An Independent Public RecordWednesday, June 17, 2026

MACEOPEDIA

The Public Record

← Back to the Wiki
People

Judge Donald B. Hocker

South Carolina Circuit Court judge specially assigned by order of the Supreme Court of South Carolina to preside over the entire cluster of Charleston County cases tied to Rep. Nancy Mace and Patrick Bryant, including Berg v. Bryant (Case No. 2025-CP-10-03124).

Photograph of Judge Donald B. Hocker
Credit: South Carolina Judicial Branch. Source

The Honorable Donald B. Hocker is a South Carolina Circuit Court judge serving At-Large Seat 16. At-large judges are elected by the South Carolina General Assembly and serve statewide, assigned to cases across judicial circuits by the Chief Justice. Judge Hocker was first elected on January 30, 2013; his current term runs through June 30, 2029.

Judge Hocker maintains chambers in Laurens, South Carolina. His educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, cum laude, and a Master of Education in Counseling, both from Clemson University, and a Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law (December 1980). He was admitted to the South Carolina Bar on May 14, 1981, and has also been admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina and the United States Supreme Court.

Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Hocker maintained a general law practice in Laurens. He served as Associate Judge of the Laurens County Probate Court and as long-standing counsel to the City of Laurens Commission of Public Works.

Connection to the record

Judge Hocker presides over the entire cluster of related Charleston County cases tied to Rep. Nancy Mace and her former fiancé, Patrick Bryant. He holds that role by special assignment from the Supreme Court of South Carolina, not by the ordinary rotation of the circuit. He is the presiding judge in Berg v. Bryant, Charleston County Court of Common Pleas, Case No. 2025-CP-10-03124 (Ninth Judicial Circuit), and in the related civil and criminal matters listed below.

Assigned by order of the Supreme Court of South Carolina

On August 27, 2025, Chief Justice John W. Kittredge signed an order of the Supreme Court of South Carolina, e-filed in Charleston County on September 2, 2025, that placed six related Charleston County matters under Judge Hocker at once. Acting "[p]ursuant to the provisions of Article V, Section 4 of the South Carolina Constitution," the order describes Judge Hocker as a "retired Circuit Court Judge" and vests him with exclusive jurisdiction over the whole group:

"the Honorable Donald B. Hocker, retired Circuit Court Judge, be vested with exclusive jurisdiction to hear and dispose of the above cases. Judge Hocker shall decide all matters pertaining to these cases, and pursuant to this assignment shall retain jurisdiction over these cases regardless of where he may be assigned to hold court and may schedule such hearings as may be necessary at any time without regard as to whether there is a term of court scheduled."

The six matters the order placed under his exclusive jurisdiction are:

| Caption | Case No. | |---------|----------| | Patrick Bryant, derivatively for Bidr, Inc. (d/b/a Event.Gives), v. Sam Staley, William Tuorto, Hawser Capital Opportunity Trading Fund LP, Hawser Capital Partners LLC, and Bidr LLC | 2025-CP-10-01872 | | Assignment Desk Works, LLC v. Alexis Berg (ADW v. Berg) | 2025-CP-10-02671 | | Congresswoman Nancy R. Mace v. Eric Bowman (Mace v. Bowman) | 2025-CP-10-02733 | | Jane Doe v. Patrick Bryant, John Osborne, Eric Bowman, and Pommer Group, LLC (Berg v. Bryant) | 2025-CP-10-03124 | | Eric Bowman v. Melissa Britton | 2025-CP-10-04343 | | The State v. Eric Bowman (criminal indictments 2025A1011100013 and 2025A1011100011) | criminal |

This single order is why one judge, who keeps chambers in Laurens more than three hours from Charleston, hears the civil suits, the cross-suits, and the related criminal case together. The order itself is reproduced below, and the full PDF is available here.

Page 1 of the South Carolina Supreme Court order: caption listing Bryant v. Staley (2025-CP-10-01872), Assignment Desk Works v. Berg (2025-CP-10-02671), and Mace v. Bowman Page 1, "The Supreme Court of South Carolina," opening the consolidated caption with Bryant v. Staley, Assignment Desk Works v. Berg, and Mace v. Bowman.

