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Texas A&M reaches $1M settlement over job fiasco
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas A&M University reached a $1 million settlement Thursday with a Black journalism professor whose hiring was sabotaged by backlash over her past work promoting diversity. The nation’s largest public school agreed to pay Kathleen McElroy and apologized to her while admitting “mistakes were made during the hiring process.” Texas A&M, which […]
5 Questions With: Taylor Dewberry on DEI
In 2021, employment law attorney Taylor Dewberry was named Smith Anderson’s first chief diversity officer. Her practice focuses on employment-related counseling and defending employers against claims involving discrimination, wrongful discharge, retaliation, harassment, and civil rights claims. After graduating with honors from Stanford University in 2014 with her bachelor’s degree in [...]
Diversifying the judiciary: Why the SC judiciary should look like the population it serves
Statistics show that South Carolina’s courts are not as diverse as the populations they serve. Several studies conducted in the last 20 years have suggested that beyond increasing public trust in the judiciary, creating a more proportionally diverse judicial system can actually increase justice by influencing how decisions get made. “The Gavel Gap,” a […]
Civil Practice – Federal Jurisdiction – Diversity – Fraudulent Joinder – U-Haul – Collision
Even though plaintiff alleges that she collided with a U-Haul rental truck in South Carolina, since the evidence indicates that the truck had been stolen from a U-Haul lot in Charlotte – owned by recently added defendant U-Haul Co. of North Carolina – and driven to South Carolina, plaintiff has no possibility of recovery from […]
Civil Practice – Diversity Jurisdiction – Amount in Controversy – Ad Damnun Clause – Nonmonetary Relief
The complaint’s ad damnum clause limits the damages sought to $75,000. However, plaintiff also seeks nonmonetary relief under S.C. Code Ann. § 37-10-105(c), which could render defendant unable to foreclose on plaintiff’s property or to collect the outstanding mortgage balance. Since the total amount of principal and interest plaintiff is obligated to pay on the […]
Civil Practice – Removal Jurisdiction – Diversity – Individual S.C. Defendant – Premises Liability
Lee v. Walmart Store #795 (Lawyers Weekly No. 002-188-17, 7 pp.) (David Norton, J.) 1:17-cv-00507; D.S.C. Holding: On the day that South Carolina plaintiff Marie Lee was struck by football helmets falling off a shelf in the Barnwell Walmart’s sporting goods department, defendant Dyches was not yet the store manager; instead, she was the assistant […]
Civil Practice – Removal – Diversity – Fraudulent Joinder Claim – Insurance Adjuster
Aung v. GEICO (Lawyers Weekly No. 002-153-17, 8 pp.) (Patrick Michael Duffy, J.) 9:17-cv-00856; D.S.C. Holding: Under South Carolina law (1) generally, employees may be held personally liable for torts they commit in the scope of their employment, even if the employer is also liable by virtue of respondeat superior, and (2) no South Carolina […]
Civil Practice – Removal Jurisdiction – Prior Settlement – Federal Defense – Diversity – Home-State Defendant
Bank of New York Mellon v. White (Lawyers Weekly No. 002-152-17, 7 pp.) (Joseph Anderson Jr., J.) 3:17-cv-00693; D.S.C. Holding: Even if this action arises out of a breached settlement agreement that ended a case previously before this court, defendant has failed to indicate that this settlement agreement was incorporated into the order dismissing the […]
Judges decree: On diversity, we’re not there yet
Judges’ chambers across the Carolinas these days are home to a more diverse crowd than before, varying, of course, from one jurisdiction to the next. But a group of jurists who spoke with Lawyers Weekly echoed a very similar sentiment: We’re better than before, but not as good as we need to be. “We are […]
Minorities making moves, but diversity stagnant
Last month, Sharita Whitaker, an attorney with Smith Anderson in Raleigh, North Carolina, traveled to the Yale Club of New York City for the Chambers and Partners’ inaugural Chambers Diversity Awards. She walked away as the winner in the Future Leader — Minority Lawyers (Private Practice) category. According to the Chambers and Partners’ website, the […]
Diversity still an uphill battle for most firms
A May 2015 bulletin from the National Association for Law Placement notes that women and minorities have made “small gains” in representation among law firm partners in recent years. However, among all legal employers listed in NALP’s 2014-2015 directory, only 7.33 percent of partners were minorities, and only 2.45 percent were minority women. Many offices […]
Civil Practice — Federal Jurisdiction – Diversity – Fraudulent Joinder Claim – Remand – Tort/Negligence – Products Liability – Silverado
Brazell v. General Motors, LLC (Lawyers Weekly No. 002-067-15, 9 pp.) (Timothy Cain, J.) 6:14-cv-04588; D.S.C. Holding: Defendant General Motors, LLC, argues that, after an initial failed attempt at service, plaintiff has not actively litigated this case against South Carolina defendant-seller Goforth Auto, Inc.; however, under South Carolina law, plaintiff still has the option to […]
Business Law
- Economy forces attorneys to get down to business
- Business Court judges trawl for customers
- Va. company's Web site did not subject business to personal jurisdiction in S.C., appeals panel rules
- Former running back from S.C. wins courtroom victory in contract dispute
- Contract – Government Contract – Qui Tam – False Claims Act
- Tort – Business Tort – Va. Computer Crimes Act – Trade Secrets
- Consumer Protection – FCRA – Auto Loan – Bank Accounting Errors
- Licenses & Permits – Beer & Wine Permit – Restrictive Covenant – Suitable Location
- Licenses & Permits – Veterinarian – Vaccine Maintenance
- State regulators look at car dealer accused of lying to customers
- Textile firm, railroad settle Graniteville train wreck lawsuit
- Subprime mortgage meltdown hits securities law
Commentary
- High court justices cross the line of propriety
- High court’s term was rough on big business
- The flip side of generative AI in law and how to address it
- The fight for equal educational opportunity continues
- Letter From The Editor – Working from Home
- NLRB joins FTC in taking aim at non-competes
- Supreme Court leaves key internet protection untouched
- US Supreme Court bites back at parody’s use of the First Amendment
- My goal: Provide the information that you need now
- Case study: North Carolina courts provide guidance on scope, limitations of attorney-client privilege
- A Different Ode to Pro Bono Work
- N.C. Bar Association embraces homophobia
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