Grosshuesch v. Cramer
| Decision Date | 10 March 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 26453.,26453. |
| Citation | 377 S.C. 12,659 S.E.2d 112 |
| Parties | An L. GROSSHUESCH, Guardian and Conservator of Eleanor A. Breedlove, and An L. Grosshuesch, Guardian and Conservator of Bernard H. Breedlove, Respondents/Appellants, v. Lisa CRAMER, Nathan Cramer, Lawrence H. Gray, Jr., Duane Marie Gray, and Sweetgrass Land Company, LLC, Defendants, of whom Lisa Cramer is Appellant/Respondent. and Ex Parte Charles B. Macloskie, Appellant, In re An L. Grosshuesch, Guardian and Conservator of Eleanor A. Breedlove, and An L. Grosshuesch, Guardian and Conservator of Bernard H. Breedlove, Respondents, v. Lisa Cramer, Nathan Cramer, Lawrence H. Gray, Jr., Duane Marie Gray, and Sweetgrass Land Company, LLC, Defendants. and An L. Grosshuesch, Guardian and Conservator of Eleanor A. Breedlove, and An L. Grosshuesch, Guardian and Conservator of Bernard H. Breedlove, Appellants, v. Lisa Cramer, Nathan Cramer, Lawrence H. Gray, Jr., Daune Marie Gray, and Sweetgrass Land Company, LLC, Respondents. and Ex Parte Lionel S. Lofton, Appellant, In re An L. Grosshuesch, Guardian and Conservator of Eleanor A. Breedlove, and An L. Grosshuesch, Guardian and Conservator of Bernard H. Breedlove, Respondents, v. Lisa Cramer, Nathan Cramer, Lawrence H. Gray, Jr., Duane Marie Gray, and Sweetgrass Land Company, LLC, Defendants. |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
Lionel S. Lofton and V. Lynn Lofton, both of Lofton & Lofton, of Charleston, and Charles B. Macloskie, of the Macloskie Law Firm, of Beaufort, for Appellant/Respondent Lisa Cramer and for Appellants Lofton and Macloskie.
Richard S. Rosen and Andrew D. Gowdown, both of Rosen, Rosen & Hagood, of Charleston, for Respondents/Appellants.
These consolidated appeals relate to several discovery orders in a civil action. Bernard and Eleanor Breedlove initiated the underlying lawsuit seeking to set aside several transfers of assets to Lisa and Nathan Cramer on the grounds of fraud and undue influence. The parties contest several issues on appeal, but the foremost is whether the trial court erred in imposing discovery-related sanctions on Lisa Cramer. The Cramers argue that the trial court should not have imposed sanctions, and the Breedloves argue that the trial court should have imposed more. Additionally, the Cramers' attorneys argue that the trial court erred in requiring them to produce documents and information relating to the location of assets allegedly transferred from the Breedloves, and the Breedloves argue that the trial court erred in issuing a protective order making discovery in the case confidential.
Though these issues are couched as different types of discovery disputes, they deal primarily with the Cramers' invocation of the privilege against self-incrimination found in the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Because we find that the trial court did not apply the proper standard when judging the Cramers' invocation of the Fifth Amendment, we vacate the trial court's imposition of discovery-related sanctions on Lisa Cramer. Similarly, we find that the trial court erred in ordering the Cramers' attorneys to produce documents and information which relate to their representation of the Cramers. The remaining questions on appeal, specifically, whether the trial court erred in declining to impose additional sanctions on Lisa Cramer and whether the trial court erred in issuing a protective order, are not immediately appealable and are therefore dismissed.
The Breedloves are elderly individuals with substantial assets who reside in Hilton Head, South Carolina. In their complaint, the Breedloves alleged that they became acquainted with Lisa Cramer through her employment at the Breedloves' bank, and that after learning of the Breedloves' substantial wealth, the Cramers conspired to develop an enduring relationship with the Breedloves and to exploit that relationship for financial gain. The Breedloves alleged that over time, they transferred several million dollars worth of real estate and liquid assets to the Cramers. During the time of these transfers, the Breedloves were allegedly suffering from some degree of dementia related to their advanced age. The Beaufort County Probate Court appointed An L. Grosshuesch as guardian and conservator for the Breedloves after the Breedloves commenced this lawsuit.
This appeal represents the third time this Court has addressed issues arising out of this litigation. As their first step in defending the lawsuit, the Cramers requested that the trial court stay the suit pending the resolution of the criminal actions filed against them relating to these conveyances. The trial court denied this request, and we dismissed the Cramers' appeal from the denial of the stay on the grounds that the trial court's order was interlocutory, not affecting the merits, and thus, not immediately appealable.
