South Carolina Court of Appeals

The South Carolina Court of Appeals is the state's intermediate appellate court. It hears the largest share of appeals that move up from the trial courts before any case can reach the Supreme Court of South Carolina. The General Assembly created this court through S.C. Code Ann. Section 14-8-20, and it began deciding cases in 1983. Nine judges fill the bench. One holds the office of chief judge and manages panel assignments, scheduling, and the flow of oral argument across the term.

To understand the Court of Appeals, start with the courts beneath it. Most civil and criminal judgments begin in the circuit court, which holds a civil side, the Court of Common Pleas, and a criminal side, the Court of General Sessions. The family court handles divorce, custody, support, and juvenile matters. When a party loses in one of those forums and wants review, the appeal usually lands at the Court of Appeals. Appeals from magistrate and municipal courts run through the circuit court first, and only then, if a party presses on, can they reach the intermediate court. The court also reviews rulings from several state agencies, including the Administrative Law Court, when an agency decision is the thing under attack.

One court sits above it. The Supreme Court of South Carolina, made up of a chief justice and four associate justices, is the court of last resort for questions of state law. A litigant who loses at the Court of Appeals does not receive another appeal as a matter of right. That party may instead ask the Supreme Court to hear the case by filing a petition for a writ of certiorari under Rule 242 of the South Carolina Appellate Court Rules. Certiorari is discretionary. The justices grant it when a case raises an important question of law, when panels have split, or when a decision conflicts with earlier Supreme Court authority. They deny many more petitions than they accept. The practical effect is that the intermediate court, not the high court, writes most of the appellate law that trial judges apply day to day.

The court did not always exist. Before 1983, the Supreme Court of South Carolina heard every appeal itself, and the growing volume of cases outpaced what five justices could manage. Voters approved a constitutional amendment, and the General Assembly built the Court of Appeals to absorb the routine appellate load. Article V of the South Carolina Constitution now recognizes both appellate courts. The division of labor is simple in outline. The Supreme Court takes the reserved categories and the cases it chooses by certiorari, while the Court of Appeals handles the steady stream of everything else.

Some appeals skip the intermediate court altogether. S.C. Code Ann. Section 14-8-200 sends specific categories straight to the Supreme Court. Those include death penalty cases, challenges to the constitutionality of a state statute or ordinance, disputes over public utility rates, election contests, questions about the bonded debt of government units, and orders that discipline lawyers or judges. Anything the statute does not reserve for the Supreme Court belongs first to the Court of Appeals. That default explains why the intermediate court carries the bulk of appellate work in the state.

Here is the practical consequence for a client. For most litigants, the Court of Appeals is the last court that will truly examine their case. A ruling from a three-judge panel is final unless the Supreme Court chooses to step in, and that choice rests with the justices alone. A carefully briefed argument at the intermediate stage may be the last real opportunity to change a judgment. Lawyers who treat the Court of Appeals as a way station on the road to the high court misjudge the odds. Because certiorari is granted sparingly, the panel decision usually controls the final outcome.

The Court of Appeals decides most cases in panels of three judges. Now and then the full court sits en banc to settle a question of unusual weight or to reconcile a conflict between panels. Judges here are elected by the General Assembly rather than appointed by the governor or chosen at the ballot box, a method South Carolina shares with only a few states. They serve staggered six-year terms. Each candidate must pass through the Judicial Merit Selection Commission, which screens qualifications and temperament, before the legislature casts its vote and the judge ever hears an appeal.

The court's authority is almost entirely appellate. It does not hold trials, take testimony, or find facts anew. Its work is review of what a lower court already decided. In narrow situations the Court of Appeals may issue writs within its appellate jurisdiction, but a party cannot open a fresh dispute there. That limit shapes every appeal. The panel works from a closed record and asks whether the trial judge or the jury committed reversible error, not whether the panel would have reached a different result sitting as the original factfinder.

Opinions come in two forms. Published opinions of the Court of Appeals bind the trial courts and guide later panels. Unpublished opinions resolve the case in front of the court but carry limited precedential force. Both are posted on the South Carolina Judicial Branch website. Reading recent published decisions is the quickest way to see how the Court of Appeals treats a recurring issue, whether that issue is a valuation fight from family court or a sentencing challenge out of General Sessions.

Knowing where the court sits answers only part of the question. The next question is narrower and more useful: what, exactly, the Court of Appeals may review, and which of those matters fill the working docket.

