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Douglass v. Boyce6/28/1999
onal motivations. Stiles, 318 S.C. at 298, 457 S.E.2d at 602. Citing cases from other jurisdictions that recognized an attorney may be held liable for acts of conspiracy with his client, as well as for fraud and conversion in conjunction with representation of clients, the court held " n attorney may be held liable for conspiracy where, in addition to representing his client, he breaches some independent duty to a third person or acts in his own personal interest, outside the scope of his representation of the client." Id. at 299-300, 318 S.E.2d at 602.
Nowhere in the amended complaint does William allege that Brown and Givens acted to further their personal interests. Additionally, Brown and Givens owed no independent duty to William. Although it is true that the wrongful death action was brought on behalf of the statutory beneficiaries, William was not a statutory beneficiary because he had never been adjudicated the biological child of Christopher. Accepting the facts as pled to be true, even if Brown and Givens were aware that William was the biological son of the deceased, William was the putative son of Robert Douglass, not Christopher Boyce. William's birth certificate lists Robert Douglass as William's father, and Robert Douglass was married to William's mother at the time of his birth, thus rendering William legitimate. The Douglass divorce decree did not alter William's legitimate status. Brown and Givens, as counsel for Christopher Boyce's statutory beneficiaries, had no duty to challenge the presumptively valid evidence that William was Robert's legitimate son.
With respect to William's second cause of action against Brown and Givens, South Carolina has apparently never recognized a claim for interference with inheritance rights. Even if such a claim were cognizable, it also fails under Gaar and Stiles because there is no allegation that these attorneys were acting for their own personal benefit outside the scope of their representation of their clients, or that they had any independent duty to William. William cannot claim that Brown and Givens interfered with his inheritance rights by not disregarding his legitimacy and thus stigmatizing him as the illegitimate child of Christopher Boyce.
The trial Judge properly resolved the Rule 12(b)(6), SCRCP, motion to dismiss as to all defendants.
AFFIRMED.
HEARN and STILWELL, JJ., concur.
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