Joshua Hawkins v. Secretary of State Mark Hammond

Syllabus

Joshua Hawkins and Floyd S. Mills, III (Appellants) filed this action against Secretary of State Mark Hammond, the South Carolina Secretary of State's Office, the Honorable Thomas Alexander, in his official capacity as President of the South Carolina Senate, and the Honorable Murrell Smith, in his official capacity as the Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives (collectively, Respondents), seeking to invalidate two tort reform laws as unconstitutional. Appellants appeal the circuit court's dismissal of the action, arguing (1) their claims are not barred by res judicata (2) they have standing to challenge the tort reform laws (3) the Secretary of State failed to comply with constitutional prerequisites to validity and (4) their claims were timely. We affirm.