The reach of the Court of Appeals is fixed by statute, not by the tastes of the judges. S.C. Code Ann. Section 14-8-200 gives the court jurisdiction over appeals from the circuit court, the family court, and a set of state agencies, subject to the categories the legislature kept for the Supreme Court. A companion statute, S.C. Code Ann. Section 14-3-330, tells litigants which orders may be appealed and at what stage. Together these provisions mark the outer edge of what the Court of Appeals can review.

Most appeals turn on the line between a final judgment and an interlocutory order. A final judgment ends the case in the trial court, resolving the claims and leaving only enforcement. From a final judgment, the losing party ordinarily holds an appeal of right, which means the Court of Appeals must take the case and decide it on the merits. An interlocutory order decides some question along the way, a discovery ruling, a temporary injunction, the appointment of a receiver, or a ruling on a motion, without ending the lawsuit. Those orders are appealable only if they fall within a category listed in Section 14-3-330, such as an order affecting a substantial right that in effect determines the action, or an order granting or continuing an injunction. When an interlocutory order fits none of the categories, the party must wait for final judgment before the Court of Appeals will listen.

Appeal by permission is the third path. For certain orders that do not qualify for immediate appeal as of right, a party may petition the Court of Appeals for permission to appeal, and the judges decide whether the issue deserves review before the case ends. Denial is the usual answer. The court prefers to review a completed record rather than interrupt a trial in progress, so the safer course in most litigation is to preserve the objection and raise it once final judgment arrives. A lawyer who guesses wrong about appealability can lose the right to be heard.

Criminal appeals fill a large part of the docket. A defendant convicted in the Court of General Sessions may challenge the conviction, the sentence, or both, and the Court of Appeals examines claims such as flawed jury instructions, the wrongful admission or exclusion of evidence, the denial of a directed verdict motion, and errors in jury selection. The State's ability to appeal is narrow, because a not guilty verdict generally cannot be retried. Sentencing questions arise often, and the Court of Appeals measures the sentence against the statutory range and the trial record rather than substituting its own judgment about the right punishment.

Civil appeals from the Court of Common Pleas cover the full spread of private disputes. Contract breaches, personal injury verdicts, boundary and title fights, employment claims, insurance coverage, and business litigation all move up the same way. In these cases the Court of Appeals asks whether the trial court applied the correct law and whether any evidence supports the verdict at law. The panel does not reweigh conflicting testimony. A jury's finding of fact receives real deference, and the appellant must point to a specific legal error rather than a general sense that the result felt wrong.

Family court produces a steady share of the caseload. Custody, alimony, equitable division of marital property, child support, adoption, and termination of parental rights all reach the Court of Appeals from a judge who sat without a jury. Because these are matters in equity, the standard of review is broader than in a jury case, and the court may find facts in line with its own view of the record. Even so, the Court of Appeals gives weight to the family court judge's firsthand look at the witnesses, especially on credibility, since the trial judge watched testimony that a cold transcript cannot fully capture.

Administrative appeals round out the mix. Decisions of the Workers' Compensation Commission are reviewed by the Court of Appeals, as are many rulings of the Administrative Law Court that involve state agencies. In these cases the court applies the substantial evidence standard drawn from the Administrative Procedures Act, upholding the agency's factual findings when the record contains evidence a reasonable mind could accept. Legal conclusions are another matter, and the Court of Appeals reviews those without the same deference. The distinction matters because an agency can be right about the facts and wrong about the statute it applied.

Post-conviction relief follows its own route. A prisoner who loses a PCR action in the circuit court has no direct appeal. Review comes by petition for a writ of certiorari governed by Rule 243 of the South Carolina Appellate Court Rules, and the Supreme Court may keep the petition or refer it to the Court of Appeals for decision. This channel keeps a large volume of collateral challenges within the appellate system while sorting them apart from ordinary direct appeals of a conviction.

The two appellate courts can shift cases between them. Under its authority, the Supreme Court may certify a case from the Court of Appeals and take it directly when the issue warrants immediate attention from the highest court, and it may transfer matters back down. A respondent who also lost on some issue can file a cross-appeal, so a single case may carry challenges from both sides. The Court of Appeals then sorts the assignments of error and addresses each preserved question in turn.

The categories tell you what the Court of Appeals may hear. They say nothing about how a case actually moves from a trial court loss to a written decision. That path has its own deadlines, its own record, and its own limits on what the panel may do with a verdict.

