Supreme Court Seal
Supreme Court Seal
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.
Monday, November 8, 2021
Supreme Court Courtroom
 10:30 a.m. (Time Limits: 15-15-5)  
2020-001102   Books-A-Million, Inc., Petitioner, v. South Carolina Department of Revenue, Respondent.

Burnet R. Maybank, III and James Peter Rourke both of Nexsen Pruet, LLC of Columbia for Petitioner. Adam J. Neil, Sean G. Ryan, Jason P. Luther, of Columbia, for Respondent. Anthony E. Rebollo, Benjamin Palmer Carlton, Carmen Vaughn Ganjehsani, of Richardson Plowden & Robinson, P.A., of Columbia, for Amici Curiae Warehouse Home Furnishings Distributors, Inc.

The question before the Court is whether amounts collected by Books-A-Million from membership fees and renewals is considered as part of the gross proceeds subject to sales tax.

 11:30 a.m. (Time Limits: 15-15-5)  
2020-000930   The State, Respondent, v. Justin Jamal Warner, Petitioner.

Chief Appellate Defender Robert M. Dudek and Appellate Defender Adam Sinclair Ruffin, both of Columbia, for Petitioner. Attorney General Alan Wilson, Deputy Attorney General Donald J. Zelenka, Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General Melody J. Brown and William Edgar Salter, III, all of Columbia, for Respondent.

The Court granted a writ of certiorari to review the court of appeals' decision in State v. Warner, 430 S.C. 76, 842 S.E.2d 361 (Ct. App. 2020). The Court will determine whether the trial court was correct in admitting cell site location information and an out-of-court identification without a hearing.

Tuesday, November 9, 2021
Supreme Court Courtroom
 09:30 a.m. (Time Limits: 20-20-10)  
2019-001008   The State, Respondent, v. Timothy Ray Jones, Jr., Appellant.

Chief Appellate Defender Robert Michael Dudek, Appellate Defender David Alexander, Appellate Defender Lara Mary Caudy, Appellate Defender Taylor Davis Gilliam all of Columbia, for Appellant. Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson, Deputy Attorney General Donald J. Zelenka, Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General Melody Jane Brown, Assistant Attorney General Tommy Evans, Jr., all of Columbia, and Samuel R. Hubbard, III, Solicitor, Eleventh Judicial Circuit, of Lexington, for Respondent.

A jury found Timothy Ray Jones Jr. guilty of five counts of murder and sentenced him to death. In this direct appeal, Jones challenges his conviction and sentence, alleging the trial court erred by qualifying and disqualifying certain jurors, refusing to instruct the jury on the consequences of a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict, failing to suppress evidence obtained at a safety checkpoint, excluding relevant mitigating evidence during sentencing, and admitting autopsy photographs of the victims.

 11:00 a.m. (Time Limits: 15-15-5)  
2020-000667   The Callawassie Island Members Club, Inc., Respondent, v. Gregory L. Martin and Rebecca L. Martin, Defendants, and The Callawassie Island Members Club, Inc., Respondent, v. Michael J. Frey and Grace I. Frey, Defendants, and The Callawassie Island Members Club, Inc., Respondent, v. Mark K. Quinn and Sherry B. Quinn, Defendants, Of Whom Michael J. Frey is the Petitioner.

Ian S. Ford, Neil D. Thomson and Ainsley F. Tillman, all of Ford Wallace Thomson, LLC., of Charleston, for Petitioners. Andrew F. Lindemann, of Lindemann and Davis, PA, of Columbia, M. Dawes Cooke, Jr. and John W. Fletcher, all of Barnwell, Whaley, Patterson and Helms, LLC, of Charleston, and Stephen P. Hughes, of Howell, Gibson and Hughes, of Beaufort, for Respondents.

We granted a petition for a writ of certiorari to review the decision of the court of appeals in Callawassie Island Members Club, Inc., v. Martin, Op. No. 2019-UP-393 (S.C. Ct. App. filed Dec. 18, 2019), which upheld the circuit court's grant of summary judgment and awards of damages and attorney's fees to Respondent in a dispute over club membership. Petitioners challenge the grant of summary judgment and the monetary awards, arguing, inter alia, that the court of appeals misconstrued precedent in a similar matter involving Respondent's membership policies, disregarded established principles of contract law and the Nonprofit Corporation Act, improperly denied Petitioners' counterclaims, and deprived Petitioners of appellate review of the attorney's fees issue.

Wednesday, November 10, 2021
Supreme Court Courtroom
 09:30 a.m. (Time Limits: 15-15-5)  
2020-001262   The State, Respondent, v. Joseph Campbell Williams, II, Petitioner.

J. Falkner Wilkes, of Greenville, for Petitioner. Attorney General Alan Wilson and Assistant Attorney General Joshua A, Edwards, both of Columbia, and Solicitor, Thirteenth Judicial Circuit W. Walter Wilkins, III, of Greenville, for Respondent.

The Court granted a writ of certiorari to review the court of appeals' decision in State v. Williams, Op. No. 2020-UP-199 (S.C. Ct. App. filed July 1, 2020).

 10:30 a.m. (Time Limits: 15-15-5)  
2020-001337   Progressive Direct Insurance Co., and USAA General Indemnity Company, Petitioners, v. Shanna Groves as the Personal Representative of the Estate of Lynn Harrison, Respondent.

Wesley Brian Sawyer and John Robert Murphy, both of Murphy and Grantland, PA, of Columbia, for Petitioners. John Phillips Linton, of Walker Gressette Freeman & Linton, LLC, of Charleston, and Ryan Harris Sigal, of Miller, Dawson, Sigal & Ward, LLC, of North Charleston, for Respondent.

In this automobile insurance case involving a drive-by shooting, the circuit court granted summary judgment in favor of the insurance company, which had denied coverage. The court of appeals reversed, finding there was a causal connection between the vehicle and the injury and that no act of independent significance broke the causal link. This Court subsequently granted certiorari.