Supreme Court of South Carolina, 1991

The court affirmed a verdict awarding actual and punitive damages against Southern Bell arising from the removal and prolonged absence of a stop sign during telephone-line work. It held that agency, the applicability of the vandalism statute, and the plaintiff's standing were properly resolved or submitted, and that…

The court affirmed Torrence’s convictions and life sentence but reversed his death sentence and remanded for a new sentencing proceeding because the jury was not given accurate information about his parole ineligibility if it imposed another life sentence.

The court affirmed summary judgment on the property-damage and four nuisance claims, but reversed the partial summary judgments on the personal-injury claims and remanded. It held that the discovery rulings improperly barred the plaintiffs’ medical evidence and that, although their expert’s letter did not establish…

The court held that the permissive-user issue was not properly before the Court of Appeals because Penn National did not move under Rule 59(e) to amend or alter the circuit court's judgment on that ground.

The court held that attorney fees in domestic-relations matters may not be calculated as a percentage of the recovery and must instead rest on a reasonable hourly fee. It reduced the fee award from $150,000 to the reasonable hourly total of $51,998.75, affirming the award as modified.