Council member moves to reject settlement offer in Beaufort County litigation; motion approved

A council member moved that counsel not accept a plaintiff's settlement offer dated 02/05/2025 in litigation discussed during an executive session of the Beaufort County caucus, and the council approved the motion unanimously by show of hands.

The council returned from executive session and the unnamed council member said: "I'd like to make a motion that counsel not accept the plaintiff's settlement offer dated 02/05/2025 ... and that we authorize the deputy county attorney and request they favorably consider the offer and inform the county within 10 days whether they will accept the offer and pay the full settlement amount pursuant to our insurance policies, which were in effect for the relevant time periods." The moderator called for a show of hands and said the vote was unanimous.

Nut graf: The motion instructs the county's legal staff to continue handling a pending settlement offer rather than approving it immediately. The executive session agenda the council read before the closed meeting listed several items under South Carolina Code §30-4-70 (authorizing attorney-client advice and personnel discussions), including references to litigation involving individuals identified in the transcript and a civil matter involving Broad Creek Development LLC. The transcript contains inconsistent references to the plaintiff and the defendant county in one of the cited cases (see below); the article reports the motion and the council's recorded outcome as stated in the meeting.

The council began the caucus by approving the agenda without objection and then entered executive session to receive legal advice and discuss personnel matters under South Carolina law. In the public portion of the record after the executive session, the council approved the motion directing counsel not to accept the settlement offer and to have the deputy county attorney evaluate and advise the county within 10 days whether to accept and to ensure any payment would be pursuant to insurance policies in effect for the relevant time periods.

The transcript readings of the executive session items named litigation matters and personnel matters: an item read as involving "Cheryl a Mundy and Margaret Devine versus Beaufort County Detention Center," another as "Chloe Gotch and Patricia Gotch versus South County," and a separate item naming "Beaufort County versus Broad Creek Development LLC." Later, when the motion was made, the moving council member read the plaintiff's name and the settlement date as part of the motion; the transcript's wording for the case name differed between the earlier reading and the motion. The council provided no public roll-call vote tallies in the record; the moderator stated the motion was approved unanimously by show of hands.

The council adjourned after the action. The executive session items were read under South Carolina Code §30-4-70 (statutory citations read in the meeting for receipt of legal advice and personnel matters). No further public detail about the substance of the litigation or personnel matters was provided in the public portion of the transcript.