Liquor Liability Update: Well Played, Trial Attorneys

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by DIANE HARDY

Is it any surprise that we likely won’t see meaningful liquor liability reform come out of the South Carolina House of Representatives again this session? According to a recent article in The Nerve:

“In South Carolina, lawyers represent far less than 1% of the state’s total workforce, but they make up nearly 30% of the 170-member S.C. Legislature.”

“And in the club of 50 lawyer-legislators, those who practice personal injury law or whose law firm colleagues handle those types of cases dominate that group,” the article continued.

Many of these legislators hold key positions in our state government.  Add to this the vast amount of money the plaintiff’s attorneys’ lobby has poured into its efforts to bend public opinion, and I guess we shouldn’t be shocked by the disappointing outcome for businesses. 

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Small businesses just didn’t have the organization or the resources to go up against the plaintiff’s attorneys’ public relations machine. To their credit, their lobby successfully framed the bill at the heart of this debate – S.244 – as a give-away to insurance companies, which was brilliant because most people have had a bad experience as it relates to insurance. Also, there were myriad complexities in the bill they were able to frame in a way that made people fearful and confused.

Lawsuit reform is such a complex issue that their narrative was able to take root, true or not. 

These bills are complicated. In fact, many of our legislators don’t have the time to understand the details, so it isn’t surprising that the public is confused. At the Mom and Pop Alliance of SC we did a deep dive into the bills before the SC Senate and House. We believe the Senate bill, S.244, would have offered a much fairer system, but it is currently on life support. We saw a vote in the Senate on an amendment that essentially gutted the bill recieve support from 25 Senators, twenty of them lawyers!  We are very grateful for the 19 Senators who voted “AYE”, demonstrating their support for S. 244.

See voting results below:

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The vote on this amendment was a troubling development because it opened the door for lawmakers to fundamentally weaken the protections S.244 originally aimed to establish – and the balance it originally intended to strike. A revised bill would tilt the legal landscape in the wrong direction – back in favor of those who are already well-equipped to navigate the complexities of tort law (namely, trial lawyers and large firms). Small businesses and everyday citizens, on the other hand, would remain vulnerable to costly litigation.

Coincidentally, just as S. 244 sustained its massive blow, leaders in the House launched H.3497, which was pre-filed back in December. We believe this bill will do little to help bars and music venues – it didn’t address other types of businesses at all – but it had the support of every single trial attorney in the House, so it passed quickly. Legislators we spoke with said they didn’t have time to digest it, but as it was touted as the “fix” for liquor liability and everyone was so desperate to help their constituents who are suffering with skyrocketing insurance premiums, it passed unanimously. 

Again, brilliant strategy!  

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What we actually need for SC is simple: fair lawsuit reform. We need proportional liability, which means your liability (or financial responsibility) is based on your degree of fault. That’s it. That’s all that small businesses are asking for.

Unfortunately, we were out-spent and out-gunned – and trial lawyers were able to successfully frame the Senate bill as a bailout for insurance companies. Now it even looks like they’ll declare themselves the heroes in this story with the passage of the weak House bill!

Given all of this, is it any wonder South Carolina’s tort laws will continue to favor plaintiff’s attorneys? And small businesses will continue to pay the price? Citizens MUST engage with their governmental representatives if they want things to change.

Hoping others will get it done clearly isn’t working.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Diane Hardy is a former nurse anesthetist turned entrepreneur, who opened a franchise at Verdae in Greenville over seven years ago. She is executive director of the Mom and Pop Alliance of SC, which she founded during Covid upon discovering South Carolina’s almost 400,000 small businesses had little representation in our State House. The Alliance provides education, communication, and advocacy for SC’s family-owned businesses. Her passion for South Carolina’s small business is strong, and as such she donates her time to the organization, accepting no salary or government funding.  Her love for our state isn’t new.  Before launching the Mom and Pop Alliance she was the founder and host of The Palmetto Panel (2014-2019), an annual statewide conference highlighting issues impacting South Carolina.  Diane has a bachelor’s degree in nursing and psychology from Michigan State as well as a master’s degree from MUSC.

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WANNA SOUND OFF?

Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.