South Carolina Supreme Court Decisions 2021
Date: December 8, 2021
Docket Number: 28071
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal stemmed from a construction defect lawsuit involving waterfront townhomes on Lake Keowee in Oconee County, South Carolina. After a two-week trial, Petitioners-Respondents Stoneledge at Lake Keowee Owners'…
Date: December 8, 2021
Docket Number: 28072
Justia Opinion Summary: In consolidated appeals filed by Greenville County, South Carolina, the issue central to the cases involved a zoning dispute between the County and Greenville Bistro, LLC, d/b/a Bucks Racks & Ribs. Greenville Bistro…
Date: December 8, 2021
Docket Number: 28073
Justia Opinion Summary: Pickens County, South Carolina sought a contested case hearing in the administrative law court (ALC) to challenge a landfill permit modification issued to MRR Pickens, LLC (MRR) by the South Carolina Department of Health…
Date: December 8, 2021
Docket Number: 28074
Justia Opinion Summary: Arguing that a drug raid of his home violated the Fourth Amendment, Petitioner Kelvin Jones appealed his convictions for trafficking cocaine and possession with intent to distribute cocaine within the proximity of a…
Date: December 1, 2021
Docket Number: 28068
Justia Opinion Summary: The South Carolina Supreme Court accepted three certified questions from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina. In this case, Curt Hall sued UBS Financial Services Inc. (UBS) (his former…
Date: October 27, 2021
Docket Number: 28066
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue presented for the South Carolina Supreme Court in this case involved two consolidated cross-appeals from the Public Service Commission's (PSC) determinations regarding ratemaking applications filed by Duke…
Date: September 30, 2021
Docket Number: 28063
Justia Opinion Summary: The South Carolina Supreme Court granted petitioners' request for a declaration with respect to Provisos 1.108 and 1.103 of the 2021-2022 Appropriations Act1 were invalid. Proviso 1.108 (enacted June 22, 2021,) was…
Date: September 22, 2021
Docket Number: 28058
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this appeal was a family court order terminating Mallory Sweigart's parental rights to her nine-year-old daughter. The court of appeals reversed, finding Mallory had not "wilfully failed to visit the child,"…
Date: September 22, 2021
Docket Number: 28062
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners Jennifer Pinckney, Howard Duvall, and Kay Patterson challenged the constitutionality of section 10-1-165 of the South Carolina Code (2011). Petitioners also sought an injunction prohibiting enforcement of…
Date: September 8, 2021
Docket Number: 28057
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent Simran Singh (Mother) and Petitioner Gunjit Singh (Father) separated in January of 2012. They entered into a settlement agreement which resolved all issues arising from their marriage, including custody and…
Date: September 2, 2021
Docket Number: 28056
Justia Opinion Summary: South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson sought a declaration by the South Carolina Supreme Court concerning the use of facemasks in the public schools of South Carolina during the coronavirus pandemic. The Court…
Date: September 1, 2021
Docket Number: 2021-MO-010
Date: September 1, 2021
Docket Number: 28055
Justia Opinion Summary: The South Carolina Public Service Commission (PSC) was a quasi-judicial body established by the South Carolina General Assembly, to which the legislature delegated "power and jurisdiction to supervise and regulate the…
Date: August 17, 2021
Docket Number: 28053
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Richard Creswick, a professor at the University of South Carolina (the University), sought a declaration in the South Carolina Supreme Court's original jurisdiction that Proviso 117.190 of the 2021-2022…
Date: August 11, 2021
Docket Number: 28050
Justia Opinion Summary: After sustaining injuries in a vehicle driven by her son, Kevin Simms, Petitioner Belinda Pickens sought UM coverage through her policy with Respondent United Services Automobile Association (USAA). At the time of the…
Date: August 11, 2021
Docket Number: 28051
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant William Lewis, the former Sheriff of Greenville County, asked the South Carolina Supreme Court to hold the 1829 statute under which he was convicted for misconduct in office relating to a sexual affair with an…
Date: August 11, 2021
Docket Number: 28052
Justia Opinion Summary: Hystron Fibers, Inc. hired Daniel Construction Company in 1965 to build a polyester fiber plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. When the plant began operating in 1967, Hystron retained Daniel to provide all maintenance…
Date: August 4, 2021
Docket Number: 28045
Justia Opinion Summary: Lucille Ray sued the City of Rock Hill, South Carolina (the City) for inverse condemnation, claiming her property was taken as a result of stormwater flowing through pipes under City streets and into a terra cotta pipe…
Date: June 30, 2021
Docket Number: 28041
Justia Opinion Summary: Greenville County Council implemented what it called a "road maintenance fee" to raise funds for road maintenance and a "telecommunications fee" to upgrade public safety telecommunication services. Plaintiffs, three…
Date: June 23, 2021
Docket Number: 28039
Justia Opinion Summary: Ontario Stefon Patrick Makins was indicted for lewd act upon a minor, third-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC) with a minor, and first-degree CSC with a minor. A jury convicted him of third-degree CSC with a minor. The…
