Vol. 8, No. 5, Pg. 32. A Tale of Two Courts-Civil Procedure in Magistrate's Court and the Court of Common Pleas.

• Author: By the Hon. William P. Steele Jr.

South Carolina Lawyer

1997.

Vol. 8, No. 5, Pg. 32.

A Tale of Two Courts-Civil Procedure in Magistrate's Court and the Court of Common Pleas

32A Tale of Two Courts--Civil Procedure in Magistrate's Court and the Court of Common PleasBy the Hon. William P. Steele Jr.As a result of the increase in magistrate's courts jurisdiction to $5,000 on January 1, 1996, many lawyers will be practicing in magistrate's court for the first time. These practitioners, who are accustomed to litigation in the common pleas court, will find themselves procedural strangers in a strange land.

From the filing of civil actions to appeals, dramatic differences exist in statutes and rules governing the two courts. The Rules of Civil Procedure apply insofar as practicable to the extent they are not inconsistent with the statutes and rules governing those courts. S.C.R.Civ.P. 81. Therefore, the peculiar rules of magistrate's court apply instead of the Rules of Civil Procedure to cases brought in magistrate's court.

FILING

In magistrate's court, a civil action may be filed in the appropriate magistrate's court having territorial jurisdiction in the county in which at least one defendant resides, except that civil actions against corporations may be filed in any county where thecorporation has or usually keeps an office or agent for the transaction of its usual and custo-mary business. S.C.R. Mag. Ct. 4.

Additionally, the state Supreme Court interpreted the constitutional predecessor of S.C. Const., Art. 5, § 26, to confine jurisdiction to the county for which the magistrate is appointed. Dill v. Durham, 56 S.C. 423, 35 S.E. 3 (1900).

These two provisions together present substantial filing problems for the lawyer who wishes to sue individuals from other counties or

33states or corporations that have no property, office or agent in the lawyer's county.

Aside from the option of filing in the appropriate county, the lawyer can file the case in the common pleas court and then move to have the case remanded to magistrate's court.

Peculiarities also exist in the filing of claim and delivery actions, which are actions to recover personal property. These actions should be filed in the county where the property is located. S.C. Court Administration, S.C. Bench Book for Magistrates and Municipal Judges, II, at 71.

Finally, certain types of actions cannot be filed in magistrate's court. A magistrate may not hear actions in which the title to property comes in question. S.C. Code Ann. § 22-3-20 (2) (Law. Co-op. 1989). However, a proceeding to eject a tenant who claims title in himself is not an action involving the title to land but a summary proceeding, and it may be filed in magistrate's court. State ex rel. O'Neale v. Fickling, 10 S.C. 301 (1878).

Also, a magistrate does not have jurisdiction in a civil action to which the state is a party, except an action for penalty not exceeding $100. S.C. Code Ann. § 22-3-20 (1) (Law Co-op. 1989). Presumably, this section would also apply to political subdivisions of the state, such as county...