High Noon For Tort Reform In South Carolina

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The battle to hold wealthy trial lawyers accountable for South Carolina’s deteriorating business climate will take center stage at the S.C. State House this week.

A comprehensive lawsuit reform bill – S. 244 – will be debated on the floor of the S.C. Senate this coming Tuesday (March 4, 2025) after the bill’s lead sponsor, majority leader Shane Massey, successfully positioned the legislation at the top of the chamber’s calendar.

Last week, Massey moved to set the bill for special order – i.e. to make it the next piece of legislation senators take up when they return to Columbia, S.C. The vote (.pdf) to place the bill at the top of the Senate calendar was overwhelming – with 34 senators voting “aye” and only six (6) voting “nay.”

All six senators who voted “nay” were Democrats.

In addition to crushing small businesses across the state, numerous studies have shown South Carolina’s notoriously litigious tort climate imposes a weighty “tort tax” – or “lawsuit tax” – on Palmetto families which totals anywhere from $3,200 to $3,600 annually.

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Massey’s bill has drawn the support of small business champions like the Mom and Pop Alliance of S.C. as well as backers of big business like the S.C. Chamber of Commerce. It is also supported by Senate president Thomas Alexander, governor Henry McMaster and numerous other GOP leaders.

Who opposes it? Democrats, obviously… and their wealthy trial lawyer supporters.

As previously reported, trial lawyers have been playing defense in recent years after several high-profile wrongful death cases exposed the inherent unfairness of the state’s tort laws. In an effort to preserve their unfair competitive advantage (and the political power procured as a result of it), trial lawyers have opened the saddlebags in recent weeks. They’ve spent heavily to procure the services of multiple MAGA social media accounts – while also engaging a “Republican” operative with close ties to S.C. House speaker Murrell Smith to light up senators.

The friction between the two chambers has escalated in recent days – with Massey recently crossing the lobby of the State House to chew out one of the House’s most notorious lawyer-legislators, Gil Gatch.

The House is seen as the trial lawyers’ saving grace in the event a muscular lawsuit reform bill clears the Senate, although if they rely upon Smith and fellow lawyer-legislators to kill it – that could ultimately do considerably more damage to their power base in the long-term.

Hence the significance of the fight to come in the Senate…

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RELATED | SENATORS UNDER FIRE FROM TRIAL LAWYERS

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Both chambers of the S.C. General Assembly enjoy GOP “supermajorities.” Sadly, neither chamber consistently acts like it. Will this be the moment these “Republicans” finally hold the line? Or will they bow to pressure from the liberal trial lawyer lobby?

While the decisive margin on the special order vote bodes well for Massey, his legislation still faces significant hurdles as he attempts to advance it. Several “Republicans” – including 2026 gubernatorial contender Josh Kimbrell – appear to have been swayed by the trial lawyer lobby’s recent efforts. Depending on how many votes Massey has lost, there could be numerous nail-biting tallies to track in the days to come.

FITSNews has consistently editorialized in favor of the need for lawsuit reform in South Carolina – having frequently called on lawmakers to fix our badly broken court system… civilly and criminally.

“Trial lawyers are killing competitiveness – and jobs – in South Carolina,” I noted back in December.

Regular members of FITSNews’ audience are well aware of the pernicious influence lawyer-legislators wield over the state’s supposedly “independent” judiciary – and the limited success reformers have had in fixing this rigged system. Our audience is also well aware of the extent to which ostensibly “Republican” lawmakers have installed far left Democrats to key positions within the judiciary – including former S.C. chief justices Jean Toal and Donald Beatty.

Several rallies have been planned in advance of next week’s debate on this legislation – and we are scheduled to receive guest columns from voices on both sides of the conversation. Count on our media outlet to keep tabs on the very latest developments with respect to this issue as it moves forward.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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