1994 Permanent House Journal Printed Pages 1760-1769 - South Carolina Legislature Online

Journal of the House of Representatives
of the Second Session of the 110th General Assembly
of the State of South Carolina
being the Regular Session Beginning Tuesday, January 11, 1994

Page Finder Index

Printed Page 1750, Feb. 10 | Printed Page 1770, Feb. 10

Printed Page 1760 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994

And if you're talking about the importance of the case, I don't -- I mean every case is important. If it's important enough to have a contested case before us, they're all important.
Q. Back to the notion of being a cause attorney, what are some of those causes that have special meaning to you, particularly any that might come up in the administrative law area?
A. Well, my primary -- it seems like it always boils down to somebody that has been -- something -- they've been mistreated in some manner. Arrested for no cause, without just cause, and that type of thing.

One of the cases that I cited in here was a man who was arrested because he owned -- only because he, they said, had possession of lottery tickets from Florida. And, you know, he was put in jail and kept a while and they called it -- I think the warrant was gambling in public and it just -- you know, we spent -- Ralph Phillips and I did that case together and we spent untold hours on it.

I think our jury award finally after we got back from appeal and everything, after we won the appeal of the Summary Judgement, the jury gave the man $1500. We weren't real amply rewarded for our time, but we won our
-- you know, it was a cause.
Q. Well, what -- are you going to have preconceived notions about any of these cases, these human kind of issues, when they come before you as an ALJ --
A. No, the --
Q. -- or what are you going to do about those?
A. The causes that I've -- that have always aroused my interest or have gotten me involved in a nonfinancial rewarding law practice are individual -- they're on an individual basis. They aren't causes like social issue causes. Does that answer your question?
Q. Yes, I understand what you mean, but --
A. Now, I --
Q. -- individuals -- you know, cases can come to you in that same context as an ALJ where you might have an individual that you have some special sympathy for?
A. Well, I suppose that if it were that severe that I felt that it would warp my judgement, I would have to recuse myself and send it to another ALJ because I do have -- I mean I can foresee -- I don't think there would be many of these, but I have a child that's developmentally delayed, a 26-year-old son whose developmentally delayed, and I'm very interested in and sensitive to the disabilities issues and I think the ALJ will be hearing a certain amount of those. And I work -- well, with the Civitans

Printed Page 1761 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994

who deal with disabilties and with Union Services, which I'm on the board there, which is a disabilities organization, and they -- but I don't think that would taint my judgment as far as --
Q. One thing you did mention is that you have a tendency to take these cases that are not financially rewarding; what happens when it turns out not to be financial rewarding? Do you continue the representation? Do you drop it? What standard do you use and --
A. I try not to take another one. I feel a responsibility once you take a case, you can't just drop it. And I feel a responsibility to carry through with it, but I just try not to do that again.
Q. It's come to our attention that there was a situation involving some overpayment of fees while you were a public defender, which you subsequently repaid. Would you please --
A. That was a misunderstanding between the County and me.
Q. And that has been repaid?
A. Yes. They were all paid back.
Q. Have you ever been held in contempt or sanctioned by a court for any reason?
A. No, sir. The only thing -- I've been up dozens of times for it due to public defender on those Post Conviction Relief hearings where the -- you know, people claim we're incompetent counsel and there was one in which I was -- they said I had a conflict of interest because I represented two defendants. That was a long time ago.

Two defendants that pled guilty -- codefendants that pled guilty and that's a no-no now, and so when they came back to court and said that was a conflict of interest, they said that was a conflict, but I don't know whether those things are really sanctions or --
Q. Well, I have a copy of an order in South Carolina Courier versus Hallman --
A. Oh, that was -- let's see, Ralph Phillips and I represented a -- some people in those Lottery courier service cases in Spartanburg and the -- and they were found -- I believe what -- that was the one that the people were found not guilty or something and they wanted to sue the Attorney General and the -- or the Solicitor and I believe they -- the court decided that it was a spurious case and fined me $250 and Ralph $250.
Q. Have you sought directly or indirectly the pledge of any legislator's vote for you as ALJ?
A. No, sir.
Q. And are you aware of any solicitation without your authorization or request?
A. Not that I know of, no.

