South Carolina

Survey leads to multiple federal complaints of widespread discrimination against deaf renters

A yearlong national survey showed a “disturbing” amount of discrimination against deaf and hard-of-hearing would-be renters and led to the filing of nine federal fair-housing administrative complaints by advocacy groups and calls for better training of those who deal with individuals with hearing impairments. So-called matched-pair testing by the National…

Jan 27, 2014 7:40 PM CST

Judge mulls retrial in case of 14-year-old black youth tried and executed in 1944

A South Carolina prosecutor agrees that a 14-year-old black youth convicted and executed in 1944 for killing two white girls didn’t get a fair trial by today’s standards. But he argued on Tuesday that the case should not be retried. The prosecutor, Ernest “Chip” Finney III, argued that too much…

Jan 22, 2014 2:01 PM CST

S.C. prosecutors seek recusal of supreme court justice from all criminal cases for critical remarks

Thirteen of South Carolina’s 16 state prosecutors are seeking the recusal of South Carolina Supreme Court Justice Donald Beatty from all criminal appeals for remarks he allegedly made at a conference of prosecutors in September. Beatty allegedly told the audience of prosecutors that they had been “getting away with too…

Dec 4, 2013 7:35 PM CST

Are InfiLaw’s for-profit law schools succeeding? Plan to buy fourth school spurs concerns

Clarified: A group created by a private equity fund now owns three private law schools, but its planned acquisition of a fourth law school has spurred objections from alumni and faculty. The group is InfiLaw, created in 2004 with the backing of Chicago-based private-equity fund Sterling Partners, the Wall Street…

Oct 22, 2013 10:44 AM CDT

Supreme Court ruling in Baby Veronica case didn’t end the adoption dispute

Corrected: A Supreme Court ruling in June for the adoptive parents of the child known as Baby Veronica hasn’t ended the legal dispute over her custody. Baby Veronica just turned 4, and she is living with her father despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, the Washington Post reports. According to the…

Sep 16, 2013 4:43 PM CDT

Girlfriend, 69, found guilty of murder in slaying of lawyer, 79, and sentenced to life

Julia Phillips told authorities she had been bound with duct tape and dragged behind a brick wall by the same assailant who beat, shot and strangled a 79-year-old lawyer to death outside his South Carolina home in 2010. But they didn’t believe that, and neither did a York jury who…

Sep 6, 2013 3:12 PM CDT

Did longtime girlfriend plot to kill 79-year-old lawyer?

Julia Phillips may not have acted alone. But she was part of a plot to kill her longtime boyfriend, South Carolina attorney and York Mayor Melvin Roberts, 79, who was beaten, shot and strangled to death in his driveway in February 2010, prosecutors say. The state says Phillips, now 69…

Sep 3, 2013 8:40 PM CDT

Attorneys are federally indicted in claimed multimillion-dollar law practice frauds

The feds announced indictments this week against attorneys in two different states who are accused in claimed multimillion-dollar frauds concerning their law practices. In Illinois, attorney, radio talk-show host, author and financial adviser Kathleen Niew, 57, is accused of bilking a suburban Chicago couple of $2.3 million, the Chicago Tribune…

Aug 29, 2013 8:00 PM CDT

Suspended lawyer accused in claimed $1M-plus client extortion scheme takes mail-fraud plea

A prominent South Carolina lawyer accused of extorting over a $1 million from his clients pleaded guilty Wednesday to mail fraud in federal court in Columbia, one of 10 charges he had faced. As part of his plea deal, Richard J. Breibart, 62, will get a recommendation from prosecutors that…

Aug 28, 2013 8:50 PM CDT

Prosecuting attorney is accused of dismissing charges in exchange for sexual favors

A prosecuting attorney for a South Carolina town has been arrested based on accusations he dismissed charges in exchange for sexual favors. Union prosecuting attorney William “Billy” Whitney Jr., 65, was charged with misconduct in office, report the State, the Union Daily Times, the Spartanburg Herald Journal and Fox Carolina.…

Aug 27, 2013 3:11 PM CDT

Ron Motley—asbestos and tobacco ‘class-action pioneer’—has died

South Carolina lawyer Ronald L. Motley who led billion-dollar suits against the asbestos and tobacco industries died Thursday. He was 68. “Ron was a true giant of the legal profession. A trail blazer and innovator,” Motley’s longtime friend and Motley Rice co-founder Joe Rice said in a statement. Rice described…

Aug 22, 2013 10:43 PM CDT

Blogger reads between lines of NSA lawyer’s ‘false myths’ speech, knowing what we know now

Forbes blogger Kashmir Hill remembers a speech that National Security Agency general counsel Rajesh De made at Georgetown in February. “In light of recent reports that the NSA has been routinely sweeping up metadata from phone companies about all calls made in the United States, it’s worth revisiting the remarks…

Jun 7, 2013 1:30 PM CDT

Adams and Reese to acquire a 23-lawyer firm

For the second time this year, New Orleans-based Adams and Reese is expanding its attorney roster by acquiring another legal partnership. This time it’s 23-attorney Ellis Lawhorne. The Columbia, S.C., firm is expected to tie the knot with Adams and Reese on June 1, reports the Advocate. Together, the two…

May 22, 2013 10:29 AM CDT

Sex-reassignment surgery of infant in state’s care violated due process, adoptive parents allege

The adoptive parents of a baby born with both male and female genitalia claim the state of South Carolina violated their child’s constitutional rights by subjecting the child to sex-reassignment surgery. The child, identified as “M.C.,” was 16 months old when surgeons removed the toddler’s male genitals before the adoption,…

May 15, 2013 12:39 PM CDT

Ogletree leader says he quit over lawyer issue and will take group and $10M business book elsewhere

A now-former vice president of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Steward has made an unusual announcement. Don Prophete, 45, says he has resigned from the South Carolina-based national labor and employment boutique over a dispute about its treatment of a lawyer he recruited. Although he apparently has no firm plans…

Apr 3, 2013 9:16 PM CDT