Jack Daniel recently secured a voluntary dismissal of certain cross-claims asserted against their product supplier client in a construction defect case in Charleston County, South Carolina.  In this case, homeowner-plaintiffs sued various subcontractors, including a sprayfoam applicator and its principals, after renovations were performed on its home.  In response, the sprayfoam applicator and its principals brought third-party claims against Jack's client—the supplier of a chemical product used to produce the sprayfoam applied at the subject property.  After several amendments, the plaintiff eventually added Jack’s client as a direct defendant, and the sprayfoam applicator subsequently re-asserted its claims against their client as cross-claims for (1) Breach of Contract; (2) Negligence; and (3) Indemnity.  In August 2018, Jack filed a motion for summary judgment as to the sprayfoam applicator’s Breach of Contract and Negligence cross-claims in the Charleston County Circuit Court, arguing that (1) these cross-claims were nothing more than disguised claims for indemnity; (2) these cross-claims were barred because the rights of the sprayfoam applicator and its principals had been assigned to another company that was not a party to the lawsuit; and (3) the principals of the spray foam applicator had no standing to bring these cross-claims because they were not parties to the underlying agreement upon which they based their claims.  On the morning of the hearing in December 2018, opposing counsel contacted defense counsel and agreed to dismiss, with prejudice, these cross-claims for Breach of Contract and Negligence.  Thus, as a result of a filed motion and creative legal arguments, Jack secured a voluntary dismissal of two out of the three cross-claims asserted against his client in this case without incurring any additional expenses for a hearing and/or further briefing.

For informational purposes only. Past success does not indicate the likelihood of success in future cases.

Kent Stair, Bill Jones and the Design Professional Group presented How to Avoid, Manage and Resolve Claims Against Design Professionals and led a discussion regarding claims against design professionals which included advice on the best practices to avoid claims, how to handle claims when they cannot be avoided, and the various ways to resolve claims. This event was held at the Cobb Energy Centre on November 17. Please contact Patty O'Toole at potoole@csvl.law for more information.  

Carlock Copeland was a proud sponsor of the 2016 CLM Atlanta held at the W Atlanta - Downtown, 45 Ivan Allen Jr. Blvd., Atlanta, Georgia  30308 from May 19-20. Angela Kopet, Doug MacKelcan, and Jack Daniel attended.

We are proud to announce that 9 of our lawyers have been selected for inclusion on the South Carolina Super Lawyers® and Rising Stars® lists for 2016. Super Lawyers® Kent T. Stair - Construction Litigation Only five percent of the lawyers in the state are named by Super Lawyers®. The selections for this esteemed list are made by the research team at Super Lawyers®, which is a service of the Thomson Reuters. Each year, the research team at Super Lawyers® undertakes a rigorous multi-phase selection process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, independent evaluation of candidates by the attorney-led research staff, a peer review of candidates by practice area, and a good-standing and disciplinary check. Rising Stars® Andrew W. Countryman - Professional Liability Defense Jackson H. Daniel, III - Civil Litigation Defense Douglas W. MacKelcan - Civil Litigation Defense Patrick J. Norris - Construction Litigation Laura Paris Paton - Construction Litigation Lee C. Weatherly - Medical Malpractice Defense Tyler P. Winton - Construction Litigation Rising Stars® is a listing of exceptional lawyers who are 40 years of age or under, or who have been practicing for 10 years or less, and have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Only 2.5 percent of the total lawyers in the state are honored on the Rising Stars® list.