South Carolina Business Law Blog

I heard the above on a Wired Storybook Podcast interview with Ryan Singel , who is returning as an editor of Wired's Threat Level blog.  One origin for that insight into the price of online services is found here . The knowledge that Facebook and Google and other companies gather and share information about individuals in exchange for their "free" services raises the question again of what kind of privacy we can expect or demand in the information age. In the United States there is no general constitutional right to privacy for personal information. The federal (and to a lesser extent, state) statutory frameworks designed to protect personal information are largely industry-based. For example, HIPAA covers protected health information, Gramm-Leach-Bliley protects consumer financial information, and the Fair Credit Reporting Act and FACTA protect personal credit information. The South Carolina General Assembly recently recognized the value of personal inform...

The South Carolina Supreme Court recently considered the limited liability company (LLC) as a "disregarded entity" for tax purposes. In CRFE v. Greenville County Assessor issued on August 29th, the Court determined that S.C. Code Ann. Section 12-43-220(c) does not prevent a single-member limited liability company (LLC) owning residential property from obtaining the 4% legal residence property tax ratio. Sherry Ray bought residential property in Greenville County in her name and lived there, and as a result the property was taxed at the 4% legal residence ratio. She formed CFRE as a single-member LLC with herself as the sole member. (She did not have the LLC taxed as a corporation, and CFRE did no business and was formed only for asset protection/estate planning purposes). In 2006 Ray transferred title to her residence into the LLC. Because that transfer is considered an "assessable transfer of interest" per S.C. Code Ann. Section 12-37-3150 , the Assessor ...