South Carolina Business Law Blog

It was only a matter of time before arbitrability (the enforceability of an agreement to arbitrate) put a South Carolina courts in the position to construe the language in a power of attorney ("POA"). And this opinion did.  I try to view these decisions through the lens of how an attorney practicing in South Carolina might learn from them. And this decision, like some others involving the FAA and arbitrability, (for example, Grant v. Kuhn Chevrolet  or Herron v. Century BMW  , had the litigator and the drafter in me scratching my head.  Or at least I was confused until I learned about what had happened legislatively in the time since the POAs at issue in Arredondo were scrutinized by three (3) South Carolina courts. This decision, involving a POA executed before January 1, 2017, is likely an anomaly or a one-off, as going forward the S.C. Uniform Power of Attorney Act (SCUPOA) provides a guide for the creation of POAs that may avoid the necessity for so much j...

Hello FAA, My Old Friend South Carolina courts have frequently been called upon to consider the ways in which the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) applies to those contracts containing clauses purporting to require arbitration. The recent S.C Court of Appeals decision Grant v. Kuhn Chevrolet is the latest example. The opinion and its result rests not on the application of South Carolina statutory or case law, but instead a line of United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) cases applying the FAA to disputes over agreements to arbitrate. For some background and discussion on some of these cases, click  here , here , or here . While it may not be entirely remarkable to apply SCOTUS opinions in state court cases, the manner of contract interpretation mandated by SCOTUS for arbitration agreements is completely different than the way South Carolina courts interpret “everyday” contracts. More specifically, these SCOTUS opinions explicitly prohibit the use of several contract interpretati...

But Bazzle Keeps Coming Back Up .... Introduction: Class Arbitration Castles Burning ....     Years ago this platform discussed at some length how more than one United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) decision has considered the South Carolina Supreme Court's decision in Bazzle : in the context of who decides issues of arbitrability, as well as whether arbitration agreements allow classwide arbitration. (For that background, click here . For a broader survey of arbitration and class actions in the context of SCOTUS and South Carolina-- at least at that point in time-- click here ). SCOTUS recently took up the issue of class arbitration again, ruling in Lamps Plus that an ambiguous contract to arbitrate could not authorize class arbitration. Lamps Plus extended the rationale of  Stolt-Nielsen , a 2010 SCOTUS decision concluding that an agreement that is "silent" on the question of class arbitration could not compel the parties to classwide arbitration. As ...

Introduction (This is an adapted version of a presentation made at the S.C Bar Convention). Each passing year brings more appellate court decisions, at the state and federal levels, addressing arbitration.  2013 was no exception. The South Carolina Supreme Court considered several issues of first impression, in the areas of arbitration award confirmation, “manifest disregard of the law,” and “evident partiality.”  And our appellate courts took up questions about whether arbitration claims are subject to the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) , the “unconscionability” of an agreement to arbitrate, waiver of the right to arbitrate, and the scope of an agreement to arbitrate. New Law Confirmation of Arbitration Award   Henderson v. Summerville Ford-Mercury , Supreme Court, September 11, 2013 Takeway Payment of an arbitration award does not prevent confirmation of the award. Background Purchaser and car Dealer arbitrated their SCUT...