Eberly v. Advanced Flooring & Design Div. of ISI

• Jurisdiction: United States,Federal,South Carolina
• Parties: Margaret A. Eberly and Barbara J. Pavelik, Plaintiffs, v. Advanced Flooring & Design Division of ISI, LLC; Archer Exteriors, Inc.; Crossroads Enterprises, LLC; D.R. Horton, Inc.; East Coast Construction Cleanup Corp.; Hutton's Landscapes, Inc.; Lather Construction SC, Inc.; Lather Construction, Inc.; Professional Drywall & Paint Services, LLC; Professional Exteriors II, LLC; and Valim Construction, LLC, Defendants, Of which D.R. Horton, Inc. is the Petitioner, And Hutton's Landscapes, Inc.; Lather Construction SC, Inc.; and Lather Construction, Inc. are the Respondents. Appellate Case No. 2022-001719
• Decision Date: 24 April 2024
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court
• Docket Number: 28199

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Margaret A. Eberly and Barbara J. Pavelik, Plaintiffs,
v.
Advanced Flooring & Design Division of ISI, LLC; Archer Exteriors, Inc.; Crossroads Enterprises, LLC; D.R. Horton, Inc.; East Coast Construction Cleanup Corp.; Hutton's Landscapes, Inc.; Lather Construction SC, Inc.; Lather Construction, Inc.; Professional Drywall & Paint Services, LLC; Professional Exteriors II, LLC; and Valim Construction, LLC, Defendants,

Of which D.R. Horton, Inc. is the Petitioner, And Hutton's Landscapes, Inc.; Lather Construction SC, Inc.; and Lather Construction, Inc. are the Respondents. Appellate Case No. 2022-001719

No. 28199

Supreme Court of South Carolina

April 24, 2024

Submitted April 15, 2024

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEALS

Appeal from Beaufort County Bentley Price, Circuit Court Judge

Carl F. Muller, of Carl F. Muller, Attorney at Law, P.A., of Greenville; Thomas Elihue Dudley, III, John T. Crawford, Jr. and Jason Michael Imhoff, of Kenison Dudley & Crawford, LLC, of Greenville, all for Petitioner.

Emily Gifford Lucey, of Richardson Plowden & Robinson, of Mt. Pleasant, and Carmen Vaughn Ganjehsani, of Richardson Plowden & Robinson, of Columbia, both for Respondent Hutton's Landscapes, Inc.; Scott Harris Winograd, Jeffrey A Ross, Philip Paul Cristaldi, III, and Brenten Heath DeShields, all of Ross & Cristaldi, LLC, of Mount Pleasant, for Respondents Lather Construction SC, Inc. and Lather Construction, Inc.

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PER CURIAM.

We granted a petition for a writ of certiorari to review an order of the court of appeals dismissing this appeal because the notice of appeal was not timely served. We reverse and remand.

In this case, two plaintiffs filed an action against a home builder-D.R. Horton- and various subcontractors. D.R. Horton filed cross-claims against the subcontractors. The circuit court granted summary judgment against D.R. Horton on its cross-claims against Hutton's Landscapes, Inc. and Lather Construction, Inc., by order filed March 11, 2022. The circuit court denied D.R. Horton's Rule 59(e), SCRCP, motion on March 24, 2022.

D.R. Horton electronically filed (E-Filed) a notice of appeal in the circuit court E-Filing System on April 11, 2022. See Rule 203(d)(1)(A), SCACR (requiring that a notice of appeal from the circuit court be filed with the clerk of the circuit court and the clerk of the appellate court). Pursuant to the provisions of the South Carolina Electronic Filing Policies and Guidelines (SCEF), all the parties were served with a Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF) that was automatically transmitted by e-mail to all counsel immediately after the notice of appeal was E-Filed. See Section 4(e)(2), SCEF ("[U]pon the E-Filing of any pleading, motion, or other paper subsequent to the summons and complaint or other filing initiating a case, the E-Filing System will automatically generate and transmit an NEF to all Authorized E-Filers associated

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with that case," and "the E-Filing of that pleading, motion, or other paper, together with the transmission of an NEF, constitutes proper service under Rule 5, SCRCP, as to all other parties who are E-Filers in that case."). This notice of appeal specified that D.R. Horton was appealing the order granting the motions for summary judgment filed by Lather Construction and Hutton's Landscapes, and copies of the order...