Press Room

Jason Luck has been appointed to the Charleston County Business License/User Fee Appeals Board. The Business License/User Fee Appeals Board is a six member board that is charged by Charleston County Council to receive testimony and make written determinations concerning appeals of citizens and the business community aggrieved by any action taken by the Business License/User Fee Department. Luck's term will expire in September of 2014.

More information about the Business License/User Fee Appeals Board can be found at:
http://www.charlestoncounty.org/departments/Council/AppointCommissions.htm

On October 3, 2011, the South Carolina Supreme Court issued its opinion in Charleston County DSS v. Marcucci, reversing the Family Court’s termination of a father’s parental rights. Attorney Jason Luck represented the father, Sean Taylor, before the Family Court and the South Carolina Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court’s opinion can be found on its website: http://www.sccourts.org/opinions/displayOpinion.cfm?caseNo=27049

More commentary on this opinion can be found on attorney Gregory Forman’s blog:
http://www.gregoryforman.com/blog/2011/10/supreme-court-reverses-termination-of-parental-rights-where-father-not-responsible-for-numerous-court-delays/.

Jay Seibels moderated the SC Regulatory Panel at the 12th Annual SCCIA Executive Educational Conference held in Charleston on September 12 – 14, 2011. The panel consisted of Leslie Jones, Deputy Director, South Carolina Department of Insurance, Jeff Kehler, Program Manger, Alternative Risk Transfer Services, and Bobby Troutman, Chief Financial Examiner. The audience engaged the panel in a lively discussion of the state’s legislative priorities, its goals for the future, and recent changes in the SCDOI internal structure relating to financial examinations and business recruiting.

Attorney Jason Luck spoke to students enrolled in the “Careers and Professional Practices” class at Wingate University in Wingate, North Carolina. Invited by Professor Lex Youngman of the Art Department, Luck spoke to the students on intellectual property law, and specifically what students need to know about copyright law as they start their careers as artists. Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a comprehensive university with more than 2,300 students on campuses in Wingate, Matthews, and Hendersonville, North Carolina. More information about Wingate University can be found at: http://www.wingate.edu/.

At the Federal Bar Association’s annual meeting in Chicago on September 10, 2011, Christie Varnado was elected by her peers to serve as Secretary of the council of Circuit Vice Presidents. She was elected as Vice President for the Fourth Circuit in September of 2010. The Federal Bar Association is the premier professional organization for the federal practitioner and federal judiciary.

Jay Seibels and Scott Forster obtained summary judgment for one of the firm’s insurer clients in the Greenville Division of the United States District Court of South Carolina. The court ruled that the expected or intended acts provision of the insurer’s homeowners’ policy excluded coverage for a wrongful death claim against a policyholder who shot a guest during a poker game at his house. The policy holder had testified that the gun discharged accidentally during a scuffle.

The conference was held at The Greenbrier in White Sulpher Springs, West Virginia. Other attendees included The Hon. John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, The Hon. William B. Traxler, Jr., Chief United States Circuit Judge for the Fourth Circuit, as well as federal circuit, district, bankruptcy and magistrate judges from throughout the Fourth Circuit.

Christie Varnado was named to the South Carolina Super Lawyers list for 2011 in the field of construction litigation. This is the third year in a row that she has been included in the publication. Candidates for inclusion in Super Lawyers are selected based on numerous indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement.

Scott Forster joined the firm as an associate. Scott was formerly a prosecutor in the Sixteenth Circuit Solicitor's Office. Prior to his work as a prosecutor, Scott was a law clerk to the Honorable John C. Hayes.

Christie Varnado was sworn in as a Fourth Circuit Vice President of the Federal Bar Association at the organization’s national conference in New Orleans. Her two-year term will officially begin October 1, 2010.

Christie Varnado, representing one of the firm's window manufacturer clients, prevailed in a jury trial in Beaufort County, South Carolina. The plaintiff was a homeowner who sought recovery from the client for an alleged failure of the manufacturer's products, which it was asserted had caused significant water intrusion damage to the home. Plaintiff sought over $300,000 in damages for product liability, negligence, and breach of warranty. The jury found for our client on all claims, and no recovery was awarded.

Christie Varnado was named to the South Carolina Super Lawyers list for 2010 in the field of construction litigation. This is the second year in a row that she has been included in the publication. Candidates for inclusion in Super Lawyers are selected based on numerous indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement.

Jay Seibels was sworn in as a member of the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Captive Insurance Association, the State's premier organization providing advocacy, promotion and education to the stakeholders of the South Carolina captive insurance iudustry.

Jay Seibels was a featured speaker at the Friendly Society Restored's one-day course on the South Carolina domicile, a course intended to familiarize newly hired professionals in the banking, insurance, actuarial, investment, and legal fields with the state's captive insurance industry. Jay spoke on the role of the attorney in captive insurance company licensure, formation and operation in South Carolina.

The Friendly Society Restored is an organization of captive insurance service providers whose goal is to promote and grow South Carolina as a domicile in the global captive community. Find out more about the Friendly Society Restored at http://www.themendlysocietvrestored.com.

Jay Seibels completed the South Carolina Bar Association's 40 hour Circuit Court Mediation Certification Training.

Jason Luck, representing one of the firm’s excess and surplus lines insurer clients, prevailed in the Florence Division of the United States District Court of South Carolina.

Jason Scott Luck has been appointed by South Carolina Bar Association President Lanneau Wm. Lambert, Jr. to serve on the Intellectual Property and Unfair Trade Practices Committee of the South Carolina Bar.

It is the responsibility of the Intellectual Property and Unfair Trade Practices Committee to study and recommend improvements in the areas of patent, trademark and copyright law, intellectual property and software protection.

More information about the South Carolina Bar can be found at www.scbar.org.

Jason Luck's defense of an alleged copyright infringer has been mentioned in The State in its Sunday feature on record companies' file-sharing lawsuits in South Carolina.

Two of Jason Luck’s cases have been featured in blogs that follow in the music industry and RIAA litigation.

Jay Seibels was named to the Steering Committee of the Friendly Society (Restored). The Friendly Society is an organization of captive insurance service providers whose goal is to promote and grow South Carolina as a domicile in the global captive community.

Jay Seibels traveled to Anguilla, British West Indies to meet with leaders of Anguilla's emerging captive insurance infrastructure. Anguilla is a British Overseas Territory and a zero tax jurisdiction whose legal system is based on English common law.

Anguilla's Insurance Act contains no requirement of a local director, local auditor, local lawyer or local bank account. Its Protected Cell Companies Act may be well suited for very small captives.

Mr. Seibels was privileged to meet with John D. K. Lawrence, Director of Anguilla's Financial Services Commission, the government's chief regulatory body. Mr. Lawrence has visited South Carolina on a few occasions, offering his vision of the two domiciles cooperating in several areas, including Anguilla's use of South Carolina based insurance manager expertise. Mr. Seibels also met with the Executive Director of the Anguilla Financial Services Association and a number of attorneys, trust company officers and managers in The Valley.