Richard Morgan on Appeals

SC body bag noncompete case exhumed, revisited

Two years ago, we wrote about a noncompete decision in which a special referee found a business seller had breached a sales agreement by violating both a noncompete covenant and an exclusive sales provision contained in the...more

Non-Competes in the Employment Context Revisited

In 2016 we wrote about a non-compete decision where special referee found that a seller of a business had breached a sales agreement by violating both a non-compete covenant and an exclusive sales provision contained in the...more

9/17/2018 / Appeals , Attorney's Fees , Breach of Contract , Damages , Employment Contract , Exclusivity Clauses , Lost Profits , Non-Compete Agreements , Permanent Injunctions , Purchase Agreement , Remand , Request for Proposals , Restrictive Covenants , Reversal , Selling a Business

Think your evidence is solid? Jury, judge, and appeals court may disagree

We’ve often written about the need to have clearly written policies that, once in place, are followed. If a dispute arises and there is any ambiguity in the policies and how the employer interpreted or used them, juries more...more

8/16/2018 / Appeals , Breach of Contract , Colleges , Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing , Directed Verdicts , Early Retirement , Emergency Response , Emotional Distress Damages , Employer Liability Issues , Employment Policies , Evidence , Filing Grievances , Hiring & Firing , Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict (JNOV) , Professors , Reversal , Student Athletes , Tenure , Wrongful Termination

A State's extraction of agency fees from non consenting public-sector employees violates the First Amendment

For the second time this term of court, the United States Supreme Court on the final day of the term addressed a First Amendment issue. In the first case, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the Court...more

6/29/2018 / Appeals , Constitutional Challenges , Fair Share Contribution , First Amendment , Janus v AFSCME , Non-Union , Payroll Deductions , Public Sector Unions , Reversal , SCOTUS , Stare Decisis , Union Dues

Early thoughts on this Supreme Court term

We are about midway through the 2017-18 term of the U.S. Supreme Court. One case the Court has already decided and another it refused to take up provide some insight on how the Court has handled employment cases it has been...more

SC Supreme Court decides building official's public-policy case

At-will employment is the normal employer-employee relationship in South Carolina. In 2004, the state legislature passed a law stating that handbooks that took certain reasonable steps did not create a contractual exception...more

4/24/2018 / Appeals , At-Will Employment , Building Codes , Construction Industry , Construction Permits , Directed Verdicts , Former Employee , Hiring & Firing , Medical Leave , Public Policy , Public Safety , Retaliation , SC Supreme Court , Stop Work Orders , Wrongful Termination

Equal Pay Act case gets new life

In 2-1 decision by a three-judge panel, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose rulings apply to all South Carolina employers) reversed a decision to grant summary judgment—meaning the trial court had found there was no...more

2/22/2018 / Appeals , Burden of Proof , Employer Liability Issues , Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) , Equal Pay , Equal Pay Act , Former Employee , Gender Discrimination , Gender-Based Pay Discrimination , Hiring & Firing , Job Applicants , Popular , Reversal , State Agencies , State Constitutions , Summary Judgment , Wage and Hour

What's good 'notice' of a workplace injury in South Carolina?

Many readers know that statutory protections passed by state legislatures and Congress are often written to favor the rights of employees. One such statute is South Carolina’s workers’ compensation law. The law requires...more

11/27/2017 / Appeals , Employee Rights , Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) , Notice Requirements , State Labor Laws , Workers' Compensation Claim , Workplace Illness and Injury Reporting , Workplace Injury

Employee or independent contractor? Right to control is key

A continuing point of contention in employment law revolves around who is an employee versus who is an independent contractor. The issue seems to come up often in wage and hour cases and workers’ compensation or unemployment...more

9/29/2017 / 1099s , Appeals , Employee Benefits , Employer Liability Issues , Health Insurance , Hiring & Firing , Independent Contractors , Misclassification , Right to Control , Subcontractors , W-2 , Wage and Hour , Workers' Compensation Claim , Workplace Injury

Mining company doomed in resurrected 'mark of the beast' lawsuit

The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose rulings apply to all South Carolina employers) recently decided a religious accommodation case in which a jury awarded a former employee more than half a million dollars. The Equal...more

4th Circuit sets a match to battalion chief's First Amendment claims

Lately, we’ve been seeing more cases in which public-sector employees accuse their governmental employer of violating the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Such claims can arise in many ways, but with the...more

6/12/2017 / Adverse Employment Action , Appeals , Code of Conduct , Compelling Governmental Interest , Facebook , Firemen , First Amendment , Free Speech , Hiring & Firing , NLRB , Public Concern , Public Sector , Retaliation , Social Media Policy , Summary Judgment , Wrongful Termination

SC court awards Lowe's employee workers' comp disability benefits

Employee disabilities are becoming a common issue that employers must address. Short- and long-term disability plans employers often make available to employees, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the varying...more

4/27/2017 / Administrative Appeals , Administrative Hearings , American Medical Association , Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) , Appeals , Disability Benefits , Partial Disability , Permanent Disability , Rebuttable Presumptions , Return-to-Work Agreements , Reversal , SC Supreme Court , Substantial Evidence Standard , Workers' Compensation Claim

Court upholds South Carolina company's benefits plan decision

One of the most important components of the employment relationship is the benefits package an employer is able to offer its employees. Employee benefits have to make business sense for the employer because there’s always a...more

2/2/2017 / Appeals , Burden of Proof , Denial of Benefits , Disability Benefits , Employee Benefits , Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) , Evidence , Long Term Disability Insurance , Medical Examinations , Permanent Disability , Plan Documents , Standard of Review , Third-Party Service Provider

4th Circuit Bounces Bank's Request to Dismiss Manager's FMLA Case

In a relatively recent decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit (whose rulings apply to all South Carolina employers) found that an employer's faulty notice to an employee about his rights under the Family and...more

12/6/2016 / Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) , Appeals , Corporate Counsel , Disability Discrimination , Disciplinary Proceedings , Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) , Medical Leave , Notice Requirements , Summary Judgment , Wrongful Termination

Change in How SC Supreme Court Views Conspiracy Claims May be Coming

As our various courts decide cases, we watch to see if there are any trends that seem to be developing or whether a case signals that the courts are beginning to change how they view a particular issue or type of case. We've...more

Richard Morgan

Burr & Forman

Popular Topics by This Author

Latest Posts › Appeals