State judge orders class-action case against SCE&G to proceed
March 4, 2018
A state circuit judge Thursday issued an order denying an attempt by SCE&G to kill five class-action complaints that seek to stop the utility from continuing to charge its customers for costs associated with two failed nuclear plants.
“Today’s order is the first real step toward keeping the power companies from continuing to benefit from their past misdeeds and negligence stemming from the billions of dollars charged to ratepayers to pay for the now-failed V.C. Summer nuclear plants,” said plaintiff’s attorney Ed Bell of Bell Legal Group. He and colleagues filed one of five separate actions related to the failed projects. The order applies to each of the cases, which are listed below.
Today, Bell said he and other plaintiff’s attorneys involved in the cases would continue to push for their clients in the actions against the utilities.
The order issued by S.C. Circuit Court Judge John C. Hayes III denied SCE&G’s attempt to dismiss the plaintiff cases against the company, which alleged the court didn’t have jurisdiction , among other arguments.
“Plaintiff’s Complaint properly states causes of action in the original jurisdiction of the Circuit Court, which the PSC [S.C. Public Service Commission] is incapable of hearing,” the court wrote. “The relief sought by Plaintiff is not available through the PSC, or any other administrative channel. And Plaintiff’s claims are separate and distinct from those matters currently pending before the PSC.”
In the order, Hayes wrote the issues brought by plaintiffs were “well within the everyday purview of this court.” He also wrote the company received settlement funds after the project failed, but didn’t share them with customers, who have been paying for the project since 2008.
Bell added it was good that the cases were heard together because it saved time for plaintiffs and the court.
A call to stop an advertising campaign
Bell also called on the company and Dominion Energy to stop a multi-faceted, misleading advertising and marketing campaign to woo ratepayers to get support for a $7.9 billion buyout proposal by Dominion for SCANA Corp., the parent of SCE&G.
He criticized SCE&G for spending money to try to influence the legislature to protect SCANA’s investors following the failure of the project.
Bell is an owner of Garden & Gun magazine and is president of the Charleston School of Law. Bell, listed in The American Trial Lawyer Association’s prestigious top 100 Attorneys, is a member of an invitation-only group of the nation’s best trial lawyers known as the Inner Circle of Advocates. He and his family live in Georgetown County.
