South Carolina Lawyers Weekly

Where the Workers’ Compensation Commission summarily denied a motion to reinstate an appeal without engaging in a rational analysis of the good cause standard, the commission failed to exercise its discretion; consequently, there was no exercise of discretion to which ...

Tagged with: Administrative

In four death-row inmates’ challenge to the constitutionality of two of the three execution methods set out in S.C. Code Ann. § 24-3-530 (electrocution and firing squad), the circuit court abused its discretion by denying the inmates’ discovery requests for ...

Tagged with: Prisons & Jails

In letters dated February 14, 2018, and August 16, 2018, the Department of Revenue denied the appellant-taxpayer’s claim of refunds on her 2012 and 2013 tax returns (filed on August 11, 2017, and August 13, 2018, respectively). Both the denial ...

Tagged with: Administrative

Even though the Adult Health Care Consent Act gave the decedent’s son authority to sign a nursing home admission agreement on his mother’s behalf, the Act did not give the son authority to sign a separate arbitration agreement. The decedent’s ...

Tagged with: Arbitration

The parties’ commercial lease did not allow the plaintiff-tenant to renew the lease, yet plaintiff’s complaint challenged only the defendant-landlord’s actions following the expiration of the lease term (i.e., the landlord’s repossession and demolition of the asbestos-contaminated premises). Although the ...

Tagged with: landlord/tenant

Respondent was tried for drug trafficking and possessing a weapon during the commission of a violent crime; he was acquitted of the weapon possession charge, but the jury could not reach a decision on the drug trafficking charges, so the ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice

Where Quicken Loans refinanced its own first-priority mortgage without discovering an intervening recorded line of credit, the line of credit has priority over the Quicken refinanced mortgage. We leave it to the General Assembly to decide whether to adopt the ...

Tagged with: Real Property

The plaintiff-passenger was injured when, while she was riding in her co-worker’s car in the course of their employment, the co-worker negligently caused an accident. The Workers’ Compensation Act prevents plaintiff from obtaining a judgment against the co-worker, so plaintiff ...

Tagged with: Insurance

In this action arising from a motor vehicle accident, once defense counsel (hired by the insurance company of the owner of the car which had been driven by the defendant named in plaintiff’s complaint) notified plaintiff that the named defendant ...

Tagged with: Civil Practice

After shots were fired at Richard Simmons’ house, defendant joined Simmons in trying to chase down the shooters, and Simmons shot at the victim, believing she was one of the shooters. Under these circumstances, evidence of defendant’s gang affiliation was ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice