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Tort/Negligence

Sep 11, 2023

Tort/Negligence – Negligent Hiring & Retention – Sovereign Immunity – Discretionary Function – Admiralty

The complaint alleges that plaintiff Harold Hoblick, a maritime facility security guard, was assaulted and seriously injured by a crewmember on board the USNS Maury, a vessel owned and operated by the United States. We have held that the waivers of sovereign immunity in both the Suits in Admiralty Act and the Public Vessels Act […]

Aug 16, 2023

Tort/Negligence – Conversion – Conservatorship – Loan to Granddaughter – Standing

A grandmother (Grandmother) lent money to her granddaughter (Granddaughter) so Granddaughter could buy certain property (the Goose Creek property). Granddaughter sold the Goose Creek property without repaying the loan. Grandmother’s Conservator has standing to seek repayment of the loan via this conversion action, including against Grandmother’s daughter (Daughter 1), who allegedly received pa[...]

Aug 16, 2023

Tort/Negligence – Economic Loss Rule – Breach of Contract – Termite Damage

After paying defendants pursuant to a termite treatment and repair bond agreement for 12 years, plaintiff discovered that his house was “inundated” with subterranean termites. Plaintiff’s negligence claim against defendants is barred by the economic loss rule. We affirm summary judgment for defendants on plaintiff’s negligence claim. The economic loss rule provides that there is […]

Aug 16, 2023

Tort/Negligence – Duplicate Lottery Tickets – Failure to Exhaust Administrative Remedies

Plaintiff purchased five Mega Millions lottery tickets that he later discovered included four duplicate tickets; subsequently, he filed this action in which he specifically sought damages for the purchase of winning tickets. Even though the South Carolina Education Lottery Act does not mandate exhaustion of administrative remedies, the circuit court did not abuse its discretion […]

Aug 16, 2023

Tort/Negligence – Winning Lottery Tickets – Refusal to Pay – Failure to Exhaust Administrative Remedies – Class Action

This putative class action alleges that defendants failed to pay multiple winners of their 2017 $1 instant Holiday Game. The circuit court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing plaintiffs’ complaint for failure to exhaust their administrative remedies. We affirm the circuit court’s grant, upon reconsideration, of defendants’ motions to dismiss. Plaintiffs argue that the […]

Aug 16, 2023

Tort/Negligence – Contribution among Tortfeasors – Auto Accident – Insurance Settlement Allocation

The plaintiff-driver was injured when her vehicle was struck by defendant McGee’s vehicle, as McGee was being followed by defendant Hudgins, while both defendants were driving too fast for conditions. McGee remained a defendant, despite his auto insurer paying plaintiff $100,000. After the jury awarded plaintiff $88,546.78 in compensatory damages (allocating 60 percent of the […]

Aug 16, 2023

Tort/Negligence – Wrongful Intrusion into Private Affairs – Lack of Injury – High School Locker Room Recording

Through a locker room window, an employee of a Catholic high school covertly filmed students disrobing. The plaintiff-students brought this putative class action for wrongful intrusion into private affairs. However, the students’ vague allegations of anxiety are insufficient to satisfy the injury element of their claim. We affirm the district court’s denial of class certification […]

Aug 16, 2023

Tort/Negligence – Landlord/Tenant – Roof Damage – Repair Process – Direct vs. Vicarious Liability

After a hurricane damaged the roof of a rental house, the defendant-landlord hired a contractor to repair the roof. The contractor moved decorative railroad ties to improve access, and the plaintiff-tenant’s late wife tripped over one of the moved ties and suffered injuries from her fall (she later died of unrelated causes). Where plaintiff stipulated […]

Aug 16, 2023

Tort/Negligence – Medical Malpractice – Discovery – Requests for Admission – Publication to Jury – First Impression

Although it is usually the party who made the request to admit that seeks to publish a request to admit to the jury, our Rules of Civil Procedure allow the publication to the jury of requests to admit. Accordingly, plaintiff was properly allowed to publish to the jury defendant’s requests that plaintiff admit the amount […]

Aug 16, 2023

Tort/Negligence – Charitable Immunity – Abuse of a Student – Pre-Jeffcoat

When plaintiff was allegedly abused by teachers at a Catholic school in 1970, South Carolina law provided “full immunity” from tort liability. Although Jeffcoat v. Caine, 261 S.C. 75, 198 S.E.2d 258 (1973), said that the doctrine of charitable immunity had never extended beyond tort claims based on “mere negligence,” charities, like defendant here, were […]

Jul 24, 2023

Tort/Negligence – Negligent Misrepresentation – Real Property – Wood-Destroying Fungi

During the lead-up to the sale of a house in Pawley’s Island, the sellers’ real estate agent told the buyers’ real estate agent, “CL-100 was done yesterday and from what I understand it was good, but I can obtain the report if/when necessary as the sellers paid for it.” In fact, the sellers’ agent had […]

Jun 2, 2023

Tort/Negligence – Defamation – Damages – ‘Racist’

Because the allegedly libelous statement in this case involved an issue of public controversy or concern (a controversial post-game ritual performed by members of a high school football team) and was published by a media defendant, the common law presumption of general damages did not apply, and it was incumbent on petitioners to show actual […]

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