Printed Page 1762 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994

Q. And we don't have any report of campaign expenditures; is that correct?
A. I sent a letter to each -- I have difficulty with this because I use my letterhead from my office and I don't know what it cost per thing. Twenty-nine cents per legislator. I sent each one a letter announcing that I was running and sent them a copy of my resume.
Q. But you have not exceeded $100?
A. Oh, no.
Q. I don't have any other questions.
A. Does a trip down -- excuse me. Does a trip down to the Bar interview count? Do I have to count mileage? That is an expense, campaign --
THE CHAIRMAN: I don't think so.
Q. It excludes travel and lodging.
THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you. Questions from the Members? Senator McConnell.
SENATOR MCCONNELL: Thank you.
THE CHAIRMAN: Surprise.
EXAMINATION BY SENATOR MCCONNELL:
Q. Have you sought the endorsement of any group or members of the General Assembly or caucus of the General Assembly?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you participated in a formalized interview process other than the Bar Association's process and this one here?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you directly or indirectly had any meetings or conversations pertaining to your candidacy with members of the Bar Screening Committee, Bar employees or lobbyists representing the Bar either before you were screened or after you were screened, but prior to the Bar Screening report being made public?
A. No, sir. The only time I talked with them was when they called to set up the meeting.
Q. Thank you.
SENATOR MOORE: Mr. Chairman?
THE CHAIRMAN: Senator Moore.
EXAMINATION BY SENATOR MOORE:
Q. Ms. Lewis?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Do you recall the first date you were contacted by a Bar representative?

Printed Page 1763 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994

A. I think before -- and I don't remember whether it was by letter or by phone call, but sometime before the holidays. They asked us to submit a copy of our PDQ, is that what it is, and I believe a resume. And I did that and I could look at my file at home, I don't have it with me, and tell you what -- it seems like to me that we had to have those in in early November.
Q. But they in turn contacted you to set up the interview --
A. Right.
Q. -- to confirm --
A. Now to set up the interview, I know the dates on that. They called me on Monday, January the 3rd --
Q. Yes.
A. -- and asked me if I could meet with them on Wednesday, January the 5th. They called my office either I -- it must have been Thursday. It was either Wednesday afternoon after I had -- well, while I was still gone or Thursday and asked my secretary for the street address. They said they were sending me something Federal Express and the girls didn't understand whether it was this committee or whether Ms. Satterwhite was calling. They didn't know who was calling.

Somebody from Columbia called and said they were sending us something Federal Express, so Friday, when we hadn't received it Friday -- and Federal Express is always next day -- well, I waited until Monday and we still hadn't received it, so I told the girls to see if they could track down what it was we were supposed to be getting. I knew it had something to do with the hearing today and I was afraid that I wouldn't get it in time to be adequately prepared, so they called. I'm sure they bugged Ms. Satterwhite to death and I don't know who else they called, but they said they couldn't find out anything and then after they made all these calls, in walks Federal Express with the letter from the Bar. That was this past Monday, the day before yesterday.
Q. But --
A. And it was dated -- if I remember right, and I didn't bring it with me, I believe it was dated the 7th.
Q. So you answered some of the questions, but the interview took place on the 5th? Is that what you said?
A. Yes. It took place on the 5th.
Q. Here in Columbia --
A. Yes.
Q. -- at the Bar office?
A. Yes.
Q. How many interviewers participated in this?

Printed Page 1764 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994

A. There were two and it was my understanding that there was supposed to be three, but Mike Glenn who was the only one
-- well, the one -- the group that I knew the best was in Europe and he couldn't be there and there was a lady from Rock Hill whose name I've forgotten and I had just --
THE CHAIRMAN: Beverly Carroll?
A. Yes, I had met her before. Uh-huh. I had known her and then there was another lady, but I don't know where she was from, so that I only talked with two of them. They said that Mike was in Europe and couldn't be there. And evidently they assigned three people to each candidate, you know, and those three were assigned to me as best I could figure out. And --
Q. Did you furnish them a list of references?
A. Right. And that was back in November I furnished it. As a matter of fact, I gave them five and said, "In case you can't reach any of these, here are two or three more."
Q. Were any of them contacted, do you know?
A. I know that one of them was and I didn't ask the others, but the -- one of the ones that I gave called my house and I wasn't there and she left a message on the answering machine and said that Mike Glenn had been in touch with her and that they had had a long conversation, so that one was followed through.
Q. So you were notified Monday, January 10th, by mail?
A. Right.
Q. Federal Express?
A. That's right.
Q. Thank you, ma'am.
THE CHAIRMAN: Other questions? If not, thank you, Ms. Lewis, very much.
A. Thank you.
THE CHAIRMAN: Let me ask the Committee's -- check to see the Committee's pleasure, we've got -- we have had a number of people waiting during the day, but I know the hour is late. It's past -- it's about 6:20. We've got Mr. Longtin, Mr. Mayer and then we have several others who I think we anticipated that we would be hearing from tomorrow. The question is whether you want to proceed with the final two -- with two more to try to take care of Mr. Longtin and Mr. Mayer or do you want to wait until tomorrow? Let me just ask how you feel.
REPRESENTATIVE ALEXANDER: I have some people coming down tonight I promised to meet and they are responsible for my being here a lot and I would like to adjourn at this time.

