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Beaufort County caucus authorizes counsel to reject settlement and proceed to trial in detention-center lawsuit
Summary
At a Beaufort County Council caucus, members authorized the deputy county attorney and outside counsel to decline a Feb. 5, 2025 settlement offer from plaintiffs Cheryl Munday and Margaret Devine and to proceed to trial in their suit over the Beaufort County Detention Center; the motion passed with one vote against.
Beaufort County Council caucus members voted to authorize the deputy county attorney and outside counsel to decline a Feb. 5, 2025 offer of compromise from plaintiffs Cheryl Munday and Margaret Devine and to proceed to trial in the pair's lawsuit concerning the Beaufort County Detention Center.
A committee member moved that “county council authorize the deputy county attorney and our outside counsel for the case of Cheryl Munday and Margaret Devine, versus Beaufort County to decline the plaintiff's offer of compromise and settlement dated 02/05/2025 at this time and proceed to trial in the case.” The chair seconded the motion. The chair then called for a show of hands; the chair announced, “The motion passes, with 1 vote against.” The transcript did not record individual roll-call votes or the total number of members voting in favor.
The motion followed an executive session in which the council considered three legal matters the chair had read into the record before recessing: the Munday and Devine suit against the Beaufort County Detention Center; a separate pending matter identified as Chloe Koch and Patricia Gosch versus the South Carolina Department of Transportation in Buford County; and Beaufort County versus Broad Creek Development, LLC. The council did not disclose the substance of the executive-session discussion on the record.
The council's action directs county legal staff and outside counsel to decline the specific settlement offer dated Feb. 5, 2025, in the Munday and Devine matter and to proceed to trial. The caucus adjourned with no further business and will reconvene for its regular meeting at 6:00 p.m.
Details that were not specified in the caucus record include the vote tally for members voting in favor and any terms that had been included in the plaintiffs' settlement proposal; the transcript records only that there was one vote against the motion.
