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Speedy trial, legal malpractice and agency deference get Supreme Court attention
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether a state’s failure to pay for counsel for an indigent defendant in a murder case should be weighed against the state in making a speedy trial analysis. Boyer v. Louisiana involves a defendant who was convicted by a jury of second-degree murder for shooting a man to death during a robbery. He was sentenced to life in prison and other consecutive senten[...]
SC Supreme Court: Unfair Trade Practices Act applies to lawyers
The South Carolina Supreme Court has definitively ruled for the first time that the Unfair Trade Practices Act applies to the legal profession. The unanimous court determined Aug. 15 in an otherwise unremarkable legal malpractice case, RFT Management Co. v. Tinsley & Adams, that legal services ought to be considered a trade or business that is subject to the UTPA.
Tort/Negligence – Attorneys – Legal Malpractice – Civil Practice – Statute of Limitations – Workers’ Compensation – Personal Injury
Kimmer v. Wright Even before plaintiff’s workers’ comp claim was decided against him, his lawyer had admitted to making the mistake of settling with the third-party tortfeasor without giving notice to plaintiff’s employer, thereby endangering plaintiff’s workers‘ comp claim. Plaintiff was not entitled to await the outcome of his workers’ comp claim before filing a legal malpra[...]
Criminal Practice – Forgery – Civil Practice – Evidence – Attorneys – Tort/Negligence – Legal Malpractice – Contempt – Constitutional – Double Jeopardy – Value — Sentencing
State v. Brandt The offense of criminal contempt has an element that the offense of forgery does not have, and vice versa. Therefore, defendant’s prosecution for forgery - after his criminal contempt conviction — does not violate the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy. We affirm defendant’s conviction of forgery but remand so that he may be sentenced for a misdeme[...]
Firm: SC lags in insurance for legal malpractice
The scenario sounds improbably bleak, but legal malpractice lawyers Ronnie Richter and Eric Bland swear it can happen to anyone whose attorney practices without the protection of malpractice insurance. They say it has happened in South Carolina, and will continue unless the state's lawyers accept full responsibility for protecting their clients:
Civil Practice – Criminal Contempt – Due Process – Tort/Negligence – Legal Malpractice – Fraudulent Evidence – Habeas Corpus
Brandt v. Gooding. Although a South Carolina state court upheld a criminal contempt finding against a legal-malpractice plaintiff who allegedly used a fraudulent letter in his expert's deposition, the 4th . . .
Attorneys – Legal Malpractice – Tort/Negligence – Breach of Fiduciary Duty – Ponzi Scheme – Receiver – In Pari Delicto
Hays v. Pearlman. (Lawyers Weekly No. 002-039-10, 15 pp.) (David C. Norton, Ch.J.) D.S.C. Holding: Even though the defendant-attorney is alleged to have been partly to blame for a Ponzi scheme perpetrated by his client, since the attorney derived no benefit from his client’s Ponzi scheme, the plaintiff-receiver’s malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty claims […]
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
- Virginia Tech student got due process in hearing
- 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
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