Kerry K. Jardine

Kerry Jardine is a Partner in GRSM’s Commercial Litigation, Class Action, Drug & Medical Device, Product & General Liability, Employment, Construction, and Professional Liability practice groups. In addition to practicing in these areas, Kerry’s diverse civil practice also includes litigation experience in shareholder litigation, community association law, appellate practice, and representing insurers in various policy lines.  

Kerry is licensed to practice in several jurisdictions (New York, South Carolina, and New Jersey). She has comprehensive experience in all stages of litigation, including serving as second chair in a bench trial and JAMS arbitration. Kerry combines aggressive and creative litigation tactics to best serve her clients. She also counsels her clients regarding how to avoid future litigation and throughout the alternative dispute resolution.

Kerry started practicing law at a large New York firm and after gaining significant experience at that firm, she relocated to South Carolina. In South Carolina, Kerry previously practiced at a boutique litigation firm in South Carolina where she handled complex litigation, SCHAC and EEOC responses, and construction defect litigation.  She also worked at South Carolina’s Legal Aid – South Carolina Legal Services. Working for the indigent spurred her to devote substantial time to serving the homeless community as a board member of a local homeless organization.

Admissions

• South Carolina
• New York
• New Jersey
• U.S. District Court, Eastern & Southern Districts of New York
• U.S. District Court, District of South Carolina
• U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey 
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

Community Involvement

Member of the Board of Directors of New Directions for Horry County (focuses on homelessness and poverty alleviation)
 

• Obtained summary judgment for a client invalidating a county ordinance based on state preemption grounds. The client owned property it wished to use as a mine and secured all necessary state approvals, but was denied a mine permit by the local County Council. The District Court for South Carolina found that South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) has exclusive authority over mine permitting and the local mine permit ordinance conflicted with that authority. The Court also found that the ordinance at issue provided the local County Council with an impermissible veto power over DHEC decisions.  After securing summary judgment, and additional negotiations with the County, the client was able to begin utilizing his property as a mine.
• Negotiated settlement on behalf of a home owners’ association (HOA) after five years of litigation regarding whether certain covenants restricted the use of the land applied to the abutting and closed golf course that was intertwined with the home owner’s association’s property. The HOA did not want the golf course to be developed. The golf course owner wanted to develop the golf course into a residential community.  In a complicated settlement, the HOA agreed to purchase portions of the golf course property to preserve the HOA’s neighborhood.  The settlement allowed the golf course owner to develop other parcels of property.  The resulting settlement should be a model for how home owners’ associations generally should deal with the closure of abutting golf courses when the golf course owner wants to develop the property and the home owners’ association wants to preserve its community. 
   

Education

J.D., St John’s University School of Law, 2006

B.A., English, City University of New York – Hunter College, cum laude, 2002