South Carolina Lawyer Blog

Continuing our conversation of Securities Arbitration cases for defrauded retirees, the common plaintiff in these cases all share similar characteristics:

• The individual has taken early retirement in the past three to five years
• The person purchased a variable annuity with retirement funds which was then placed in an individual retirement account (IRA) or;
• The retirement fund consisted of a cost-basis employer stock plan which was then converted to a rollover IRA or;
• The individual was advised to invest retirement funds into leveraged funds.

Due to the fact that numerous securities companies engage in the sale of these products, there is no common defendant to file claims against. Individuals will be dealing with different securities firms depending on their location, employer, and other factors. A commonality does exist, however, in that the cases must be brought before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, for resolution. FINRA was created as the dispute resolution forum after the merger of NASD and NYSE in 2007.

Continue reading "Securities Arbitration Cases for Retirees" »

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When a Norfolk Southern train wreck caused a toxic chlorine spill in the mill town of Graniteville, the Avondale textile company’s flagship canvas plant had to be closed for eight days for safety reasons. The company closed its doors for good in May 2006 after experts determined it would have cost more than the business was worth to clean the buildings and replace the machinery.

Now the textile company wants the railroad to pay $420 million in damages.

Attorneys for Norfolk Southern said Avondale had already seen the writing on the wall in the failing American textile industry when the crash occurred. The attorneys acknowledge that the railroad is to blame for the crash, but a payout of $110 million is more in line with the value of Avondale Mills.

Continue reading "Avondale Seeks $420 Million from Norfolk Southern Railroad" »

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Posted In: Railroad Accidents

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Two recent awards in retirement securities arbitrations are bringing hope to retirees who have disputes with brokerage firms that gambled away their retirement funds. The first, in the case of Cain v. Securities America, concerns a retiree whose hard-earned savings were liquidated in favor of more aggressive investments. After an extensive arbitration process, the petitioner was awarded nearly $4 million in compensatory damages, another $3 million in punitive damages designed to punish the securities companies, and nearly $2.5 million to offset legal fees and costs.

The second case, May v. Intersecurities, Inc., involved IRA rollover accounts that were placed into high-variable annuities that proved risky, unsuitable to the retiree’s objectives, and ultimately worthless, producing no investment income whatsoever and losing the funds that had been promised to sustain the petitioner throughout retirement. May was eventually awarded nearly $1.7 million in compensatory damages and half a million dollars in punitive damages.

Continue reading "Securities Arbitration: New Hope for Defrauded Retirees" »

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A recent article in the Wall Street Journal points out a strategy that has given victims of the subprime loan crisis new hope: using the 1921 Martin Act as a legal tool to crack down on misleading mortgage-backed securities offerings. Why is the Act so powerful? Simple: it takes away the burden for a plaintiff to prove intent to defraud, making filing a lawsuit against an unethical securities company that much easier for plaintiffs.

This is great news for the people defrauded by securities companies that failed to warn them of mortgages that didn’t meet bare-minimum standards for lending, causing people to lose money on investments that weren’t backed by solid dollars. This crisis has been sending shock waves throughout the United States’ volatile economy and has devalued the hard-earned savings of who knows how many Americans. Now victims have a way to fight back. By using this act, New York prosecutors have a great tool in their regulatory arsenal, and individual attorneys may use this same tool in court.

Continue reading "New Ammo in the Fight for Subprime Loan Securities Victims" »

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Driving while impaired. Felony hit-and-run. Open container in vehicle. Driving with a revoked license. Felony speeding to elude arrest. Running a stop sign. Any one of these violations could result in a brush with law enforcement. But when Richard Green of Tabor City got behind the wheel on Monday, March 3, he racked up all six charges in a car chase that led to a South Carolina Car Accident involving four other vehicles.

