The fate of a bill that would modify South Carolina’s joint-and-several liability law now rests with the state House of Representatives after the state Senate last week approved the measure following weeks of heated debate.
“We’re finally getting some movement on it. I guess we’re doing like Georgia did and thinking about tort reform,” said Tom Bates, an insurance agent in Traveler’s Rest, South Carolina. “Anything that will help consumers is good.”
The full Senate voted 35-7 in favor of the Senate Bill 244, which business groups and some insurance agents have supported. A number of bars and restaurants around the Palmetto State have shut down because of soaring liability insurance costs after a 2018 law required $1 million in coverage for places that serve alcohol. Many in the tourist-dependent state have blamed the joint-and-several liability law, which allows juries to saddle businesses with the deepest pockets with most of the damages. Others have blamed insurance companies for pricing policies out of reach for smaller establishments.
“It’s a win for restaurants and bars. I think this absolutely will have an effect of reducing their liability insurance cost,” Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said about , according to the South Carolina .
Just three weeks ago, Massey worried that the bill was dead in Senate. But fiery debate since then finally resulted in a compromise measure that passed late in the evening last Wednesday, according to news reports.
It’s far from certain that the bill will pass the House, where it has yet to be assigned to a committee, or it can be melded with a similar House bill. If it does pass the House and is signed into law, SB 244 would allow juries to apportion fault. Similar to tort laws in Florida and a number of other states, if a plaintiff’s fault is determined to be greater than 50%, no recovery would be allowed.
The bill also would would lower the minimum liquor liability coverage requirement to $500,000 for businesses that serve alcohol. Non-profit organizations would be required to have just $300,000 in coverage, the bill notes.
Critics had charged that an earlier version of SB 244 could have hurt homeowners who feel they’ve purchased shoddily built homes, and could affect insurance carriers seeking subrogation recovery from homebuilders if construction defects can be shown. But the final bill passed by the Senate would actually extend the statute of limitations on defect lawsuits to 10 years, up from the current eight years.
The bill also makes it clear that the new rules would not apply retroactively to lawsuits already filed over so-called polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, also known as PFAS or “forever chemicals,” found in many products and waste streams.
Meanwhile, a similar bill in the House, HB 3497, was approved by the full House in early March. It has passed a Senate committee and is awaiting a floor vote in the upper chamber. Like the Senate bill, it would modify the joint-and-several liability statute and would allow captive insurance companies to apply to provide liquor liability insurance – without a limit on coverage.
The bill also would create a risk-mitigation program that could reduce the minimum coverage requirement. Bars could reduce the current $1 million in liquor liability coverage requirement by $100,000 if the establishment stops serving at midnight.
Top photo: Massey, R-Edgefield, moved to adjourn after members failed to reach a compromise on an earlier version of the bill in March. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)
Topics Liability South Carolina
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