South Carolina Supreme Court Decisions 2017
Date: December 20, 2017
Docket Number: 27754
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant Luzenski Allen Cottrell was convicted and sentenced to death by jury for the 2002 murder of Myrtle Beach police officer Joe McGarry. On appeal, Cottrell raised five issues, all of which involved rulings largely…
Date: November 8, 2017
Docket Number: 27746
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Andrew Looper challenged the court of appeals' dismissal of his appeal of an interlocutory circuit court order. Petitioner was charged with driving under the influence (DUI) after being pulled over by police…
Date: November 8, 2017
Docket Number: 27747
Justia Opinion Summary: Deangelo Mitchell was arrested for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and was released on a $25,000 surety bond. Subsequently, Mitchell was arrested for trafficking in cocaine, distribution of cocaine, and…
Date: November 8, 2017
Docket Number: 27748
Justia Opinion Summary: Jacquelin Stevenson (Mother) was the sole lifetime beneficiary of two trusts created by the will of her husband, who died in 1988. The residual beneficiaries of the two trusts were her sons, Thomas Stevenson III and…
Date: October 25, 2017
Docket Number: 27743
Justia Opinion Summary: Shawn Wyatt appealed his convictions for attempting to furnish contraband to a prisoner and possession with intent to distribute cocaine, cocaine base, and marijuana. He argued the trial court erred by not suppressing…
Date: October 25, 2017
Docket Number: 27744
Justia Opinion Summary: A jury convicted Raheem King of the attempted murder and armed robbery of a Charleston cab driver and the related charge of possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. The trial judge sentenced King…
Date: October 25, 2017
Docket Number: 27745
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2010, South Carolina indicted Anthony Briggs for criminal sexual conduct with a minor in the first degree and lewd act upon a child. The victim testified Briggs touched her "private" with his "private" and with his…
Date: October 4, 2017
Docket Number: 27726
Justia Opinion Summary: Farid Mangal was convicted of criminal sexual conduct with a minor, lewd act upon a child, and incest. After his convictions were affirmed, Mangal filed an action for post-conviction relief (PCR), arguing his trial…
Date: September 14, 2017
Docket Number: 27738
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners South Carolina Public Interest Foundation and Edward Sloan, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, filed a declaratory judgment action against Respondents the South Carolina Department…
Date: August 16, 2017
Docket Number: 27732
Justia Opinion Summary: Renwick Mose appealed the dismissal of his application for post-conviction relief. The application was denied for being three days past the statute of limitations period ended, but Mose contended he delivered the…
Date: August 2, 2017
Docket Number: 27731
Justia Opinion Summary: The Respondents were the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina (Disassociated Diocese); the Trustees of the Protestant Episcopal Church in South Carolina (Trustees); and thirty-six individual…
Date: July 26, 2017
Docket Number: 27728
Justia Opinion Summary: The issue in this case arose from classifications contained in South Carolina's domestic violence statutes. Specifically, the classifications provided that only "Household member[s]," defined as, inter alia, a "male and…
Date: July 26, 2017
Docket Number: 27729
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Daufuskie Island Utility Company ("DIUC") appeals an order of the South Carolina Public Service Commission ("Commission") granting only thirty-nine percent of the additional revenue requested in its…
Date: July 26, 2017
Docket Number: 27730
Justia Opinion Summary: A minor may bring an action for her own medical expenses if she the "real party in interest.” Alexia L. was born on April 5, 2007, delivered by obstetrician Gregory Miller, M.D. Alexia's mother, Angela Patton, filed a…
Date: July 19, 2017
Docket Number: 27724
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner and his “enlisted cohorts” went to, in petitioner’s estimation, peacefully retrieve his forty-seven-inch plasma-screen television from Kevin Bowens (Victim). Victim was shot and killed on his property by one…
Date: July 19, 2017
Docket Number: 27725
Justia Opinion Summary: The Surface Water Withdrawal, Permitting, Use, and Reporting Act regulated surface water withdrawals in South Carolina. Surface water is defined as "all water that is wholly or partially within the State . . . or within…
Date: July 19, 2017
Docket Number: 27726
Justia Opinion Summary: Farid Mangal was convicted of criminal sexual conduct with a minor, lewd act upon a child, and incest. After his convictions were affirmed, Mangal filed this action for post-conviction relief (PCR), arguing trial counsel…
Date: July 19, 2017
Docket Number: 27727
Justia Opinion Summary: The South Carolina Supreme Court accepted a declaratory judgment matter in its original jurisdiction to determine if Respondents-Petitioners Quicken Loans, Inc. and Title Source, Inc. engaged in the unauthorized practice…
Date: June 28, 2017
Docket Number: 27708
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Henton Clemmons, Jr. injured his back and neck while working at Lowe's Home Center and brought a claim for disability benefits under the scheduled-member statute of the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Act…
Date: June 21, 2017
Docket Number: 27723
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant's unrelenting inappropriate conduct in the South Carolina courts necessitated that certain restrictions be placed upon Appellant's pro se access to the courts to curb her abuse of the judicial process. In a…
