South Carolina Lawyers Weekly
The April 8th edition of South Carolina Lawyers Weekly features an article entitled “High court awards fees in failed election challenge.”
Senior staff writer at South Carolina Lawyers Weekly, Fred Horlbeck, writes about a recent decision by the South Carolina Supreme Court to not only deny three political candidates requests for new elections In Fairfield County, but to make them pay part of county’s defense costs. The candidates’ requests for new elections had already been rejected by both the Fairfield County Election Commission and the State County Election Commission before they petitioned the S.C. Supreme Court to hear their appeal.
Horlbeck spoke with Wyche attorney, John Moylan, who defended Fairfield County, who said it may have been the first time the Supreme Court had ever exacted such a penalty in an election protest case.
“There’s a statute that allows the Supreme Court to award costs to the prevailing party, and the Supreme Court did that in this instance. I am not aware of the court having done it before,” Moylan said. “It’s a little unusual. Generally, you have costs awarded by the lower courts and appealed to the Supreme Court and affirmed or reversed by the court. Here the Supreme Court actually is the court that made the award,” he said.
Moylan went on to say, “I think it was the court’s message that you cannot use the court system for a second election.”
Look for the full article on SCLawyersWeekly.com.
