South Carolina Lawyers Weekly

Andrew Ballard had the idea for a marina on Lake Keowee, had a specific spot in mind, and had a lease in hand. What he needed were partners with money. He eventually found them, and sold them a majority stake in his venture. Within just a few months, Ballard’s new partners decided there was one thing the planned marina didn’t actually need: Ballard.

MI Windows and Doors was sitting pretty in February, when a Charleston jury awarded the window manufacturer more than $13 million in damages on bad faith counterclaims against its insurer, Liberty Mutual. Then along came the post-trial motions, and with the stroke of a pen by U.S. District Judge Margaret B. Seymour, the $13 million vanished.

Tagged with: Bad Faith Charleston

Forensic evidence, source code, plenty of techie expert testimony, and a jury verdict. Must be the Apple v. Samsung trial, right? Not quite – this one played out on a smaller scale in federal court in Charlotte over the summer, but the premise was the same.

Tagged with: Charlotte

Insurance giant American International Group and related subsidiaries have agreed to pay $4 million to settle claims that they charged almost 6,000 South Carolina companies inflated premiums for workers’ compensation insurance during the 2005- 2007 policy years.

Tagged with: Workers' Compensation

Maybe the courts have gotten tired of retired Greenville paving contractor Edward “Ned” Sloan Jr. But he certainly hasn’t gotten tired of them.

Tagged with: Greenville

On July 5, when the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a life insurer which had accepted premium payments, but later declared the deceased hasn’t been eligible for coverage, attorneys hailed the ruling as one of the most important Employment Retirement Income and Security Act decisions to come out of the court in years.

In late June, as anticipation grew for a decision on the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision of equal importance – at least to some 90,000 pharmaceutical sales representatives across the country. In a 5-4 ruling in Christopher v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., the court decided that those representatives do not qualify for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

What exactly was that $825,000 for? That’s the question Court of Common Pleas Judge J. Mark Hayes III wants two Charleston law firms to answer at an October 1 hearing he’s ordered them to attend.

Now that everyone’s had a good snicker over the apparent inability of Sumter attorney Charles T. Brooks III to understand how many hours constitute a day — for the record, it’s 24 (although science pegs it at 23 hours, 56 minutes, 4.091 seconds) — it’s instructive to ponder exactly how Brooks lost track of time.

Breakfast out with the grandparents didn’t go quite as hoped when 3-year old Mason Conley and his 4-year-old cousin visited Sea Captain’s Restaurant in Myrtle Beach in May 2011. Their waitress left a pot of coffee near the two children, who then knocked it over, spilling coffee on Mason’s lap and giving him second- and third-degree burns.

Tagged with: Myrtle Beach