Printed Page 1765 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994

SENATOR MOORE: Mr. Chairman, while I understand what Representative Alexander is speaking to, we do have two gentleman --
REPRESENTATIVE ALEXANDER: Yes.
SENATOR MOORE: -- who have been here quite a while. Do you think your folks could allow you another --
REPRESENTATIVE ALEXANDER: Well, I haven't had a chance to talk to them.
SENATOR MOORE: -- 30 minutes, so we could get through with these gentlemen and then start on the next round?
THE CHAIRMAN: Or I could -- I think as long as I have your proxy.
REPRESENTATIVE ALEXANDER: I have two proxies myself. Can I give you mine, too?
THE CHAIRMAN: You sure can. If you give me yours, that will give us enough of a quorum on the House side --
REPRESENTATIVE ALEXANDER: All right.
THE CHAIRMAN: -- to be able to operate. Why don't we do that, that way we can proceed through.
REPRESENTATIVE ALEXANDER: I'll be glad to.
THE CHAIRMAN: -- did -- John, Glenn, do you all have any objection to that?
SENATOR MCCONNELL: I have no objection at all.
SENATOR RUSSELL: None at all.
THE CHAIRMAN: Let's try to do that then. We will, and for the rest of the people that were here for the hearing, we will do Mr. Longtin's and Mr. Mayer's and then we'll conclude for the evening, so if there are other people that are waiting for their hearings, it will be tomorrow.
SENATOR RUSSELL: Mr. Chairman, what time are we going to start?
REPRESENTATIVE ALEXANDER: Yes, I'd like to know.
THE CHAIRMAN: 10:00 a.m. tomorrow in this room and in the afternoon, we're going to move to the Blatt building. Mr. Longtin, did I pronounce your name correctly?
MR. LONGTIN: Longtin, that's correct.
THE CHAIRMAN: All right. If you would please raise your right hand.
JAMES G. LONGTIN, having been duly sworn, testified as follows:
THE CHAIRMAN: Have you had a chance to review your Personal Data Questionnaire summary?
MR. LONGTIN: Yes, I have.
THE CHAIRMAN: And is that correct?
MR. LONGTIN: There is one change on violations I have listed.

Printed Page 1766 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994

THE CHAIRMAN: Yes, sir.
MR. LONGTIN: I found out subsequent to filling that out that the second one was not dismissed. That's a leash law violation.
THE CHAIRMAN: 29. All right.
MR. LONGTIN: I'm also currently applying to the Georgia Bar and they require copies. That's how it came to my attention.
THE CHAIRMAN: Okay. Municipal Summons from the City of Walterboro for violation of a leash law and you're saying the charge was not dismissed. That may require extensive questioning of you while you're up there.
MS. MCNAMEE: What kind of dog was it?
THE CHAIRMAN: All right. Any other changes or clarifications that need to be made?
MR. LONGTIN: No, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN: Is there any objection on your part to making the summary a part of your sworn testimony?
MR. LONGTIN: No, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN: That being the case, it shall be done and entered in the transcript.

PERSONAL DATA QUESTIONNAIRE SUMMARY

1. James G. Longtin
Home Address: Business Address:
100-A Hayne Street P. O. Box 973
Walterboro, SC 29488 Walterboro, SC 29488

2. He was born in Augusta, Georgia on July 31, 1955. He is presently 38 years old.

4. He is single.

5. Military Service: N/A

6. He attended Georgia Institute of Technology, 1973-1979, Bachelor of Chemical Engineering; and the University of South Carolina School of Law, 1982-1985, J.D.

