Family Ties to Insurance Fund No Conflict of Interest, He Says

As the great-nephew of a deceased South Carolina governor, state Rep. Walt McLeod III has a family history steeped in public service and the law.

The 76-year-old Newberry County Democrat, a private-practice attorney in Little Mountain, has served in the S.C. House since 1997 and is a former mayor of Little Mountain. His brother, Peden McLeod, an attorney in Colleton County and a former Walterboro City Council member, served in the House from 1972-79 and in the Senate from 1979-90 representing Colleton County; and in 1990 became the state Legislative Council director, a position he held until 1998.

Their great-uncle, Thomas Gordon McLeod (1868-1932), was a House and Senate member representing Sumter and Lee counties, lieutenant governor and governor from 1923-27.

Their father, Walton “Stumpy” McLeod Jr.(1906-1994), was the senior partner in the Walterboro law firm of McLeod, Fraser & Cone and served as the Walterboro city attorney for 60 years. After his death in 1994, Peden took over their father’s position in the law firm, according to brother Walt.

And the six-lawyer firm has been doing very well lately representing state and local agencies, The Nerve found in a review of payouts from the state Insurance Reserve Fund (IRF), which insures state and local government entities for liability and property damage claims.

The S.C. Comptroller General's Office recently posted IRF records online, covering the first three quarters of last fiscal year, from July 1, 2012, through March 31.

The Nerve’s review of those records during the nine-month period found that a total of $527,517 in legal expenses was paid in 16 closed cases in which the McLeod, Fraser & Cone firm represented state or local agencies.

“Paid expenses” in the online database include defense attorney fees and other legal costs, such as expert witness fees, though it doesn’t cover plaintiff attorney fees, according to information from the S.C. Budget and Control Board, which oversees the IRF.

The defendants in the 16 cases included the state Departments of Education, Transportation and Social Services; and Allendale, Colleton and Hampton counties.

Paid losses to plaintiffs in the closed cases totaled $871,500, The Nerve’s review found. The claims included six slip-and-fall cases, an accident involving a school bus, and two other accidents reportedly caused by potholes.

In an interview Thursday with The Nerve, Rep. McLeod said he had nothing to do with the assignment of his brother’s law firm to IRF cases, and that he has never handled IRF cases while in private practice.

“He (Peden) inherited it from somebody else,” the lawmaker said, explaining that likely what happened was that his brother assumed the representation of public agencies that had been represented by their father before the IRF came into existence.

Efforts Thursday by The Nerve to reach Peden McLeod were unsuccessful.

Read the full story at TheNerve.org.