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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, November 7, 2018
Supreme Court Courtroom
 09:30 a.m. (Time Limits: 15-15-5)  
2016-002360   Arkay, LLC and Robert R. Knoth, its member, Petitioners, v. City of Charleston, City of Charleston Board of Zoning Appeals, Andrew Pinckney Inn, and Michael A. Molony, Respondents.

Capers G. Barr, III, of Barr Unger & McIntosh, LLC, of Charleston, for Petitioners. Frances Isaac Cantwell and Daniel S. McQueeney, Jr., both of Charleston; and Wilbur E. Johnson, of Young Clement Rivers, and Thomas S. Tisdale, Jr., of Hellman Yates & Tisdale, PA, both of Charleston, all for Respondents.

Petitioners were denied a special exception use permit and a variance by the City of Charleston Board of Zoning Appeals to operate a horse carriage stable within the historic Market Street District. The circuit court reversed and ordered Petitioners be given a special exception use permit. The court of appeals then reversed the circuit court. Arkay, LLC v. City of Charleston, 418 S.C. 86, 791 S.E.2d 305 (Ct. App. 2016). This Court granted Petitioners a writ of certiorari to review the court of appeals' decision.

 10:00 a.m. (Time Limits: 15-15-5)  
2016-001975   The State, Respondent, v. Michael Scott Simmons, Appellant.

Appellate Defender Susan B. Hackett, of Columbia, for Appellant. Attorney General Alan M. Wilson and Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General William M. Blitch, Jr., both of Columbia, for Respondent.

Appellant was convicted of six counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in the second degree. The Court certified this case for review pursuant to Rule 204(b), SCACR, to consider the following issues on appeal: (1) whether section 16-15-405 of the South Carolina Code, which criminalizes the sexual exploitation of a minor, is unconstitutionally overbroad; (2) whether the trial court erred in finding Appellant opened the door to the introduction of a computer forensic examiner's testimony regarding the contents of an external hard drive; (3) whether the trial court erred in refusing to suppress evidence seized pursuant to a search warrant; and (4) whether the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury on third-party guilt.

 10:30 a.m. (Time Limits: 10-10-5)  
2017-001160   Jeffrey Kennedy, Petitioner, v. Richland County School District Two, Eric Barnes, and Chuck Earles, Respondents.

Rachel G. Peavy and T. Jeff Goodwyn, Jr., both of Goodwyn Law Firm, LLC, of Columbia, for Petitioner. Kathryn Long Mahoney and Thomas K. Barlow, both of Halligan Mahoney Williams Smith Fawley & Reagle, PA, of Columbia, for Respondents.

The Court granted certiorari to review the court of appeals' decision in Kennedy v. Richland Cty. Sch. Dist. Two, Op. No. 2017-UP-040 (S.C. Ct. App. filed Jan. 25, 2017).

Thursday, November 8, 2018
Supreme Court Courtroom
 09:30 a.m. (Time Limits: 15-15-5)  
2017-000683   Otha Delaney, Petitioner, v. First Financial of Charleston, Inc., Respondent.

Philip L. Fairbanks and Frederick M. Corley, both of the Law Offices of Philip Fairbanks, LLC, of Beaufort; and Kathy D. Lindsay, of Kathy D. Lindsay, P.A., of Beaufort, all for Petitioner. Stephen Lynwood Brown, Russell Grainger Hines, and Perry McPherson Buckner, IV, all of Young Clement Rivers, LLP, of Charleston, for Respondent.

We granted certiorari to review the court of appeals' decision affirming the circuit court's grant of Respondent's motion to dismiss based on the untimeliness of Petitioner's action seeking statutory damages for Respondent's alleged failure to send him reasonable notification of the disposition of collateral, pursuant to Article 9 of the UCC.

 10:00 a.m. (Time Limits: 15-15-5)  
2017-001382   Skydive Myrtle Beach, Inc. (f/k/a Skydive Myrtle Beach, LLC), Petitioner, v. Horry County, Horry County Department of Airports, H. Randolph Haldi, Pat Apone, Tim Jackson and Jack Teal, Defendants, Of whom H. Randolph Haldi, Pat Apone, Tim Jackson and Jack Teal are Respondents.

Robert Bratton Varnado and Alexis W. McCumber, both of Brown & Varnado, LLC, of Mt. Pleasant, for Petitioner. Samuel F. Arthur, III, of Aiken Bridges Elliott Tyler & Saleeby, P.A. of Florence, for Respondents.

The Court granted certiorari to review the court of appeals' decision in Skydive Myrtle Beach, Inc. v. Horry County, Op. No. 2017-UP-118 (S.C. Ct. App. filed Mar. 8, 2017), in which the court of appeals affirmed the circuit court's order dismissing Petitioner's complaint with prejudice.

 10:30 a.m. (Time Limits: 15-15-5)  
2018-001455   The Senate of the State of South Carolina, by and through its President Pro Tempore, the Honorable Hugh K. Leatherman, Sr., Petitioner, v. His Excellency Henry D. McMaster, in his official capacity as Governor of the State of South Carolina, and Charles M. Condon, Respondents.

John Carroll Moylan, III and Matthew Terry Richardson, both of Wyche, P.A., of Columbia; Wade Stackhouse Kolb, III, of Wyche, P.A., of Greenville and Andrew James Montgomery Bentz, pro hac vice, of Columbia, SC, for Petitioner. Chief Legal Counsel Richele K. Taylor and Deputy Legal Counsel Thomas A. Limehouse, Jr., both of Office of the Governor, of Columbia and J. Robert Bolchoz, of Robert Bolchoz, LLC, of Columbia, for Respondents. William C. Hubbard, B. Rush Smith, III, A. Mattison Bogan and Carmen Harper Thomas, all of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP, of Columbia, and Senior Vice President and General Counsel J. Michael Baxley, of Moncks Corner, for amicus curiae, South Carolina Public Service Authority.