Next, this Court addressed the trial court's denial of the Breedloves' request for a preliminary injunction. The Breedloves sought to prevent the Cramers and others acting on the Cramers' behalf from transferring or otherwise disposing of the assets at issue. In so seeking, the Breedloves filed lis pendens against the subject real estate and sought a preliminary injunction preventing the Cramers from exercising control over some of the accounts and assets in dispute. In seeking the injunction, the specific focus of the Breedloves' concern was a Merrill Lynch account which they alleged initially contained $2 million, but has been almost completely depleted. The trial court denied the Breedloves' request for an injunction, and this Court reversed. Grosshuesch v. Cramer, 367 S.C. 1, 623 S.E.2d 833 (2005).
The consolidated appeals now at issue deal with several orders related to discovery. Over the course of this litigation, the Breedloves sought extensive discovery relating to the amount of assets the Cramers received from the Breedloves, expenses the Cramers appeared to authorize on behalf of the Breedloves, and the present location of all assets acquired from the Breedloves. When the Breedloves received no response to their discovery requests, they sought and were granted an order compelling Lisa Cramer to respond to discovery.1
The Cramers again entered no substantive response to the vast amount of Breedloves' discovery, answering only that any response to discovery would be deemed a waiver of rights secured by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and by Article I, Section 12 of the South Carolina Constitution. After receiving what were in their view insufficient responses to their discovery requests, the Breedloves sought an order of contempt and sanctions as to Lisa Cramer. The trial court ordered Lisa Cramer to fully respond to discovery and held her in contempt, but imposed no sanctions. In this order, the trial court additionally prohibited the Breedloves from disseminating any information acquired in discovery to anyone not directly connected with this litigation. The purpose of this protective order, in the trial court's view, was to guard the integrity of the case and to prevent any criminal harm to the Cramers from their discovery responses. Lisa Cramer appealed from her finding of contempt, and the Breedloves cross-appealed the imposition of the protective order.
Although the Cramers' depositions followed this contempt order, the Breedloves' quest for information fared no better. Ultimately, the trial court entertained a second motion for contempt and sanctions arising out of Lisa Cramer's essentially blanket refusal to answer questions in her deposition. The trial court denied this request for contempt and sanctions, and the Breedloves appealed.
Roughly around the same time they served their initial discovery requests, the Breedloves issued subpoenas duces tecum to the Cramers' attorneys. The subpoenas requested that the attorneys produce documents evidencing any fees they had received from the Cramers, withdrawals from the $2 million Merrill Lynch account, and transfers of cash to the Cramers from the Breedloves. The trial court denied the attorneys' requests to quash the subpoenas and ultimately held the attorneys in contempt. Both attorneys appealed.
As a result of the parties' prolific appealing at each stage of litigation, the court of appeals had several appeals related to this litigation pending by early 2007. Specifically, the court of appeals had the appeal and cross-appeal relating to the order holding Lisa Cramer in contempt for her initial discovery responses; the Breedloves' appeal of the order declining to hold Lisa Cramer in contempt for her deposition conduct; and the Cramers' attorneys' appeals from their contempt orders. This Court issued an order certifying and consolidating all of the pending appeals, and the parties present the following issues for review:
I. Did the trial court err in holding Lisa Cramer in contempt for failing to respond to discovery? (Lisa Cramer's appeal)
II. Did the trial court err in finding the Cramers' attorneys in contempt for failing to comply with the subpoenas duces tecum? (The attorneys' appeals)
III. Did the trial court err in issuing a protective order prohibiting the Breedloves from disseminating any information or discovery responses to anyone not directly connected with this litigation? (the Breedloves' cross-appeal)
IV. Did the trial court err in denying the Breedloves' second request for contempt and sanctions as to Lisa Cramer? (the Breedloves' appeal)
Lisa Cramer argues that the trial court erred in holding her in contempt for failing to respond to discovery. We agree.
Both the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 12 of the South Carolina Constitution declare that no person shall be compelled to be a witness against himself in any criminal case. In interpreting the Fifth Amendment, the privilege...
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...the meaning of the appealability statute, involve the merits of the action or affect a substantial right." Grosshuesch v. Cramer , 377 S.C. 12, 30, 659 S.E.2d 112, 122 (2008). However, courts may accept appeals of interlocutory orders not ordinarily immediately appealable when appealed with......
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...issue proper for review, but declining to so where the issues appealed lack a sufficient nexus); see also Grosshuesch v. Cramer, 377 S.C. 12, 31, 659 S.E.2d 112, 122 (2008) (noting discovery orders are interlocutory and not immediately appealable).2 In minimizing the significance of the emp......
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Davis v. Parkview Apartments, Carolina Ltd.
...argue that the contempt finding must be reversed because the underlying discovery order was itself improper. E.g. Grosshuesch v. Cramer, 377 S.C. 12, 659 S.E.2d 112 (2008). The majority acknowledges that appellants have done exactly what is required of them but concludes that our review is ......
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Davis v. Parkview Apartments, Carolina Ltd., Appellate Case No. 2010-180666
...argue that the contempt finding must be reversed because the underlying discovery order was itself improper. E.g. Grosshuesch v. Cramer, 377 S.C. 12, 659 S.E.2d 112 (2008).The majority acknowledges that appellants have done exactly what is required of them but concludes that our review is s......