Date: June 16, 2021
Docket Number: 28034
Justia Opinion Summary: A Town of Cottageville police officer shot and killed the former town Mayor Bert Reeves. A federal jury awarded Reeves' estate $97,500,000 in damages. The South Carolina Municipal Insurance and Risk Financing Fund, which…
Date: June 16, 2021
Docket Number: 28036
Justia Opinion Summary: In this appeal, several Summerville residents and public interest groups (Petitioners) asked the South Carolina Supreme Court to invalidate approval granted by the Town of Summerville Board of Architectural Review (the…
Date: June 9, 2021
Docket Number: 28033
Justia Opinion Summary: A South Carolina circuit court's granted summary judgment in favor of Respondent Dennis Powell, Jr. on his claims challenging the internet publication and lifetime duration of his mandated registration as a sex offender…
Date: June 2, 2021
Docket Number: 28031
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue in this case relates to Captain Sam’s Spit on Kiawah Island, South Carolina. Twice before, the Administrative Law Court (ALC), over the objections of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental…
Date: May 19, 2021
Docket Number: 28029
Justia Opinion Summary: Terrance Stewart was convicted by jury of distribution of heroin and two crimes based on his knowing possession of illegal drugs: trafficking in heroin and what we commonly refer to as "simple possession" of oxycodone.…
Date: May 19, 2021
Docket Number: 28030
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Leisel Paradis’ civil conspiracy claim was dismissed by the circuit court for failing to plead special damages, and the dismissal was upheld by the court of appeals. The South Carolina Supreme Court granted a…
Date: May 12, 2021
Docket Number: 28026
Justia Opinion Summary: The United States District Court for the District of South Carolina certified a question to the South Carolina Supreme Court on whether a homeowner's insurance policy that did not define the term "actual cash value," an…
Date: May 12, 2021
Docket Number: 28028
Justia Opinion Summary: Kristina Knight agreed to an endorsement to her Nationwide automobile insurance policy providing the coverage in the policy would not apply to her husband. During the policy period, Danny Knight was tragically killed in…
Date: April 28, 2021
Docket Number: 28025
Justia Opinion Summary: John Willie Mack, Sr. petitioned the South Carolina Supreme Court for review of the dismissal of his second application for post-conviction relief. He alleged his DNA counsel failed to timely appeal the denial of his…
Date: April 21, 2021
Docket Number: 28023
Justia Opinion Summary: George Glassmeyer sent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the South Carolina Lottery Commission for information relating to million-dollar lottery winners. The Lottery Commission claimed the information sought…
Date: March 24, 2021
Docket Number: 28017
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue this case presented for the South Carolina Supreme Court's review centered on whether an order of the Administrative Law Court (ALC) that includes a remand to a state agency is a final decision, and thus…
Date: March 17, 2021
Docket Number: 28015
Justia Opinion Summary: This action involves a dispute stemming from the removal of a drainage pipe running across neighboring properties. The pipe was part of an easement originally owned by the Seabrook Island Property Owners Association…
Date: March 17, 2021
Docket Number: 28016
Justia Opinion Summary: On November 5, 2010, James Nix poured kerosene from a gasoline can onto a burn pile in his yard. The kerosene ignited, and the flame entered the gas can through its unguarded pour spout. The gas can exploded and sprayed…
Date: March 10, 2021
Docket Number: 28010
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this appeal was a civil action to collect a debt under a contract that contained an arbitration provision. The defendants appealed the master in equity's order refusing to set aside the entry of their…
Date: March 10, 2021
Docket Number: 28011
Justia Opinion Summary: This appeal concerned the enforceability of an arbitration agreement executed between Ashley River Plantation, an assisted-living facility, and Thayer Arredondo, the attorney-in-fact under two powers of attorney executed…
Date: March 10, 2021
Docket Number: 28012
Justia Opinion Summary: Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company ("Nationwide") relied on flight-from-law enforcement and felony step-down provisions in an automobile liability insurance policy to limit its coverage to the statutory mandatory…
Date: March 10, 2021
Docket Number: 28013
Justia Opinion Summary: South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster issued an order suspending Mohsen Baddourah from his position as a member of the Columbia City Council after Baddourah was indicted for second-degree domestic violence. Baddourah…
Date: February 10, 2021
Docket Number: 28008
Justia Opinion Summary: Voters in Calhoun County, South Carolina, approved a referendum in the November 2018 general election imposing a one percent sales and use tax ("a penny tax") to fund a list of fifteen projects. Nearly five months later,…
Date: January 20, 2021
Docket Number: 28005
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant James Harrison, a former state legislator, was convicted and sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment in a public corruption probe. The case was prosecuted by David Pascoe, Solicitor of the First Judicial…
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