Though nobody was seriously injured in the crash, Green, who had a passenger in his vehicle at the time of the incident, managed to total his car and set it on fire. He evaded law enforcement and caused a five-vehicle crash while driving more than 100 miles per hour to elude the police. After escaping the scene of the crash, Green was apprehended and charged with a laundry list of accusations.

Continue reading "Tabor City Crash Racks Up Mighty List of Charges" »

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Posted In: Auto & Car Accidents

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An interesting debate on South Carolina speed limits is heating up the pages of the Charleston Post and Courier. A recent editorial on speeding prompted community response from readers who debate speed limits, enforcement of limits, and lack of driver education. Certainly uneducated and careless drivers place everyone at risk and can be a major cause of South Carolina Auto Accidents. But will raising South Carolina speed limits really do away with any of these problems?

What does a South Carolina auto accident attorney care about speed limits? A lot. Speed can affect the outcome of an accident – in fact, the relationship between speed and reaction time has been well documented. A driver who is in violation of posted speed limits can provide much-needed ammunition to their opponents in court, who can argue that their ignorance of the speed limit constituted reckless driving and places them under an obligation to compensate victims of their actions.

Continue reading "Should South Carolina Speed Limits Be Raised?" »

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A 21-year-old Iraq war veteran will never get the chance to reunite with his young wife, who remained in Iraq at the time of the South Carolina car crash that claimed his life. The man, George Elizondo, had served his tour of duty in Iraq as a naval medic and hospital corpsman. Distracted driving and extreme weather has been blamed for the crash, but Elizondo’s family, especially his bereft wife and mother, is looking for answers as to the circumstances surrounding his untimely death.

One-car crashes present a special challenge for car crash lawyers, especially when the victim dies at the scene. Naturally, family members want answers and to find out who, if anyone, is responsible for death, injury, or damage to property. Reconstructing this event involves an intensive investigation that draws upon expert opinions and evidence to put together a picture of what actually occurred on the scene. This information is in turn used to identify potentially responsible parties, who can then be targeted in the courts for damages related to the death, injury, or property damage in question.

Continue reading "One-Car Crash Cuts Vet’s Life Short" »

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Posted In: Auto & Car Accidents

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A week after the fires at the Imperial Sugar Co. plant in Port Wentworth started, firefighters finally managed to douse the last remnants of the refinery blast, but not before another victim was pronounced dead. Seven other people have been found dead in the rubble at the Imperial Sugar Co. plant, bringing the death toll to eight, while one worker remained missing.

Michael Kelly Fields, 40, died early Thursday at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctor’s hospital in Augusta, spokeswoman Beth Frits said. Sixteen other employees remain hospitalized due to workplace injuries there, 14 in critical condition, she said. Emergency workers were able to pull a seventh body out of the second-floor break room Wednesday, leaving one body remaining. Authorities believe the last body is in a 200 square foot area in the room, which they hope to soon explore.

Sugar dust is thought to be the cause of the blast that started February 7th. Emergency crews were able to snuff out the fire at the plant’s main building Wednesday, but the blaze persisted at the refinery’s 80 foot silos until Thursday. The firefighting team extinguished the stubborn blazes using a mix of foam and water that lowered the temperature of the sugar silos from 4,000 degrees to below 70 degrees, said Port Wentworth Fire Chief, Greg Long.

Continue reading "Sugar Refinery Fire Extinguished, Death Toll At 8" »

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The USDA ordered a meat recall after an investigation revealed a disturbing story about the inhumane methods by which one of our nation’s slaughterhouses treats its animals. According to an Associated Press report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of frozen beef from a California slaughterhouse which is the subject of an animal abuse investigation. Secretary of Agriculture, Ed Schafer, said that his department has evidence that the Chino based Westland/ Hallmark Meat Co. did not routinely contact its veterinarian when cattle became unable to walk after passing inspection, violating health regulations.

