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City of Hartsville v. S.C. Mun. Ins. & Risk Fin. Fund

City of Hartsville v. S.C. Mun. Ins. & Risk Fin. Fund

Supreme Court of South Carolina

March 4, 2009, Heard; May 18, 2009, Re-Filed

Opinion No. 26625

Opinion

 [*538]   [**575]  JUSTICE BEATTY: In this declaratory judgment action, South Carolina Municipal Insurance and Risk Financing Fund (Insurer) appeals the circuit court's order finding the Insurer had a continuing duty to defend the City of Hartsville (City) and ordering it to pay the City the costs it incurred from having to defend against a suit brought by a Hartsville landowner. Pursuant to Rule 204(b), SCACR, this Court certified this appeal from the Court of Appeals. We affirm the decision of the circuit court.

 [**576]  FACTUAL/PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 1991, Phelix Byrd (Byrd) purchased a 46.358 acre tract of land that lay partly in the City (the City tract) and partly in  [*539]  Darlington County (the County tract). The property was part of what used to be Coker Farms, a National Historic Landmark (NHL) as designated in 1964 by the National Park Service, a division of the United States  [***2] Department of the Interior. This NHL designation, however, was never filed in the public records of Darlington County nor was any mention of the designation placed on deeds conveying portions of the Coker Farms properties to subsequent purchasers.

Byrd purchased a portion of the Coker Farms property in order to subdivide it and sell parcels to developers for commercial purposes. In 1998, Byrd approached the City about developing a carwash on a .86 acre parcel of the property located in the City. Because the City tract was zoned for agricultural use, Byrd petitioned the City to rezone it as commercial. Fearing that commercial development of any part of the Coker Farms would lead to the revocation of the NHL designation for all of Coker Farms, the City delayed acting on Byrd's petition.

After being assured that rezoning Byrd's property would not affect the NHL designation, the City rezoned the .86 acre parcel from agricultural to commercial pursuant to a City ordinance in February of 1999. By this time, however, Byrd's potential purchaser had lost the financing necessary to develop the property and, as a result, the sale never closed.

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382 S.C. 535 *; 677 S.E.2d 574 **; 2009 S.C. LEXIS 142 ***

City of Hartsville, Respondent, v. South Carolina Municipal Insurance & Risk Financing Fund, Appellant.

Prior History:  [***1] Appeal From Darlington County. J. Michael Baxley, Circuit Court Judge.

City of Hartsville v. S.C. Mun. Ins. & Risk Fin. Fund, 382 S.C. 168, 675 S.E.2d 723, 2009 S.C. LEXIS 86 (S.C., 2009)

Disposition: AFFIRMED.

CORE TERMS

Insurer, cause of action, civil conspiracy, circuit court, conspiracy claim, tort claim, coverage, inverse condemnation, insurer's duty to defend, duty to defend, conspiracy, immunity, tract, inverse condemnation claim, designation, damages, flags, continuing duty, condemnation, allegations, contends, lawsuit, government entity, insurance policy, liability policy, summary judgment, no duty, asserting, conspired, inverse

Governments, Local Governments, Claims By & Against, Insurance Law, Commercial General Liability Insurance, Coverage, General Overview, Torts, Liability, State Tort Claims Acts, Insurance Coverage, Duties & Powers, Contract Formation, Civil Procedure, Appeals, Standards of Review, Clearly Erroneous Review, Liability & Performance Standards, Good Faith & Fair Dealing, Declaratory Judgments, State Declaratory Judgments, Scope of Declaratory Judgments, Substantial Evidence, Sufficiency of Evidence, Remedies, Judicial Review, Pleadings, Complaints, Duty to Defend, Indemnification, Payments, Special Proceedings, Eminent Domain Proceedings, State Condemnations, Real Property Law, Inverse Condemnation, Concerted Action, Civil Conspiracy, Elements, Remedies, Evidence, Burdens of Proof, Allocation, Claim, Contract & Practice Issues, Policy Interpretation, Exclusions, Employees, Employees & Officials, Entities Covered, Scope of Employment, State & Territorial Governments, Exclusions From Liability, Procedural Matters, Legislation, Interpretation, Defenses, Demurrers & Objections, Affirmative Defenses, Public Entity Liability, Immunities, Sovereign Immunity, Damages, Compensatory Damages, Monetary Damages