Overlawyered » South Carolina

You served me the alcohol, now pay for my crash

Walter Olson — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:07:57 +0000

“A South Carolina woman is suing the bar that served her alcohol as a minor the night she had a car accident that left her paralyzed. Chelsea Hess, 22, is also suing the South Carolina Department of Transportation, the town of Bluffton and Beaufort County for negligence for allegedly not maintaining the road shoulder she drove her car over in her accident.” [ABC via @amyalkon]

Tags: dramshop statutes, personal responsibility, South Carolina

You served me the alcohol, now pay for my crash is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Coming Carolina and Colorado appearances

Walter Olson — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:18:02 +0000

Today I’m talking to state legislators courtesy of the American Legislative Exchange Council. Next week I head off for luncheon talks about my new book Schools for Misrule before Federalist Society lawyers’ chapters in Greenville, S.C. on Wed. Dec. 7, and Charlotte, N.C. on Thurs. Dec. 8. And then the following week I keynote the annual luncheon of the Colorado Civil Justice League Dec. 13 in Denver. If you’re in the audience, do introduce yourself!

Tags: Denver, live in person, North Carolina, South Carolina

Coming Carolina and Colorado appearances is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Fall speaking (and your chance to book): Chicago, S.C., Denver…

Walter Olson — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 17:02:50 +0000

I’m currently planning speaking trips that will take me to Chicago Nov. 7-8, Greenville, S.C. Dec. 7, Denver Dec. 13, and possibly Phoenix Dec. 1. If you’ve got a speaker’s series or organization that’s in one of these places or an easy travel jump away, consider saving on travel expenses by booking me for a talk around these dates. You can contact me directly at editor – [at] – overlawyered – dot – com or Diane Morris at the Cato Institute: dmorris – [at] – cato – dot – org.

Tags: Chicago, Denver, live in person, Phoenix, South Carolina

Fall speaking (and your chance to book): Chicago, S.C., Denver… is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Free” help from securities class action lawyers

Walter Olson — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 05:07:24 +0000

Following murmurs about pay-to-play, South Carolina has turned down offers from local powerhouse Motley Rice and from Labaton Sucharow, whose attorneys had donated $12,000 to Attorney General Alan Wilson. [The State]

Tags: attorneys general, class actions, Labaton Sucharow, Motley Rice, securities litigation, South Carolina

“Free” help from securities class action lawyers is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

May 12 roundup

Walter Olson — Thu, 12 May 2011 12:18:14 +0000

Alabama state senate bans knowingly giving illegal immigrant ride in your car [Katherine Mangu-Ward]
Cato U., dynamite summer seminar from my institute, being held this year in Annapolis Jul. 24-29;
Calif.: “64% of Prop 65 settlements go to attorneys’ fees” [CJAC, earlier]
Mississippi jury votes $322 million to individual asbestos claimant [Fair Warning, Mass Tort Prof]
“Emails: Attorney nixed S.C. train injury fund” [AP/The State]
Trump files $100 million counterclaim against customer who sued his “Trump University” [Atlantic Wire, earlier] More: Lowering the Bar.
Two, three, a trend? Another trial-lawyer movie, this time starring Mark Lanier [WSJ Law Blog]

Tags: Alabama, asbestos, Cato Institute, Donald Trump, immigration law, Mark Lanier, Mississippi, movies film and videos, Prop 65, South Carolina, train

May 12 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Revisiting The Unreasonably Dangerous Undergarment”

Walter Olson — Tue, 10 May 2011 14:51:53 +0000

More developments in “the case of the dangerously defective bra.” [Kevin Couch, Abnormal Use]

Tags: product liability, South Carolina

“Revisiting The Unreasonably Dangerous Undergarment” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

“Golfer Gored by Gator Sues Course Over Pond Design”

Walter Olson — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 05:28:16 +0000

“A golfer whose arm was torn off by an alligator during a round of golf in South Carolina has sued the course’s owner under the novel theory that the design of the course created an alligator hazard.” [OnPoint News]

Tags: animals, golf, South Carolina

“Golfer Gored by Gator Sues Course Over Pond Design” is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Found in a cookie jar?

Walter Olson — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 05:04:26 +0000

ABA Journal: “A South Carolina lawyer known for his TV commercials and billboards has turned over $994,000 in cash kept in a closet of his Myrtle Beach law office after a court-appointed bankruptcy investigator stressed the importance of disclosing his assets.” In initial filings, attorney Pavilack said he owed an estimated $72,500,000 to creditors and had $50,000 in assets; two months later he revised the asset disclosure upward to $8.9 million. A bankruptcy examiner says Pavilack’s financial affairs are in disarray and that it may be impossible to disentangle what he owns or where money went given a pattern of unexplained money transfers among a maze of business accounts. [Myrtle Beach Sun-News via Lowering the Bar]

Tags: debtor-creditor law, South Carolina

Found in a cookie jar? is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

October 25 roundup

Walter Olson — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 12:48:07 +0000

And she’s a psychology professor too: “Pro se litigant of the day” [ATL]
“Access to justice” makes handy slogan, but has its limits re: appeal bonds [Ted at PoL]
New Federalist Society white papers on Michigan, Illinois, California and Alabama supreme courts;
Per her opponent this year, CPSIA proponent and perennial Overlawyered bete noire Jan Schakowsky ranks as most left-wing member of Congress [ExtremeJan.com]
Naming opportunity at Faulkner U.’s Jones School of Law falls to Greg Jones of Beasley Allen [BA press release]
Lockyer pushes divestment of firms for taking wrong stance on ballot controversy [Coyote]
“Patent marking” suits continue to proliferate as Reps. Latta, Issa propose measures to curb opportunistic filings [Gray on Claims]
“South Carolina tobacco fees: how to farm money” [ten years ago on Overlawyered]

Tags: access to justice, Alabama, Bill Lockyer, California, Federalist Society, Illinois, Jan Schakowsky, Michigan, patent marking, pro se, South Carolina, state high courts

October 25 roundup is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system

Update: Branham v. Ford

Ted Frank — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 05:37:13 +0000

In 2006, I wrote:

In May 2001, Cheryl Jane Hale was driving four children to a sleepover in her 1987 Ford Bronco. She didn’t bother to have the children wear their seat belts, so, when she took her eyes off the road to argue with the backseat passengers, and thus drove off the road and flipped the car, 12-year-old Jesse Branham was thrown from the car and suffered brain damage. A jury in Hampton County, South Carolina (the second jury to be impaneled—the first one was dismissed in a mistrial when it was discovered after two weeks of trial that five of the jurors were former clients of Branham’s lawyers) decided that this was only 45% Hale’s fault, held Ford 55% responsible, which puts Ford entirely on the hook for $31 million in damages.

On Monday, the South Carolina Supreme Court reversed because of prejudicial closing arguments that relied heavily on inadmissible evidence. More importantly for lawyers practicing in South Carolina, the Court adopted “the risk-utility test with its requirement of showing a feasible alternative design.”

How bad of a judicial hellhole is Hampton County? Though Hale was a co-defendant, she cooperated with the plaintiffs throughout the trial in their case against Ford, even sitting at the plaintiffs’ table; but because the judge classified Hale as a co-defendant, it meant that Hale got half of the peremptory challenges of the “defense.” More from Comer; no press coverage that I’ve seen yet. (cross-posted from Point of Law)

Tags: autos, closing arguments, Ford Motor, joint and several liability, jury selection, personal responsibility, problem jurisdictions, product liability, seatbelts, South Carolina, SUVs

Update: Branham v. Ford is a post from Overlawyered - Chronicling the high cost of our legal system