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South Carolina
Judicial Branch
Supreme Court - Roster of Cases for Hearing

   
The summary below each case is prepared to offer lawyers and the public a general overview of what issues are included in a case which will be argued. The summary is not a limit on what issues a party to a case may present at oral argument.
Wednesday, October 19, 2022
Supreme Court Courtroom
 10:00 a.m. (Time Limits: 30-30-15)  
2022-001062   Planned Parenthood South Atlantic; Greenville Women's Clinic; Katherine Farris, M.D.; and Terry Buffkin, M.D., Petitioners, v. State of South Carolina; Alan McCrory Wilson, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the State of South Carolina; Edward Simmer, in his official capacity as Director of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control; Anne G. Cook, in her official capacity as President of the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners; Stephen I. Schabel, in his official capacity as Vice President of the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners; Ronald Januchowski, in his official capacity as Secretary of the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners; George S. Dilts, in his official capacity as a Member of the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners; Dion Franga, in his official capacity as a Member of the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners; Richard Howell, in his official capacity as a Member of the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners; Theresa Mills-Floyd, in her official capacity as a Member of the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners; Jennifer R. Root, in her official capacity as a Member of the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners; Christopher C. Wright, in his official capacity as a Member of the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners; Scarlett A. Wilson, in her official capacity as Solicitor for South Carolina's 9th Judicial Circuit; Byron E. Gipson, in his official capacity as Solicitor for South Carolina's 5th Judicial Circuit; and William Walter Wilkins III, in his official capacity as Solicitor for South Carolina's 13th Judicial Circuit, Respondents, & G. Murrell Smith, Jr., in his official capacity as Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives; Thomas C. Alexander, in his official capacity as President of the South Carolina Senate; and Henry McMaster, in his official capacity as Governor of the State of South Carolina, Respondents-Intervenors.

M. Malissa Burnette, Kathleen McColl McDaniel and Grant Burnette LeFever, all of Burnette Shutt & McDaniel, PA, of Columbia; and Julia A. Murray and Hannah Swanson, both of Washington, DC, all for Petitioner Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, et al. Genevieve Scott and Astrid Ackerman, of New York, NY, for Petitioner Greenville Women's Clinic, et al. Jacquelyn S. Dickman, Ashley Carolina Biggers and William Marshall Taylor, Jr., all of Columbia for Respondent South Carolina Department of Health & Environmental Control. Robert E. Horner and Erin Baldwin, both of Columbia, for Respondents Anne G. Cook, M.D., et al. AND The SC Board of Medical Examiners. Robert David Garfield and Steven R Spreeuwers, both of Columbia, for Respondent Solicitor Byron E. Gipson. Amanda Kurzen Dudgeon and James Matthew Johnson, both of Charleston, for Respondent Solicitor Scarlett Anne Wilson. Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson, Solicitor General Robert D. Cook, Deputy Solicitor General J. Emory Smith, Jr., and Assistant Deputy Solicitor General Thomas Tyler Hydrick, all of Columbia, for Respondents-Intervenors The State, Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson and Solicitor William Walter Wilkins, III. Kevin A. Hall and Matthew Todd Carroll, both of Columbia for Respondents Speaker G. Murrell Smith, Jr., and President Thomas C. Alexander. Chief Legal Counsel Thomas Ashley Limehouse, Senior Legal Counsel William Grayson Lambert and Deputy Legal Counsel Erica Wells Shedd, all of Columbia, for Intervenor-Respondent Governor Henry D. McMaster. Randall Scott Hiller, of Randall Scott Hill, P.A., of Greenville; Kimberly A. Parker, of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, LLP, of Washington, DC; and Jessica Notebaert, of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, LLP, of Boston, MA; all for American College of American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, et al., Amicus Curiae. Brennan Tyler Brooks, of Law Office of B. Tyler Brooks, PLLC, of Greensboro, NC, and Matthew Staver, of Liberty Counsel, of Maitland, FL, both for Frederick Douglas Foundation, et al., Amicus Curiae. Andrew C. Nichols, of Charis Lex P.C., of Reston, VA, and Timothy J. Newton, of Murphy & Grantland, P.A., of Columbia, for Christian Medical and Dental Association, Amicus Curiae. Barry L. Johnson, William Lamar Johnson, II, both of Johnson & Davis, P.A., of Bluffton, SC, for American Center for Law & Justice, Amicus Curiae. Samuel Darryl Harms, III, of Greenville, for Elliott Institute, Amicus Curiae. Henry Wilkins Frampton, IV, and Denise M. Harle, both of Alliance Defending Freedom, of Leesburg, VA, for American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, et al., Amicus Curiae. Larry Shawn Sullivan, of Sullivan Law Group SC, of Myrtle Beach, and John G. Knepper, of Law Office of John G. Knepper, LLC, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, for American College of Hippocratic Medicine, Amicus Curiae.

