EPISCOPAL CHURCH SIDE ANNOUNCES ITS LAWYERS FOR 8 DECEMBER HEARING

This morning, 29 October 2021, the Episcopal Church side sent an email letter to the Clerk of the Court, of the South Carolina Supreme Court, naming their lawyers for the hearing of Dec. 8, 2021. They are:

Thomas Tisdale and Bert G. Utsey III for the Episcopal diocese and

Mary Kostel, for the Episcopal Church

There are two parties on the church side, the diocese (called the Episcopal Church in South Carolina in the court proceedings) and the national Episcopal Church. The other side has only one party, the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina. 

Tisdale has represented the diocese from the start of the litigation. No one knows more about the details of the many legal actions over the past eight years than he. 

Utsey is a partner in the Clawson, Fargnoli and Utsey firm, of Charleston. Find their website here . According to the information on their website, they specialize in personal injury cases. To my knowledge, Utsey has never been involved in any of the litigation of the church case. If he has not participated in the legal actions in this case and is not a specialist in appellate litigation one may wonder what his qualification for this assignment would be.

Kostel has represented the national church in this case for years and knows the issues thoroughly. She was in the courtroom for the hearings of the circuit court after the 2017 SCSC decision. It is the Order of the circuit court that is before the SCSC justices now. Kostel knows the issues involved in this appeal very well.

I do not understand why the church side listed three lawyers when the directive from the Clerk limited the lawyers for each side to two. If only two attorneys for a side can be in the courtroom at one time, one of these three above will have to leave the room unless an exception has been made.