SLRC Moves to sanction school’s attorneys for using delaying tactics in Hardwick case
Friday, March 21, 2008
The Southern Legal Resource Center eU P D A T E
FLORENCE, SC – The SLRC is seeking sanctions against attorneys for the defendants in Hardwick v. Heyward, the South Carolina in-school heritage violation case that is supposedly set for trial in March.
In late January, attorneys for Latta (S.C.) School District #2 filed a last-minute motion to dismiss the suit on grounds that the plaintiff, Candice Hardwick, is no longer a student at the school. The SLRC promptly responded noting that the fact Ms. Hardwick no longer attends that particular school in no way affects the fact that she has a legitimate claim for damages for treatment she suffered at the hands of school officials while she was still a student there. This point is so self evident, the SLRC said, that the attorneys’ motion is obviously frivolous and is intended essentially as a further delaying tactic in a case that should have been heard months ago. Accordingly the SLRC has asked that the defense team be sanctioned by having to pay for the SLRC’s time and expense in replying to the motion – in addition to any damages that may be recovered in the suit itself.
“Candice Hardwick has waited a long time to have her day in court,” said SLRC Executive Director Roger McCredie. “The other side knows that. This is called trying to buy the case by pleading the plaintiffs to death. The thing is, this particular motion is so bogus that it needs to be punished as such.”
“We have, and always have had, an excellent case on its own merits,” said SLRC Chief Trial Counsel Kirk D. Lyons. “We cannot and will not stand for any further obstruction of it. Justice delayed is justice betrayed.”
On The Web: http://shnv.blogspot.com/2008/03/southern-legal-resource-center-eu-p-d-t.html