This Court has granted a petition for original jurisdiction to consider whether the South Carolina Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act, Sections 44-41-610 to -740 of the South Carolina Code, violates several provisions of the South Carolina Constitution.

Tuesday, October 25, 2022
Rock Hill
 10:00 a.m. (Time Limits: 10-10-5)  
2021-000313   The State, Respondent, v. Tappia Deangelo Green, Petitioner..

Appellate Defender Joanna Katherine Delany, of Columbia, for Petitioner. Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson, Senior Assistant Attorney General Mark Reynolds Farthing, of Columbia and Solicitor, Ninth Judicial Circuit, Scarlett Anne Wilson, of Charleston, for Respondent.

The Court granted a writ of certiorari to review the court of appeals' decision in State v. Green, 432 S.C. 572, 854 S.E.2d 626 (Ct. App. 2021).

 11:00 a.m. (Time Limits: 15-15-5)  
2021-001052   The State, Respondent, v. Joshua C. Reher, Petitioner.

Appellate Defender, Jessica M. Saxon, of Columbia, for Petitioner. Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson, Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General William M. Blitch, Jr., both of Columbia and Solicitor, Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Samuel R. Hubbard, III, of Lexington, for Respondent.

Petitioner Joshua Reher was acquitted of attempted murder but found guilty of the lesser-included offense of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. The issue on appeal concerns the admission of videos and photographs of a firearms experiment conducted by the State's investigator. The trial court allowed the State to admit this evidence, and the court of appeals affirmed.

Wednesday, October 26, 2022
Rock Hill
 10:00 a.m. (Time Limits: 15-15-5)  
2021-001390   USAA Casualty Insurance Company, Plaintiff, v. Vincent J. Rafferty, Jr., as personal representative of the Estate of Megan Walters Jenkins, Defendants.

J.R. Murphy,Megan Walker and Wesley B. Sawyer, all of Murphy & Grantland, Columbia, for Plaintiff. Mark J. Bringardner of Bringardner Injury Law Firm, LLC; and Bert G. Utsey, III, of Clawson Fargnoli Utsey, LLC all of Charleston for Defendants.

The United States District Court for the District of South Carolina certified the following question for this Court's consideration: Under South Carolina law, may an automobile insurer limit underinsured motorist property damage coverage to vehicles defined in its policy as "covered autos"?

 11:00 a.m. (Time Limits: 15-15-5)  
2021-000243   Nationwide Affinity Insurance Company of America, Appellant, v. Andrew Green, Respondent.

John Robert Murphy, Wesley Brian Sawyer, Murphy & Grantland, PA, of Columbia, for Appellants. Matthew Thomas Foss, Alexis Wimberly McCumber, Eric Marc Poulin, Roy T. Willey, IV, of Anastopoulo Law Firm, LLC, of Charleston, for Respondent.

We certified this appeal to determine whether the circuit court erred in reforming Nationwide's underinsured motorist endorsement to include broader property damage coverage than that provided in the Nationwide policy.