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5522 - Lollis v. Dutton

Appellants/Respondents, Kathleen Lollis and Linda Campbell, and Respondents/Appellants, Lisa Dutton, Dennis Dutton, and Kelsey Dutton (collectively, the Duttons), have filed cross-appeals from the circuit court's order in this declaratory judgment action. Appellants/Respondents argue the circuit court erred by concluding (1) Kathleen Lollis (Mother), through her late son, Frank Lollis (Frank), entered into binding contracts with Lisa Dutton and Dennis Dutton to sell two tracts of land and (2) Lisa Dutton (Lisa) overpaid Appellants/Respondents by $850.96. The Duttons argue the circuit court erred by declining to award them attorney's fees and costs. We affirm the circuit court's conclusions that the disputed contracts were binding and Lisa overpaid Appellants/Respondents. Further, we vacate the denial of attorney's fees and costs and remand this issue to the circuit court.

11-22-2017 - Opinions

5523 - Edwin M. Smith, Jr. v. David Fedor

Edwin Smith, Jr. appeals the trial court's order granting David Fedor's motion for relief from judgment, arguing (1) the trial court erred in refusing to consider the confidential settlement agreement in determining whether Fedor satisfied the confession of judgment, (2) the trial court should have considered the merits of Smith's motion for reconsideration even though it was not provided to the court within ten days of filing, and (3) this court should remand the matter to the trial court for denial of the motion for relief from judgment because the confidential settlement agreement is sufficiently clear, explicit, and unambiguous. We affirm.

5524 - Wadette Cothrane v. State Farm

Appellant State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm) appeals the circuit court's grant of summary judgment to Respondents Wadette and Chris Cothran. The Cothrans brought this action against State Farm alleging breach of an insurance contract and breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing. State Farm argues the circuit court erred by granting summary judgment in the Cothrans' favor because our supreme court's precedent was controlling and holding public policy prohibited insurers offering personal injury protection benefits from reducing those benefits by the amount an insured receives from a workers' compensation policy. We reverse because neither section 38-77-144 of the South Carolina Code (2015) nor public policy prohibits the type of exclusion at issue in this case.