Federal officials suspended operations at Westland/ Hallmark after an undercover Humane Society video surfaced showing crippled and sick animals being shoved with forklifts. Authorities said the video showed workers kicking, shocking and otherwise abusing “downer” animals that apparently were too sick or injured to walk into the slaughterhouse. Some animals had water forced down their throats, San Bernardino county prosecutor Michael Ramos said. Federal regulations call for keeping downed cattle out of the food supply because they might pose a higher risk of foodborne illness and contamination from E. coli, salmonella or mad cow disease because they typically wallow in feces and their immune systems often are weak.

Continue reading "USDA Orders Largest Meat Recall in U.S. History" »

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Posted In: Recalled Products

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In an alarming statement on the lack of safety on the roads in South Carolina, a group of business leaders released a report on Tuesday, February 12th that details the loss of life and economic toll of accidents on South Carolina roads. The statistics paint a grim picture: Someone dies in a South Carolina auto accident about every eight hours. Economically speaking, the carnage inflicted by the state’s dangerous roads is $3.7 billion a year.

That breaks down to $863 per South Carolinian to cover medical costs, lost economic and household productivity, psychological or emotional trauma, property damage and travel delays. Given these numbers, the report contends that the state is not spending enough to fix the problem.

Of particular concern are South Carolina’s rural roads. The traffic fatality rate on those roads in 2005 was the highest in the nation at 4.61 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles of travel, the report says. The most dangerous local road on the list was a mile-long stretch of Harmon and Dreher streets in Lexington County – ranking 15th most dangerous and accounting for two deaths and eight injuries.

Continue reading "South Carolina Rural Roads Ranked Among Nation’s Most Dangerous" »

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In a prime example of the lengths to which an employer will go to maintain profits and maintain a seemingly spotless safety record, a Greenville poultry plant has been accused of forcing workers with on-the-job injuries back on the job only hours after having medical procedures to repair things like lost digits and broken bones, according to an Associated Press report.

House of Raeford Farms boasts that its Greenville plant has gone more than 7 million hours without a “lost-time accident,” meaning no worker has been injured badly enough to miss an entire shift. But according to the company’s own safety logs, at least 8 workers at the plant suffered amputated fingers or broken bones – all during the time the plant claimed to have millions of safe working hours dating back to 2002. Managers kept the streak alive by requiring injured workers to return to the plant – in some cases hours after medical procedures. When none of the injured workers missed a complete shift, the company was able to keep its safety record intact.

The article details the story of Cornelia Vicente, an employee who was packing chicken tenders at the House of Raeford when a conveyor belt snagged her glove, snapped her right arm and ripped off the tip of her index finger. Only hours after her surgery, a House of Raeford nurse who had come to the hospital told Ms.Vicente that the company would expect her back at the plant early the next day. The following morning, managers put Ms.Vicente to work wiping down tables and handing out supplies, she said.

Continue reading "Poultry Plant Forces Injured Workers Back On The Job" »

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In response to the laundry list of unsafe toys and recalled children’s products in the past calendar year, the nation’s top two toy sellers in the U.S., Wal-Mart and Toys ‘R’ Us, have announced that they will be imposing stricter measures on their suppliers – including tougher lead content standards. According to an Associated Press report, the new measures are meant to exceed federal standards expected from Congress in the wake of last year’s recalls of millions of toys because they contained excessive amounts of lead or other hazardous material.

Among the announced changes, Wal-Mart and Toys ‘R’ Us are:

• Setting a much tighter standard for the amount of lead allowed on surface paint for toys shipped to their chains on or after March 1.
• Phasing out chemicals found in PVC or vinyl that have raised safety concerns for young children

A top priority is to dramatically reduce the lead content in unsafe toys since lead can be very toxic to children. The current federal standard is 600 parts per million in surface coatings, but new legislation is being considered that would lower that to 90 parts per million. Both Wal-Mart and Toys R Us are requiring their suppliers to conform to the 90 parts per million standard for products shipped on or after March.

Continue reading "Wal-Mart, Toys ‘R’ Us Impose Stricter Safety Measures" »

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Posted In: Recalled Products

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