Supreme Court Ruling in Skydive MB vs Horry County Puts an End to Longtime Dispute

When Horry County removed Skydive Myrtle Beach from an airport hangar in 2014, the county acted appropriately, according to South Carolina’s highest court.

The county removed — with the help of 10 Horry County Sheriff’s deputies — Skydive Myrtle Beach from a hangar at the Grand Strand Airport in 2014. A space-use permit expired and the county cited numerous safety concerns before removing the company. Skydive Myrtle Beach then sued the county over the ejection.

Skydive initially moved into a hangar at the airport in 2012 as part of an agreement with the airport’s management company. That agreement was supposed to last until 2020. But, a year later, Horry County took over operation of the airport. The county and Skydive agreed to the space-use permit, which expired in 2014.

Skydive Myrtle Beach has argued once the space-use permit expired, the county was bound by the 2012 agreement and it should have been allowed to stay in the hangar until 2020.

The Supreme Court ruled, in a roundabout way, that the county was allowed to remove Skydive from the airport.

The recent ruling is in two parts and the first addressed the appeals court’s dismissal of the case. In 2017, the appeals court called the dispute moot as Skydive left the hanger three years before its ruling.

The Supreme Court reversed that dismissal, ruling the issue was not moot because Skydive did not leave the hangar voluntarily. If Skydive won the appeal, the court could order that they are allowed to use the hangar until 2020 under the original agreement, it added.

But, the Supreme Court’s ruling went a step further and decided on the merits of the case. The court ruled the 2014 space-use agreement superseded the original 2012 deal. Once the 2014 contract ended, Skydive Myrtle Beach had no right to occupy the hangar, the court ruled.

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