An appeal to the Court of Appeals starts with a notice of appeal. Under Rule 203 of the South Carolina Appellate Court Rules, the appellant must serve and file that notice within thirty days after receiving written notice of entry of the judgment or order. The deadline is strict. Miss it, and the Court of Appeals loses the power to hear the case, no matter how strong the underlying argument. Certain post-trial motions, such as a timely motion under Rule 59(e) of the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure, pause the clock until the trial court rules, but a party who files no such motion cannot count on extra time.

Filing the notice does not stop the judgment from taking effect. To hold enforcement during the appeal, a party ordinarily posts a supersedeas bond and obtains a stay, so a money judgment or an order changing custody may still bite while the Court of Appeals considers the case. Counsel who overlooks the stay can win the appeal and still watch the client suffer the consequences of a judgment that was never paused. The rules governing stays sit within the same appellate court rules that control the rest of the process.

After the notice comes the record. The record on appeal, governed by Rule 210, holds the pleadings, the challenged order, the relevant motions, and the portions of the transcript the parties designate. The appellant orders the transcript from the court reporter and bears the duty to present a record that shows the error claimed. If the record is silent on a point, the Court of Appeals presumes the trial court acted correctly. A thin or careless record sinks more appeals than weak legal arguments do. Both sides sign off on the contents, and disputes over what belongs in the record are resolved before briefing begins.

Briefing frames the case for the panel. Rule 208 sets the order and the deadlines, generally thirty days for each brief once the record is served. The appellant files first, laying out a statement of the issues, the facts drawn from the record, and the argument. The respondent answers, and the appellant may reply. Each issue must appear in the statement of issues on appeal, because the Court of Appeals will not reach an argument the brief fails to raise. Form matters too. The rules cap length, require citations to the record, and demand that every legal point carry supporting authority. Judges of the Court of Appeals read the briefs before argument, and a clear brief often does more than a polished speech.

The appellate bench also runs the appeal on a schedule that the parties ignore at their peril. Deadlines for the transcript, the record, and each brief carry consequences, and a party who lets them slide risks dismissal for failure to prosecute. Extensions exist, but the court grants them for cause, not for convenience. Docketing statements and any required mediation certificate accompany the early filings, and the clerk of the judges tracks each step from notice to opinion.

Not every appeal gets oral argument. The panel may decide a case on the briefs alone when the issues are settled or the outcome is plain, or it may set the matter for argument before a three-judge panel. When argument happens, each side receives a short, fixed block of time, and the judges interrupt with questions that go to the heart of the dispute. Counsel who knows the record cold can use those minutes well. The panel then confers and assigns the case for a written opinion, published or unpublished depending on its value as precedent.

The standard of review decides many appeals before the argument even starts. On pure questions of law, this court owes no deference and reviews the issue anew. On evidentiary rulings and other calls committed to the trial judge's discretion, the court reverses only for an abuse of that discretion, meaning a decision controlled by an error of law or unsupported by the evidence. In a case at law tried to a jury, the court asks whether any evidence supports the verdict. In an equity case, including most family court appeals, the standard is broader; under Lewis v. Lewis, 392 S.C. 381, 709 S.E.2d 650 (2011), the court may find facts according to its own view of the preponderance of the evidence, while still respecting the trial judge's superior position to weigh credibility.

Error preservation controls what the appellate bench will consider at all. As a rule, an issue must have been raised to and ruled upon by the trial court before the panel will address it on appeal. A party who sat silent when the alleged error occurred usually cannot raise it for the first time later. This rule protects the trial process and gives the lower court the chance to fix its own mistakes. The judges applies it firmly, and many promising arguments die because no one objected at the right moment or asked the trial judge to rule.

What the court may do with a judgment is defined and limited. The panel can affirm, reverse, or modify the judgment, and it can send the case back to the trial court with instructions for further proceedings. It cannot retry the facts of a jury case or substitute its own verdict for the jury's. When the court finds reversible error, the usual remedy is a remand, often for a new trial or for reconsideration under the correct legal standard. When it finds no error, it affirms, and the trial court's judgment stands. A dissatisfied party then looks to the Supreme Court by certiorari, knowing that review is discretionary.

After the opinion, the losing side may file a petition for rehearing asking the same panel to reconsider. If that fails, the case moves toward the remittitur, the order that returns jurisdiction to the trial court and makes the decision effective. Only then, in most cases, does the judgment become final, unless the Supreme Court agrees to take the matter up.

