South Carolina Liability Laws Could Threaten Injured Citizens
Here in South Carolina, a legal rule called Joint and Several Liability protects a victim’s rights when they are injured by more than one party. Simply put, if you’re hurt and more than one defendant (person, business or corporate entity) is found to be responsible for your injuries, they are also responsible for compensating you fully for your losses. These laws are a cornerstone of ensuring justice and justice protecting you from negligence and reckless actions.
Here’s an example of how the current laws work. Imagine an apartment building were to collapse due to multiple failures. The collapse leaves several families injured, homeless, and grieving lost loved ones. An investigation reveals that the property owner neglected to fix known structural problems despite complaints, the construction company cut corners during renovation, and the engineering firm approved the safety inspection without actually visiting the building. All three parties share responsibility and must contribute specified amounts to the overall victim compensation.
As the law now stands, if the construction company or the engineering firm is minimally insured, and cannot pay their full share, the property owner can be held responsible for the full amount of damages – and vice versa. Without joint and several liability, this would NOT be the case. The amount of money the victim receives would be limited by each party’s ability to pay, and thus the victims could wind up bearing much of the financial burden, even though this accident was through no fault of their own. Joint and Several Liability is a protection that allows victims and their families to rebuild their lives by ensuring that responsible parties are held fully accountable.
Right now, this critical protection is being threatened by proposed changes that could have far-reaching consequences for victims and the justice system as a whole. Reform would replace Joint and Several Liability, meaning victims could only recover the portion of the court-directed award that each defendant was specifically responsible for – even if one or more parties is unable to pay. That means, for example, that if three parties were found responsible for the accident, but two of those parties could only pay half of what they were determined to owe,
the victim would only be able to collect a portion of the money they are legally entitled to.
From where we stand, that’s not right, and it’s not fair.
At Fulton & Barr, we’ve been fighting for victim’s rights for more than 35 years. That’s why we, along with the South Carolina Association for Justice and hundreds of other attorneys across the state, are fighting these changes. We believe that Joint and Several Liability needs to be protected and retained, and that the proposed reforms – which appear designed to punish innocent victims and reward large insurance companies – should be vigorously resisted.
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