Mendenall v. Anderson Hardwood Floors, LLC The court certifies the following question to the S.C. Supreme Court: Does the “dual purpose” doctrine allow an injured employee to bring an action in tort against his employer as a successor in interest who, through a corporate merger, received all liabilities of a predecessor corporation that never employed the injured person but allegedly performed the negligent acts that later caused the employee’s injuries, or is such an action barred by the exclusivity provision of the S.C. Workers’ Compensation Act?

Tagged with: Tort/Negligence Workers’ Compensation wrongful death

Smith v. Widener Where plaintiff sought actual and punitive damages arising out of the same injury, the two types of damages were part of the same claim for purposes of determining whether the non-settling defendants were entitled to a setoff to accounts for funds paid to plaintiff by the settling defendant.

Tagged with: Tort/Negligence

Rucker v. Greenville County Sheriff Department The defendant-sheriff and his deputies are state employees rather than employees of the defendant-county; therefore, the county is not liable with regard to plaintiff’s claim of gross negligence and recklessness. Defendants’ motion for summary judgment is granted.

Tagged with: Municipal SCTCA State Employees Tort/Negligence

Johnson v. M.I. Windows & Doors, Inc. In a putative class action against a window manufacturer, the manufacturer’s third-party claim against those who designed and built the named plaintiff’s house is not sufficiently derivative of plaintiff’s claim that the windows were negligently designed and manufactured. The third-party defendants’ motion to sever is granted.

Tagged with: Civil Practice Class Action Products Liability Tort/Negligence Windows

Ignacio v. U.S. A Pentagon police officer who allegedly assaulted a contract security officer assigned to the Pentagon, while the two were stationed at a Pentagon security checkpoint, does not have sovereign immunity from a suit for assault under the Federal Tort Claims Act; the 4th Circuit reverses the district court decision that the U.S. was immune from suit because the police officer was not “engaged in investigative or law enforcement activities” when he allegedly assaulted plaintiff.

Tagged with: Assault FTCA Tort/Negligence

Shirvinski v. U.S. Coast Guard Plaintiff sub-subcontractor on defendant Coast Guard’s Deepwater Acquisition Project cannot sue the Coast Guard for defamation and related tort claims for alleged injuries from termination of its at-will consulting agreement and removal of its name from a list of government contractors; the 4th Circuit says permitting these claims to go forward would reward artful pleading and impermissibly constitutionalize state tort law, and it affirms summary judgment for defendants.

Tagged with: Contract Defamation Tort/Negligence

Sauls v. Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Inc. According to the Fourth Circuit’s binding interpretation of S.C. law, in order to prove that an inadequate drug warning was the proximate cause of her injury, plaintiff must prove that the drug’s additional non-disclosed risk was high enough that it would have changed her doctor’s decision to prescribe the product for her.

Tagged with: Products Liability Proximate Cause Tort/Negligence

Viserta v. St. Jude Medical, Inc. The medical device at issue – a Riata lead — was discarded upon its removal from plaintiff, and her complaint does not allege the actual condition of the device, how defendant failed to comply with federal requirements in manufacturing the device, or any causal connection between defendant’s actions and the Riata lead perforating plaintiff’s heart.

Tagged with: Pleadings Products Liability Tort/Negligence

Doe v. OwenMcClelland LLC Plaintiff alleges that she was kidnapped, beaten, held against her will, and raped while a customer on the premises of the All-Safe Storage facility in Seneca. Although defendants contend that the facility manager was fraudulently joined as a defendant in order to defeat diversity jurisdiction, plaintiff has alleged that the manager had sufficient control over the facility to establish the possibility of maintaining a cause of action against her.

Tagged with: Civil Practice Diversity Federal Jurisdiction Remand Tort/Negligence

Hennes v. Shaw Where the complaint alleged and the parties presented evidence on a claim of breach of contract, the trial court erred when it sua sponte instructed the jury on conversion. We affirm the trial court’s grant of a directed verdict for plaintiff on defendant’s unfair trade practices claim. We affirm the trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion for a directed verdict on plaintiff’s breach of contract claim. However, we reverse and remand for a new trial on plaintiff’s claim of breach of contract and defendant’s counterclaims of tortious interference with contract, conspiracy, and breach of fiduciary duty.

Tagged with: Contract Tort/Negligence Unfair Trade Practices