The remittitur ends the appeal, yet the Court of Appeals leaves behind something that outlives the parties. Every decision takes one of two forms. A published opinion carries precedential weight and guides trial courts across South Carolina until a later panel or the Supreme Court says otherwise. An unpublished opinion resolves the case for the litigants without making new law, and Rule 220 of the South Carolina Appellate Court Rules limits how those memorandum decisions may be cited. Knowing which kind you hold changes what the ruling is worth to the next client with the same problem.

Precedent from the Court of Appeals binds downward. Circuit courts and family courts must follow its published holdings, as must the administrative agencies whose appeals travel here. The court also follows its own earlier published decisions. To move off settled ground, the Court of Appeals can sit en banc, a rare posture in which the full bench rather than a three-judge panel reconsiders a question. Rule 219 SCACR governs en banc consideration. The en banc process is not a second appeal by right. A litigant asks for it, and the Court of Appeals decides whether the full bench should hear the matter. A party seeking it must explain why the panel's decision conflicts with existing law or presents a matter of unusual importance, because disagreement with the outcome is never enough.

Rehearing comes first for most losing parties. Under Rule 221 SCACR, a petition for rehearing returns to the same panel that decided the case, and the window is short, fifteen days from the filing of the opinion. The petition has to identify a fact or an argument the panel overlooked or misread, not simply reargue the merits. Judges of the Court of Appeals read these petitions skeptically, since the panel has already studied the record and the briefs. A petition that repeats the opening brief tends to fail. One that isolates a controlling statute the panel skipped, or a misquoted line of testimony, has a genuine chance.

The path to the Supreme Court of South Carolina runs through certiorari. Rule 242 SCACR requires a party to first seek rehearing in this court as a condition of asking the higher court to look at the decision. Once rehearing is denied, the petition for a writ of certiorari must be served and filed within thirty days after the remittitur is sent. Review there is discretionary. The Supreme Court tends to grant certiorari when a ruling of the court conflicts with its own precedent or when two panels have split over the same rule. Timing is unforgiving here. Miss the thirty-day mark and the right to review is ordinarily lost, whatever the merits. Most petitions are denied, and denial leaves the decision intact and controlling.

A narrower door opens onto the United States Supreme Court. Under 28 U.S.C. 1257, that Court may review a final judgment of the highest state court in which a decision could be had, but only on a question of federal law. When the South Carolina Supreme Court declines certiorari, a ruling of the appellate bench can become the final state judgment for this purpose, a principle the Court explained in Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn. A party then has ninety days under the Supreme Court's Rule 13 to petition. The federal question must be preserved throughout, and an argument raised for the first time after the state courts ruled will not support review.

For the practitioner, the shape of the opinion drives the next move. Read whether the panel decided on the merits or on a procedural default, such as an unpreserved objection. A ruling that turns on preservation rarely improves at the Supreme Court, which applies the same preservation rules the judges used. Read whether the opinion is published, because only a published decision can anchor a conflict argument in a certiorari petition. Distinguish the holding from dicta. A broad statement that was not necessary to the result carries less force in a later case. Mark the exact date the remittitur issued. That date starts the clock on collateral proceedings and, in criminal matters, on the time for post-conviction relief.

Citation practice follows the publication line. A published opinion of the panel can be cited as authority in any South Carolina court. An unpublished opinion carries no precedential value, and Rule 220 sets narrow conditions for referencing it, usually to establish law of the case or a procedural bar. When you research an issue, sort the results by that status before you rely on anything.

Clients often ask what happens to the money or the custody order while these later steps run. In many civil cases, a supersedeas bond can hold enforcement during the appeal itself. Once this court issues its remittitur, though, the trial court regains authority to act unless the Supreme Court grants a stay. In family court appeals, the rules on stays differ, and a support obligation usually continues during the appeal unless the court orders otherwise. Plan for that gap. A party who wins reversal but ignores the remittitur date can find the other side enforcing a judgment while the certiorari petition sits unread.

Searching for counsel to carry a case onward is its own task. In this directory, appellate lawyers are listed with disclosure of how plan tiers affect listing order, so a paid placement never poses as an editorial ranking. That transparency matters when you are weighing who should draft a certiorari petition after the court has ruled against you. The lawyer who tried the case may not be the one you want writing to the higher court.

