FEDERAL JUDGE ISSUES INJUNCTION AGAINST GOVERNOR’S WORKERS’ COMP ORDERS
FITSNews – December 28, 2007 – One week after the State Supreme Court ruled in favor of providing workers’ comp benefits to illegal aliens, a federal judge in Greenville, S.C., has issued an injunction that prohibits South Carolina workers’ compensation commissioners from applying the objective standards ordered earlier this year by S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford.
In response to a complaint made by Greenville-based personal injury lawyer Kathryn Williams, U.S. District Court Judge G. Ross Anderson issued the injunction yesterday, setting off the latest round in what has become a full-scale nuclear war between the business community and the personal injury lawyers in the state legislature, among others.
Williams is well-known in Palmetto political circles for her close proximity to Rep. Harry Cato – an arch-defender of the current workers’ compensation system that personal injury lawyers are obviously so hell-bent on preserving.
That system has cost South Carolina businesses approximately $277 million over the last four years, incidentally, all while a select group of legislators were busy pocketing over $6 million in proceeds from workers’ comp claims.
Needless to say, the fallout from Anderson’s injunction (and the Supreme Court’s illegal alien ruling) will be intense, as state legislators who thought they dealt with this issue in 2007 will now be forced to revisit it once again in 2008.
Plus, as inept as the Sanford administration has been in recent months on the PR front, a highly-publicized duel with an inviting special interest target like the personal injury lawyers could be just the battle the governor needs to get back on his pro-business message.
Stay tuned for plenty of fireworks on this one …
By Back Row Bum December 28, 2007 at 7:29 pm
“This bill should be called the Kathryn Williams full employment act!” – Kathryn Williams testimony before the House LCI Committee this spring on S.332, the workers’ comp reform bill. She was right.
By Hmmmm... December 28, 2007 at 8:11 pm
“Needless to say, the fallout from Anderson’s injunction (and the Supreme Court’s illegal alien ruling) will be intense, as state legislators who thought they dealt with this issue in 2007 will now be forced to revisit it once again in 2008.”
??? The only difference between these two rulings and that of the Governor’s decreee legisating from the executive mansion, is that the two court rulings happen to follow the language as written in the statutes of S.Carolina as promulgated by the General Assembly. I am not sure exactly what there is to fix?
By Mincing Words December 28, 2007 at 8:35 pm
just a random thought- is Kathryn still running around G’ville with an “ALJ 1A” tag courtesy of her ex-husband, Chief Administrative Law Judge Marvin F. “Buddy” Kittrell?
By Harden Gervais December 28, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Actually, from what I heard, most General Assembly members aren’t as upset by Sanford’s plan as the fact he tried to make an end-run around the legislative process.
By Oh, you're kidding, right? December 30, 2007 at 12:19 pm
End run around another branch of government’s powers. Where would we have seen that before? Hmm… isn’t there something about the legislative branch wanting to oversee the judicial branch in recent pre-filed bills? I digress.
By Pete December 30, 2007 at 1:57 pm
#5: YOU’RE kidding, right? The judicial branch has unchecked power and has blatantly shown it is subject to corrupt political pressures. The legislature wants to bring it back in line and balance the checks and balances and you complain? Are you Queen Jean herself? I digress.
By Silence Dogood December 30, 2007 at 2:01 pm
“Actually, from what I heard, most General Assembly members aren’t as upset by Sanford’s plan as the fact he tried to make an end-run around the legislative process.”
Well considering thwarting the legislative process by executive fiat does in fact change us from being one of the more robust democracies on earth to a banana republic where the words of the chief executive are the law – it seems a reasonbly legit gripe to have one would think.
By SC Lawyer III January 2, 2008 at 6:33 pm
If you want to reform Worker’s Compensation, you have to do it in the House, not by an executive branch power grab.
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