR. The requirement of service of the notice of appeal is jurisdictional, i.e., if a party misses the deadline, the appellate court lacks jurisdiction to consider the appeal and has no authority or discretion to “rescue” the delinquent party by extending or ignoring the deadline for service of the notice.
CRM of the Carolinas, LLC v. Steel (Lawyers Weekly No. 012-017-23, 5 pp.) (Per Curiam) Appealed from Georgetown County (Joe Crosby, Master-in-Equity) Joseph Clay Hopkins for appellant; Roger Philip Giardino for respondent. South Carolina Court of Appeals (unpublished)