8. Legal/Judicial education during the past five years:
He has attended CLE seminars on Trial Advocacy, Evidence, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law, Real Property, Bankruptcy, Ethics and

Printed Page 1767 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994

Professional Responsibility, Probate, Divorce, Construction Law, and Patent Law.

9. Taught or Lectured: University of South Carolina Department of Continuing Education - Real Property and Agency Law course for prospective sales agents

12. Legal experience since graduation from law school:

Ackerman, Woodard and Butler 10/85 - 10/92

Associate Attorney: Full responsibility for handling a substantial litigation caseload from initial client contact through conduct of trial, in a law practice concentrating in commercial litigation. Also handled a variety of general practice matters, including criminal defense, divorce, real estate and probate.

13. Rating in Martindale-Hubbell:

14. Frequency of appearances in court:
Federal - approximately 4 times per year
State - approximately 25 times per year
Other -

15. Percentage of litigation:
Civil - 70%
Criminal - 15%
Domestic - 15%

16. Percentage of cases in trial courts:
Jury - 5%
Non-jury - 95%

Sole Counsel

17. Five (5) of the most significant litigated matters in either trial or appellate court:

18. Five (5) civil appeals:

Printed Page 1768 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994

23. Employment As a Judge Other Than Elected Judicial Office:
Special Referee - November 3, 1993 - Colleton County - 8 damages hearings

25. Occupation, business or profession other than the practice of law:
Chemical Engineer - Colonial Pipeline Company, 1979-1981, Project Engineer
Applied Engineering Company - 1981-1982, Project Engineer

26. Officer/director or management of business enterprise:
He is currently handling a small number of legal matters while seeking other employment.

29. Arrested or Charged:

Federal summons for illegal camping in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1986. Charge was dismissed.

Municipal summons from City of Walterboro for violation of leash law. Charge was dismissed.

45. Bar Associations and Professional Organizations:
South Carolina Bar

46. Civic, charitable, educational, social and fraternal organizations:
Head Start Policy Council Chairman, 1989-1991; Sertoma Club Program Chairman, 1990; Habitat for Humanity Local Board Member and Construction Committee Chairman, 1990-1992; Charleston Symphony Singers Guild, 1991-1993

48. Five (5) letters of recommendation:
(a) Gloria Godwin, AVP/Senior Officer
South Carolina National Bank
P. O. Drawer 1087, Walterboro, SC 29488
549-2571
(b) E. W. Bennett, Jr., Esquire
Alexander, Bennett & Associates
P. O. Drawer 739, Walterboro, SC 29488-0739
549-5586

Printed Page 1769 . . . . . Thursday, February 10, 1994

(c) Jeffrey M. Butler, Esquire
Woodard & Butler
P. O. Box 1906, Walterboro, SC 29488
538-4566
(d) Shari Lee Smith, Esquire
Woodard & Butler
P. O. Box 1906, Walterboro, SC 29488
538-4566
(e) Thomas I. Howard, Esquire
Woodard & Butler
P. O. Box 1906, Walterboro, SC 29488
538-4566

BAR RESOLUTION: Colleton County

PERSONAL DATA QUESTIONNAIRE - ADDENDUM

2. Positions on the Bench:
11/8/93 Special Referee; Court of Common Pleas; Colleton County

10. Extra-Judicial Community Involvement:
Past Chairman, Headstart Policy Council; Past Board Member, Colleton Habitat for Humanity
He has not used his judicial office to further these interests.

The Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline report that no formal complaints or charges of any kind have ever been filed against you. The Judicial Standards Commission has no record of reprimands against you. I understand you have served as a special referee before; is that correct.
MR. LONGTIN: Yes. That's correct.
THE CHAIRMAN: The records of the applicable law enforcement agencies, being the Colleton County Sheriff's Department, Walterboro City Police Department, SLED and FBI, all of those records are negative. Judgement Rolls of Colleton County are negative. Federal Court records are negative. No complaints or statements were received and no witnesses are here to testify against you.

Now prior to turning you over to Ms. McNamee for questioning, I want to give you the same chance that we've given the others and that is to make a brief opening statement on your behalf.
MR. LONGTIN: In the interest of time, I'll waive an opening statement.

Printed Page 1750, Feb. 10 | Printed Page 1770, Feb. 10

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