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COLUMBIA — A South Carolina legislator has resigned his state House seat representing North Charleston amid an ongoing lawsuit from a former legal client and investigation into its allegations.

Democrat Marvin Pendarvis, an attorney, turned in his resignation Monday, effective immediately.

His departure from the Statehouse comes five months after a former client sued him, claiming Pendarvis settled his lawsuit without his knowledge, forged his signature for the $10,000 settlement, and then tried to buy him off to prevent the allegations from becoming public.

The day after Adrian Lewis filed his complaint in April, the State Law Enforcement Division confirmed an investigation into Pendarvis. In May, the state Supreme Court suspended his law license.

SLED is still investigating, a spokeswoman said.

“Serving in the South Carolina House of Representatives has been the honor of my life,” Pendarvis wrote in his resignation letter to House Speaker Murrell Smith, dated Sept. 16 and provided to the SC Daily Gazette on Thursday.

“Because of my respect for this body and for the residents of my district, I have made the difficult decision to resign from my seat,” reads the three-sentence resignation. “The residents of District 113 deserve a representative who can devote full time to their needs, and I cannot do that at this time.”

The letter provides no further information about Pendarvis’ decision or its timing. First elected in a 2017 special election, he faced no opposition for re-election this year.

The SC Daily Gazette was unable to immediately reach Pendarvis or his attorneys for comment.

Ronald Richter, an attorney for Lewis, said the lawsuit against the now-former legislator continues.

“The entire situation, the entire circumstance is just disappointing,” Richter said.

Pendarvis, who was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in 2014, represented Lewis in a 2021 unlawful arrest lawsuit against the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office.

According to Lewis’ lawsuit against Pendarvis, Pendarvis largely ignored Lewis while representing him, and then settled the case without his permission.

Lewis received a pair of checks — one for $5,000 in December 2023 and another for $1,666.67 in March 2024 — with no explanation from Pendarvis, only the promise that he “had a lot more money coming.” The checks were simply marked “disbursement,” according to the lawsuit.

What Lewis said he did not realize at the time is that his case had already been settled by Pendarvis.

According to his lawsuit, Lewis found out in March only because he called the sheriff’s department attorney, and that lawyer gave him a copy of the settlement document. He alleges the document includes a forgery of his signature, along with witness signatures from Pendarvis. The lawsuit includes the signatures as exhibits.

After Lewis realized Pendarvis had settled the case, the lawsuit alleges, Pendarvis tried to bribe him with offers of cash and to pay off his mortgage.

Even though Pendarvis has resigned, the State Election Commission has not yet received an official withdrawal notice. So, he’s officially still a candidate for re-election.

Regardless, it’s too late to take him off November ballots, which are already finalized and will shortly be mailed to overseas voters, according to the election agency.

The timeline for a special election to replace Pendarvis won’t be finalized until the agency receives the withdrawal notice.

Senior reporter Jessica Holdman contributed to this story.

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Published: Oct. 1, 2024 at 1:34 PM PDT|

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Roughly 6,000 port workers in the Lowcountry are almost a day through the first strike of its kind since the 1970s, demanding better pay and protections for the job.

Some are describing the roads near Charleston, North Charleston and Mount Pleasant terminals a ghost town for cargo, but the sidewalks are crowded. Port workers are taking shifts of 50 or more to sit on the picket line, waving signs that demand wages and protection against automated industries.

“Whether it’s two days, two weeks, two months. However long it takes we’re in it for the long haul. We’re long overdue,” International Longshoremen’s Association Local 1422 member Marquette Mapp says.

The demands come after negotiations over a Master Contract stalled between the association and the U-S Maritime Alliance. The group was discussing a deal meant to go into effect on October 1, but when the time came, no decision was made.

The union was offering a 77% pay raise over the contract’s six-year life. The alliance had responded by offering 50% and limits of automation from the previous contract.

Many on Columbus Street, Remount Road and Long Point Road are describing this as a generational fight, striking alongside parents and children. Some have under 10 years of experience, others have decades, but all have the same goal.

“If we give in now, in the future, it’ll just snowball,” ILA Local 1771 President Lance McLaughlin says. “We have the majority of containers in the Southeast. Everyone at some point or another, some fashion, relies on the ports.”

When asked about their day-to-day, workers say it’s impossible to compare to any other field.

“You’re on call 24/7, you could wake up as early as five in the morning, and not go to bed until five the next morning. When a shipment calls into the port, we’re duty bound to do what it is to get containers out,” Mapp says.

Throughout the day, the group heard honks, and some rebukes, from passersby. In solidarity, the group plans to stay put until a final decision is made.

The president of the South Carolina Ports Authority released a statement on a strike involving thousands of port workers from Boston to Houston, including Charleston.

Barbara Melvin released this statement Tuesday:

In South Carolina alone, port operations generate an $87 billion economic impact each year and support more than 260,000 jobs, meaning every 1 in 9 SC jobs is tied to port operations. These jobs account for those that work on the ports every day, as well as for thousands of jobs at port-dependent businesses throughout the state. Our port system is critical to thousands of businesses throughout the Southeast and beyond. Manufacturers, automakers, retailers, grocery stores, health care providers, farmers and small businesses all greatly benefit from the skilled services that we jointly provide with our maritime partners. When we move cargo in support of companies and communities, the positive benefits ripple out across our state and region.

The strike began at midnight Tuesday morning after negotiations between the U.S. Maritime Alliance and the International Longshoremen’s Association stalled.

But the union wants a complete ban on automation.

“We just want the community to know that we’ve done our part,” Mapp said. “Just this past weekend, we had over 30 ships to come in the Port of Charleston Thursday night up to Sunday morning. None of them was delayed. All of them was turned back around and headed in their destination in a timely fashion, professionally. People that we call longshoremen did the work and made sure that it was done and in the proper time.”

It wasn’t clear just how far apart both sides are.

Gov. Henry McMaster held a briefing Tuesday afternoon on the state’s efforts to respond and rebuild in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

When asked about the strike about 15 hours after it began, he said he anticipates there will be an impact to be felt. But the extent of that impact, he said, would depend on how long the strike lasts.

McMaster said that preparing for a strike or trying to work around it to minimize effects to supply chains involved in storm response is hard to do, especially since this strike extends up and down the east coast.

“It’s been in the news, and people were aware that it was coming—suppliers, shippers,” he said. “We have a lot of logistics that flow from that port, and I’m confident that everyone that is involved with it on either end are aware of it and did whatever they could. But we cannot settle the strike between the carriers and the union.

Experts say immediate needs in the wake of Helene should still be met – but the impact on longer-term necessities is unclear.

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