One more practical point deserves attention. The appellate bench publishes its opinions on the judiciary website, and reading recent decisions in your subject area tells you how the current bench treats similar records. A family law appeal reads differently from a workers' compensation appeal, and the panel's tone on abuse-of-discretion review can shape how you frame a petition for rehearing or certiorari. Watch for concurrences and dissents. A dissent from a panel of the judges sometimes previews the argument that later persuades the Supreme Court to grant review.

An appeal to the Court of Appeals is a distinct discipline, and the lawyer who tried the case is not always the right one to argue it. Trial work rewards command of witnesses and juries. Appellate work rewards command of the record and the standard of review. The reviewing judges will not hear your witnesses again. A brief that reads like a closing argument tends to lose in the Court of Appeals, because the panel is asking a narrower question: did the trial court commit reversible error on this record. Choosing counsel starts with that difference.

Admission is the threshold check. To appear before the Court of Appeals, a lawyer must be a member of the South Carolina Bar in good standing. A lawyer licensed elsewhere may appear pro hac vice under Rule 404 SCACR, but only with South Carolina local counsel who stays responsible for the case. Ask any prospective appellate lawyer directly about bar standing and about any past discipline. A suspended license or an unresolved grievance is worth knowing before you sign an engagement letter.

Real appellate experience shows in specifics. Ask how many merits briefs the lawyer has filed in the Court of Appeals, and ask to read one or two, redacted if needed. Ask whether the lawyer has argued orally before a panel and how those arguments went. Preservation is where many appeals are won or lost, so ask how the lawyer handles a record with a weak objection. A candidate who talks fluently about the standard of review and about the difference between abuse of discretion and de novo review is telling you something useful.

Subject matter matters too. An appeal from a family court custody order is not the same animal as an appeal from a commercial judgment or a workers' compensation award. Some lawyers who appear regularly in the panel concentrate in a few areas and know how the panel treats those records. Ask whether the lawyer has handled appeals in your field, and whether any produced a published opinion. A published win in a related area is a sign the lawyer can frame an issue this court cares about.

Timing shapes who you can hire. The notice of appeal is due within thirty days of written notice of entry of the order under Rule 203 SCACR, and that deadline does not forgive a late start. If you wait until the brief is nearly due, fewer good appellate lawyers will take the case, and those who do may charge a premium for the compressed schedule. Bring counsel in early. An appellate lawyer who reviews the trial record while it is fresh can spot the strongest issues and drop the weak ones before the opening brief locks you in.

Fees for appellate work usually run by the hour or as a flat fee for the brief and argument. Contingency arrangements are uncommon on appeal, because a reversal often produces a remand rather than an immediate payment. Get the scope in writing. Does the fee cover the reply brief, oral argument, and a petition for rehearing, or does each stage carry a separate charge. Ask who pays for the transcript and the record on appeal, which can be a real expense in a long trial. The size of the trial record drives much of the cost of an appeal to the Court of Appeals. A lawyer who gives you a written estimate tied to the phases of the appeal is easier to budget for than one who quotes a single lump sum.

Oral argument, when the appellate bench grants it, is short and pointed. The judges have read the briefs and want answers, not a recitation. A seasoned advocate prepares for the questions the panel is likely to ask and concedes the points that cannot be won, which buys credibility on the points that can. Ask a prospective lawyer how they prepare for argument. The answer tells you whether they treat the bench as a conversation or a captive audience.

Watch for a few red flags. A lawyer who guarantees a result on appeal is either naive or dishonest, since no one controls how a panel of the judges will rule. A lawyer who cannot explain the standard of review for your kind of order has not done appellate work recently. Ask for two references from past appellate clients, and ask those clients whether the briefs read clearly and whether deadlines were met without a scramble.

Verification adds a layer the marketing copy cannot. In this directory, firms that earn verification show dated, editor-reviewed checks, and every check appears with a name, a short description, a status, and the date it was last confirmed. For an appellate lawyer, the checks that matter most are bar standing and admissions, since a lawyer has to be in good standing to file in the panel at all. A last-checked date lets you see whether the confirmation is recent or months old. When a status reads current and the date is fresh, you have a concrete starting point rather than a slogan.

Remember what this court is. It is South Carolina's intermediate appellate court, sitting below the Supreme Court and above the trial courts, and it reviews what already happened rather than staging a fresh contest. The lawyer you hire has to work inside that frame. The best appellate advocate cannot add evidence that was never offered, and cannot cure an objection that was never made. Hire early, while there is still time to protect the record, and the appeal to the court starts from firmer ground. Hire late, after the remittitur clock has started, and you are asking the court to work with whatever the trial produced.