Page 2 of the order: the remaining captions, Jane Doe v. Bryant (2025-CP-10-03124), Bowman v. Britton (2025-CP-10-04343), and The State v. Bowman, above the heading ORDER Page 2, the rest of the cluster, Jane Doe v. Bryant, Bowman v. Britton, and the criminal case The State v. Bowman, over the "ORDER" heading and the Article V, Section 4 recital.

Page 3 of the order: the operative paragraph vesting Judge Hocker with exclusive jurisdiction, signed by Chief Justice John W. Kittredge, Columbia, South Carolina, August 27, 2025 Page 3, the operative order vesting Judge Hocker with exclusive jurisdiction over all of the cases, signed by Chief Justice John W. Kittredge, Columbia, August 27, 2025.

Key orders and filings in the record

Gag Order (November 26, 2025; e-filed December 9, 2025). Judge Hocker signed a Gag Order restricting extrajudicial statements by the parties and counsel about the litigation and its participants. The order is hosted in full at the gag order PDF.

Supplemental Gag Order (January 2026). Judge Hocker entered a supplemental gag order expanding or clarifying the scope of the November order. That filing is hosted at the supplemental gag order PDF.

Monthly discovery updates. Judge Hocker has ordered the parties to provide regular monthly updates on discovery progress, and the parties address discovery disputes to him.

Order Regarding / Appointing a Third-Party Neutral (June 9 and June 16, 2026). In the related case Assignment Desk Works, LLC v. Alexis Berg (Case No. 2025-CP-10-2671), Judge Hocker entered a two-step ruling over the more than 11,000 electronic files in what the orders call "Mace's Google Drive," files that both Mace and Bryant claim to own. The June 9 order resolved Mace's January 27, 2026 motions to intervene, dismiss, stay, and for a restraining order, and set a confidential, Attorney's Eyes Only review procedure over the court's note that "Mace objects to this procedure." The June 16 order appointed former Circuit Court judge Kristi Harrington as the third-party neutral, split her fees between the two camps, and warned the volume could prove "very cost-prohibitive." Neither order made any finding on privilege, admissibility, ownership, or wrongdoing. Both PDFs are hosted: Order Appointing a Third-Party Neutral and Order Regarding Third-Party Neutral. See the dispatch Court appoints former Judge Kristi Harrington as third-party neutral.

Mace's response: the "Kangaroo Court" letter

Rep. Nancy Mace, a third-party defendant subject to the gag order, has publicly and repeatedly criticized Judge Hocker's orders and his handling of the case. On January 21, 2026, appearing pro se after she said she had discharged her counsel, she wrote directly to Judge Hocker, declared his gag order unconstitutional, announced she was removing the contempt proceeding to federal court, and accused the court of being a "Kangaroo Court":

"Furthermore, opposing counsel has turned your Honorable Court into a Kangaroo Court, which does an enormous disservice to the great state of South Carolina."

"I respectfully inform this Honorable Court: I will not be SILENCED."

Quote card: Mace's January 21, 2026 letter to Judge Hocker, "opposing counsel has turned your Honorable Court into a Kangaroo Court" The "Kangaroo Court" line, from Mace's pro se letter to Judge Hocker, filed in Berg v. Bryant and stamped FILED January 22, 2026.

Page 4 of Mace's filed letter to Judge Hocker, containing the "Kangaroo Court" accusation and the "I will not be SILENCED" declaration The page of the filed letter itself, the "Kangaroo Court" passage and "I will not be SILENCED," in the court record.

The full five-page filing, the verbatim text, and the surrounding coverage are reproduced in the dispatch Mace calls the court a "Kangaroo Court" and moves the contempt matter to federal court; the original PDF is hosted here. The accusation is Mace's own stated position, directed at opposing counsel and the court; the orders she criticizes stand on the record, and her removal of the contempt matter is itself the subject of the federal removal proceedings.

The underlying litigation between the parties remains pending. The matters before Judge Hocker involve contested allegations among the parties; Mace denies Bryant's claims, the other named parties deny Mace's allegations, and no findings on the merits have been made public.

Chambers contact

The Honorable Donald B. Hocker South Carolina Circuit Court, At-Large Seat 16

  • Address: P.O. Box 972, Laurens, SC 29360
  • Phone: (864) 984-2076
  • Fax: (864) 984-2333
  • Court email: dhockerj@sccourts.org

Sources & documents on the record

See also