NCLA Files Brief Seeking to Vacate Sanctions Against South Carolina Appraiser

The New Civil Liberties Alliance filed an opening brief on May 28, 2026, in Kirton v. South Carolina Dept. of Labor at the South Carolina Administrative Law Court. The brief challenges sanctions the South Carolina Real Estate Board placed on certified residential appraiser Joseph Kirton.

The sanctions relate to an appraisal Kirton performed in 2021. The Board held its disciplinary hearing more than four years later.

The Board conducted the proceeding without a jury and before the same agency body that authorized the charges. U.S. Constitution, the South Carolina Constitution, and state Rules of Civil Procedure. The charges against Kirton were based on negligence claims.

U.S. Supreme Court and the South Carolina Supreme Court have held such claims belong before a jury in a court of law. NCLA asks the Administrative Law Court to reverse the Board's Final Order, vacate the sanctions, and require state agencies to follow constitutional procedures when imposing penalties.