The Court granted a petition for original jurisdiction to review South Carolina Governor Henry D. McMaster's appointment of Charles Condon as Chair of the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Public Service Commission (Santee Cooper) while the South Carolina Senate was in recess.

Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Supreme Court Courtroom
 09:30 a.m. (Time Limits: 10-10-5)  
2017-000979   First Citizens Bank and Trust Company, Inc., Respondent, v. Park at Durbin Creek, LLC; Kenneth E. Clifton; and Linda G. Whiteman; Defendants, Of whom Park at Durbin Creek, LLC and Kenneth E. Clifton are the Petitioners.

James Calhoun Pruitt, Jr., and Joshua B. Raffini, both of Pruitt & Pruitt, of Anderson, for Petitioner. James H. Cassidy, Ella S. Barbery, and Joseph Owen Smith all of Roe Cassidy Coates & Price, PA, of Greenville, for Respondent.

First Citizens Bank and Trust Company, Inc., a judgment creditor, brought an action against defendants, seeking to set aside a conveyance of property from petitioner Kenneth Clifton and defendant Linda Whiteman to petitioner Park at Durbin Creek, LLC as fraudulent under the Statute of Elizabeth. After a bench trial, the circuit judge issued an order setting aside the conveyance as fraudulent. The Court of Appeals affirmed. First Citizens Bank & Tr. Co., Inc. v. Park at Durbin Creek, LLC, 419 S.C. 333, 797 S.E.2d 409 (Ct. App. 2017). This Court granted petitioners' writ of certiorari to determine whether the Court of Appeals erred in affirming the circuit judge's order setting aside only half of the alleged fraudulent conveyance.

 10:00 a.m. (Time Limits: 10-10-5)  
2018-000566   Betty Fisher and Lisa Fisher, Appellants, v. Bessie Huckabee, Kay Passailaigue Slade and Sandra Byrd, Respondents. In the Matter of the Estate of Alice Shaw-Baker.

Lisa Fisher and Betty Fisher, both of Long Beach, California, pro se Appellants. Jessica Lynn Crowley, of Charleston and Warren W. Wills, III, of Folly Beach, for Respondents.

This case involves an appeal from a will contest involving claims of undue influence and revocation. Appellants also appeal an order imposing sanctions on them under the South Carolina Frivolous Proceedings Act and Rule 11, SCRCP.

 10:30 a.m. (Time Limits: 10-10-5)  
2018-000662   Ex Parte: John Hughes Cooper, Appellant, In Re: Betty Fisher and Lisa Fisher, Plaintiffs, v. Bessie Huckabee, Kay Passailaigue Slade, and Sandra Byrd, Respondents.

Barbara M. Seymour, of Clawson & Staubes, LLC, of Columbia, for Appellant. Jessica Lynn Crowley, of Charleston and W. Warren Wills, III, of Folly Beach, for Respondents.

This case involves an appeal by an in-state attorney who was sanctioned as a result of actions taken during his association with an out-of-state attorney's pro hac vice admission.

Thursday, November 29, 2018
Supreme Court Courtroom
 09:30 a.m. (Time Limits: 15-15-5)  
2017-001033   In the Matter of the Care and Treatment of Daryl Snow, a/k/a Darrell Thaddeus Snow, a/k/a Daryl T. Snow, Petitioner.

Appellate Defender David Alexander, of Columbia, for Petitioner. Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson and Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General Deborah R.J. Shupe, both of Columbia, for Respondent.

The Court issued a writ of certiorari to review the court of appeals' decision in Matter of Snow, Op. No. 2017-UP-009 (S.C. Ct. App. filed Jan. 11, 2017), in which the court of appeals affirmed Petitioner's commitment under the South Carolina Sexually Violent Predator Act.

 10:00 a.m. (Time Limits: 10-10-5)  
2017-001277   The State, Respondent, v. Michael Edward Gentile, Petitioner.

Appellate Defender Kathrine Haggard Hudgins, of Columbia, for Petitioner. Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson and Assistant Attorney General William Frederick Schumacher, IV, both of Columbia; and Solicitor David Michael Pascoe, Jr., of Orangeburg, for Respondent.

Michael Edward Gentile was convicted of committing a lewd act on a minor. The court of appeals affirmed. State v. Gentile, Op. No. 2017-UP-108 (S.C. Ct. App. filed Mar. 8, 2017). This Court granted Gentile's petition for a writ of certiorari to address whether the court of appeals erred in upholding the trial court's denial of Gentile's motion to quash the indictment for committing a lewd act on a minor.

 

Cases to be Submitted Without Oral Argument

Dan L. Temple, Petitioner, v. State of South Carolina, Respondent.

Appellate Defender Lara Mary Caudy, of Columbia, for Petitioner. Attorney General Alan M. Wilson and Assistant Attorney General Lindsey Ann McCallister, both of Columbia, for Respondent.

Betty Fisher, Petitioner, v. Bessie Huckabee, Respondent. Lisa Fisher, Petitioner, v. Bessie Huckabee, Respondent.

Betty Fisher and Lisa Fisher, both of Long Beach California, pro se Petitioners. Jessica Lynn Crowley, of Crowley Law Firm, LLC, of Charleston, for Respondent.

Robert Osbey, Petitioner, v. State of South Carolina, Respondent.

Appellate Defender LaNelle Cantey DuRant, of Columbia, for Petitioner. Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson and Assistant Attorney General Jordan Adraine Cox, both of Columbia, for Respondent.