COLUMBIA, S.C. (Legal Newsline) - Sanctions imposed by a South Carolina circuit court against a former communications director for the Berkeley County School District were upheld on appeal by the state’s Court of Appeals.
Under the court’s per curiam opinion filed Dec. 9, former Communications Director Amy Kovach is ordered to pay $48,000 in attorneys' fees to Joshua Whitley and his mother Dr. Karen Whitely, currently the Associate Superintendent of Human Resources for the district. Kovach had sued the Whitleys for civil conspiracy.
Kovach’s action against the Whitleys stems from a $198 million bond question approved by the voters in 2012; both mother and son had campaigned against the bond. Kovach filed the lawsuit after pleading guilty in 2015 to charges that she used government resources while a school district employee to influence the outcome of the vote.
In imposing the sanctions, the circuit court ruled:
“At the end of the day, a complaint that materially contradicts a plaintiff’s previous sworn testimony from a criminal proceeding lacks the factual foundation that is required by Rule 11 (good faith effort) and must be deemed frivolous . . . [Kovach’s] attempt to re-litigate her criminal conviction through the civil justice system amounts to bad faith and also requires the Court to sanction her.”
The Court of Appeals agreed:
“After our review of the record, we agree with the circuit court that Kovach’s claim of civil conspiracy was an attempt to re-litigate the facts that served as the predicate to her guilty pleas.”
The court continued: “Because the circuit court's conclusion that Kovach's civil conspiracy claim was predicated on false facts is supported by the record and is not controlled by an error of law, we affirm the imposition of sanctions.”