Date: May 31, 2017
Docket Number: 27722
Justia Opinion Summary: A jury convicted Ricky Lee Blackwell of kidnapping and killing eight-year-old Heather Brooke Center ("Brooke"), the daughter of his ex-wife's boyfriend, and recommended a sentence of death. After twenty-six years of…
Date: May 17, 2017
Docket Number: 27719
Justia Opinion Summary: Comparative negligence does not apply in crashworthiness cases, and that South Carolina's public policy does not bar a plaintiff, allegedly intoxicated at the time of the accident, from bringing a crashworthiness claim…
Date: May 17, 2017
Docket Number: 27720
Justia Opinion Summary: The South Carolina Supreme Court answered two certified questions of South Carolina law, posed by the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. These questions arose from two sets of litigation…
Date: May 11, 2017
Docket Number: 27718
Justia Opinion Summary: The University of South Carolina and the university's booster club, known as the Gamecock Club (Petitioners), and several Gamecock Club members (Respondents) fought over parking spaces. As part of the bargain Respondents…
Date: May 3, 2017
Docket Number: 27716
Justia Opinion Summary: Justin B. was found delinquent for committing criminal sexual conduct with a minor in the first degree. The family court imposed the mandatory, statutory requirement that he register as a sex offender and wear an…
Date: April 26, 2017
Docket Number: 27714
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant Carus Corp. (Carus) was an international company that developed and sold chemical products for municipal and industrial applications. Defendant's products included a chemical called Totalox, which essentially,…
Date: April 26, 2017
Docket Number: 27715
Justia Opinion Summary: Respondent Walter Smith was injured in December 2012 following a motor vehicle accident. Smith settled with respondent Corbett Mizzell for the policy limits of Mizzell's liability coverage in exchange for a covenant not…
Date: April 19, 2017
Docket Number: 27711
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner LeAndra Lewis sought workers' compensation benefits for injuries she suffered following a shooting in a night club operated by L.B. Dynasty. In a previous opinion, the South Carolina Supreme Court held Lewis…
Date: March 29, 2017
Docket Number: 27701
Justia Opinion Summary: Bobby Stone shot and killed Charlie Kubala of the Sumter County Sheriff's Office. After the Supreme Court affirmed his murder conviction and death sentence, Stone filed an application for post-conviction relief (PCR)…
Date: March 29, 2017
Docket Number: 27709
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant Retail Services owned and operated three separate liquor store locations in Charleston, Greenville, and Columbia, South Carolina. SCDOR was charged with the administration of South Carolina's statutes…
Date: March 8, 2017
Docket Number: 27708
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Henton Clemmons, Jr. injured his back and neck while working at Lowe's Home Center in Columbia. Although all the medical evidence indicated Clemmons had lost more than fifty percent of the use of his back, the…
Date: February 22, 2017
Docket Number: 27706
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Alphonso Thompson was convicted of trafficking in cocaine in excess of 400 grams, possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, and possession with intent to distribute ("PWID") marijuana.…
Date: February 22, 2017
Docket Number: 27707
Justia Opinion Summary: The South Carolina Supreme Court accepted this declaratory judgment action in its original jurisdiction to determine whether Community Management Group, LLC; its president, Stephen Peck; and its employee, Tom Moore,…
Date: February 15, 2017
Docket Number: 27705
Justia Opinion Summary: A jury found Jeffrey Chapman met the statutory definition of a sexually violent predator (SVP) as set forth in South Carolina's Sexually Violent Predator Act (the Act), and the trial court subsequently signed an order to…
Date: February 8, 2017
Docket Number: 27701
Justia Opinion Summary: Bobby Stone shot and killed Charlie Kubala of the Sumter County Sheriff's Office. Stone filed an application for post-conviction relief (PCR) alleging he received ineffective assistance of counsel. The PCR court denied…
Date: February 1, 2017
Docket Number: 27700
Justia Opinion Summary: Hampton Hall Club, Inc. was a nonprofit organization in Beaufort County. Respondent Brad Lightner was a member of Hampton Hall, and filed this action individually, and on behalf of all others similarly situated against…
Date: January 11, 2017
Docket Number: 27698
Justia Opinion Summary: The Riverwalk at Arrowhead Country Club and Magnolia North Horizontal Property Regime developments were constructed between 1997 and 2000. After construction was complete and the units were sold, the purchasers became…
Date: January 5, 2017
Docket Number: 27694
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner-defendant Charles Cain appealed after he was convicted for trafficking methamphetamine. He argued the State produced insufficient evidence as to the quantity of drugs required for trafficking, and thus the…
Date: January 5, 2017
Docket Number: 27695
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner Michael Gonzales was convicted for trafficking 400 grams or more of methamphetamine, for which he was sentenced to thirty years’ imprisonment. Petitioner applied for post-conviction relief (PCR), arguing his…
Date: January 5, 2017
Docket Number: 27696
Justia Opinion Summary: Ruben Ramirez was sixteen years old when he was indicted for assault and battery with intent to kill, kidnapping, first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, first-degree burglary, and lewd act upon a child. The…
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