South Carolina Lawyers Weekly

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

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

A counselor testified that it was “more likely than not” that a six-year-old would be traumatized by testifying and that the child was substantially likely to experience certain distress symptoms. This testimony was not sufficient to support the family court’s ...

Tagged with: Domestic Relations

A parent wrote a letter to the respondent-school board, asking the board to reopen the school transfer request window. The day after the board met in executive session, the board chairmen sent the parent a letter, explaining that the parent ...

Tagged with: Schools & School Boards

Even though there was no direct evidence supporting the state’s theory of the case – that defendant sucker punched the victim (Victim) in the back of the head – and even though the evidence seemed to point to defendant having ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice

In this case arising out of an armed robbery and murder, the trial court instructed the jury that it was permissible (but not required) to infer malice if the killing occurred during the commission of a felony. Even if this ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice

Even though the government will generally need a warrant to access cell site location information (CSLI), the exigent circumstances exception allowed police to use CSLI without a warrant here, just hours after a violent home invasion, because defendant was potentially ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice

In this case arising out of a shooting during an altercation on the lawn of a mutual friend of defendant and the victim, the trial court’s decision under the Protections of Persons and Property Act failed to make specific findings ...

Tagged with: Criminal Practice