ELECTRONICALLY FILED - 2023 Oct 11 10:36 AM - HORRY - COMMON PLEAS - CASE#2023CP2605739

STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS

THE FIFTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT
HORRY COUNTY CASE NO.: 2023-CP-26-05739

State of South Carolina on the relation of

Jimmy A. Richardson, II, Solicitor of the
Fifteenth Judicial Circuit,
PETITIONER’S MEMO IN SUPPORT OF
PETITIONER, ITS MOTION FOR TEMPORARY
INJUNCTION
vs.

Joe Rideoutte, Jr.,

RESPONDENT.

Petitioner Jimmy A. Richardson, II, Solicitor of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, submits

this memorandum in support of his motion for a temporary injunction.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

On September 14, 2023, Petitioner filed the instant nuisance action. The instant action is

brought pursuant to the State’s nuisance abatement statutes, S.C. Code §§ 15-43-10 through 130.

Petitioner served the Respondent property owner at least 10 days prior to filing this action, as

required by S.C. Code § 15-43-120, and Respondent has been given more than 3 days’ notice of

this hearing, as required by S.C. Code § 15-43-30.

This motion is brought pursuant to S.C. Code § 15-43-30, which gives this Court

authority to enjoin a business from further operation if “the existence of such nuisance shall be

made to appear to the satisfaction of the court or judge by evidence in the form of affidavits,

depositions, oral testimony or otherwise.” S.C. Code § 15-43-30. “[E]vidence of the general

reputation of the place shall be competent for the purpose of proving the existence of the

nuisance.” S.C. Code § 15-43-40.

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A nuisance is “any building or other place used for the purposes of lewdness, assignation,

prostitution, repeated acts of unlawful possession or sale of controlled substances, or continuous

breach of the peace.” S.C. Code § 15-43-10(A).

FACTS

Respondent Joe Rideoutte, Jr. is the real property owner of the house located at 407 5th

Avenue North, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. For several years, Respondent Rideoutte has

rented individual rooms in the house to tenants. The house is popularly known in the community

as the Yellow House.

On or around April 7, 2022, the Yellow House reopened after the Honorable Benjamin H.

Culbertson closed the House for one year due to being a nuisance. See Richardson v. Rideoutte,

CA No. 2020-CP-26-04732.

Beginning in April 2023, the Myrtle Beach Police Department (“MBPD”) saw an uptick

in calls to the Yellow House related to larcenies and assault. On May 30, 2023, an MBPD

confidential informant purchased 14.97 grams of methamphetamine from a drug dealer at the

Yellow House. See Report, Tab 4.

On August 25, 2023, two tenants at the Yellow House began fighting. Shots were fired in

the parking lot of the neighboring pizza restaurant, and one stabbed the other in the head in the

Yellow House’s backyard. When officers arrived, there was a blood trail leading into the Yellow

House. See Report, Tab 4.

When officers searched the Yellow House pursuant to the shooting and stabbing, they

were concerning about the living conditions and called Myrtle Beach Code Enforcement, who

determined the Yellow House was not fit for human habitation. Myrtle Beach Code Enforcement

consequently boarded up the Yellow House.

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Front of Yellow House on 8/26/23.

Soon after August 25, 2023, people began living in the Yellow House’s backyard. To

date, people are living in the backyard in tarp huts, sheds, and tents. There are neither bathrooms

nor running water in the backyard.

Back of Yellow House on 9/14/23.

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Back of Yellow House on 9/14/23.

Since moving to the backyard, there have been calls for people breaking into the Yellow

House, people having fires, and on September 15, 2023, a woman delivered a stillborn child in

the backyard. Investigators determined the woman was using heroin multiple times a day up to

the birth. See Report, Tab 4.

Neighbors continue to complain about the nuisance activity coming from the Yellow

House. George Paraschos, the owner of Pizza a La Roma III, which is next door to the Yellow

House, stated “I am obligated to close earlier in the evening losing business because of what’s

back there in the Yellow House.” See Paraschos Affidavit, Tab 3.

Kristen Odgaard at the George Sink Law Firm, which is also next door to the Yellow

House, stated, “Employees are afraid to get out of their vehicles because of the actions taking

place at the house.” See Odgaard Affidavit, Tab 3.

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TEMPORARY INJUNCTION STANDARD

The court will “allow a temporary writ of injunction, without bond, if the existence of

such nuisance shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the court or judge by evidence in the

form of affidavits, depositions, oral testimony or otherwise, as the complainant may elect, unless

the court or judge by previous order shall have directed the form and manner in which it shall be

presented.” S.C. Code § 15-43-30.

RELIEF REQUESTED

Based on the above, Petitioner asks the Court to grant a temporary injunction:

a) Enjoining and restraining the above-named Respondent, and each of his agents, servants,

subordinates, and employees, from leasing to, operating, using, or assisting in the using of the

Yellow House located at 407 5th Avenue North, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in Horry County.

b) Instructing the Myrtle Beach Police Department (“MBPD”) to secure the entire premises

of the Yellow House by barricades or whatever means the MBPD deems necessary, place police

tape across all doorways and entrances, and to close the same and take possession of all the

premises.

c) Requiring all persons to vacate the Yellow House and the surrounding yard area from the

date of an Order.

d) Deeming any unauthorized persons on the Yellow House property from the date of an

Order a trespasser.

Signature Follows

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Respectfully submitted,

s/James R. Battle
SC Bar #73604
Special Prosecutor for the 15th Judicial Circuit
J.R. Battle Law Firm
1809 N. Oak St.
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina 29577
T: 843-839-5310
jbattle@jrbattlelawfirm.com