$50M verdict for Bluffton mayor among highest in history of SC defamation cases, lawyers say
The recent $50 million jury verdict in a defamation case involving Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka is raising eyebrows in South Carolina’s legal community and prompting some concern from a prominent free speech expert.
The award, which was handed down Thursday as part of a lawsuit that Sulka filed against longtime government critic Skip Hoagland, is believed to be among the largest ever in a South Carolina defamation case, lawyers say.
“It’s the largest one I’ve ever heard of, and I’ve been doing this since the 1970s,” said Jay Bender, an attorney with the South Carolina Press Association.
Attorneys on Friday said the $50 million verdict was remarkable, adding that a number of factors likely led to the high amount in damages, including the defendant’s decision not to show up in court for this week’s trial. Hoagland did not have a lawyer and represented himself in the lawsuit.
“$50 million is an enormous verdict,” said Columbia-based attorney Robert Ransom, who was not involved in the case. “It’s also extraordinary, if not unheard of, for a pro se defendant to purposely stay away from the courtroom. It’s a very serious error.”
Bender, meanwhile, said he worried that the large verdict might encourage other public officials to file lawsuits to stifle “legitimate criticism.”
But he also said he hopes that government leaders will recognize that Sulka’s case was a unique situation.
Hoagland, the defendant, is known in Beaufort County for his long-winded emails and rants during the public comment periods at local government meetings.
Sulka in 2017 sued Hoagland, a vocal critic of the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce, alleging that he defamed her in emails that he sent to several people in 2015 and 2017, including S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson.
In one of the emails, for example, Hoagland “falsely accused the Plaintiff of a crime and of being unfit for her office of mayor,” the lawsuit said.
“An examination of the Defendant’s rambling and at times incoherent emails can lead to only one conclusion: The Defendant had every reason to know that his statements lacked veracity, yet he continued to publish them with vigor,” Sulka’s lawyers wrote in a 2019 court filing.
After a two-day trial, a Beaufort County jury decided that Hoagland has to pay $40 million in actual damages and $10 million in punitive damages to Sulka. Circuit Court Judge Maite Murphy presided over the trial.
‘Perfect storm recipe’ for a large verdict
Stephen DeAntonio, a Charleston-based attorney whose firm handles defamation cases and was not involved in Sulka’s lawsuit, said Friday the jury’s decision did not surprise him.
Several factors, he said, made it a “perfect storm recipe” for a verdict like this:
▪ Hoagland’s decision to avoid the court proceedings was “enormously significant,” Sulka seemed like a good witness and the mayor had “top-shelf” lawyers, said DeAntonio, of the DeAntonio Law Firm. Sulka was represented by well-known Lowcountry attorneys Daniel Henderson and John E. Parker from the Parker Law Group, formerly known as PMPED.
▪ It also was “bizarre,” DeAntonio said, that Hoagland had previously fired a lawyer who his insurance company hired to defend him in the case.
“It really is an impressive figure,” he said of the $50 million in damages.
Ransom, who has handled defamation cases as an attorney at Leventis & Ransom, added that the high award was an attempt by the jury to send a message.
“If you’re going to ring that bell, make sure it’s a bell loud enough for him to hear,” he said. “The whole scope of the verdict speaks to, ‘You did a lot of harm to this poor lady, and we’re not going to accept this in the future.’”
He said it would be hard for Hoagland to appeal the jury’s decision because he skipped the trial.
Hoagland, reached by phone Friday, called the jury’s verdict “outrageous.”
But Hoagland, a part-time resident in Windmill Harbour at the entrance to Hilton Head Island, also said he doesn’t think he needs to appeal the verdict.
He said he now plans to seek $50 million in damages in a pending lawsuit against the town of Bluffton alleging false imprisonment and assault. Hoagland filed the lawsuit in 2017 following a 2015 incident at a Bluffton Town Council meeting, which ultimately resulted in two Bluffton Police Department officers escorting Hoagland out of the meeting.
Hoagland said he celebrated the outcome of Sulka’s lawsuit Thursday with a rare stiff drink of vodka, fresh grapefruit juice and a bit of lime.
This story was originally published February 4, 2022 at 4:08 PM.
