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This year’s battle over lawsuit reform in South Carolina has been a whiplash-inducing journey – and we’re still nowhere near the end of the road. Earlier this month, it certainly appeared as though the Palmetto State’s über-liberal trial lawyer lobby – which is desperate to maintain its unfair, anti-competitive advantage within our court system – had carried the day.
Last week, though, the pendulum swung back in the direction of those fighting for a fairer civil justice system.
To recap: Trial lawyers scored a huge victory on March 6, 2025 when a mere 19 state senators – two Democrats and seventeen (17) Republicans – voted in favor of an unamended version of S. 244, a comprehensive tort reform bill sponsored by S.C. Senate majority leader Shane Massey. That total was five votes shy of the margin needed to pass a bill – and seven votes shy of the number necessary to block a filibuster.
Conversely, twenty-five (25) senators opposed Massey – including fourteen (14) Republicans.
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Based on that tally, Massey’s lawsuit reform bill not only seemed dead – his future as majority leader appeared to be very much on life support. Part of that latter calculus was attributable to frustration with Massey on the part of the caucus – but equal measure was attributed to Massey being put out with some Senate Republicans.
After all, Massey helped build the current GOP “supermajority” in the Senate. If anyone in the chamber were owed a favor or two, it was him.
Many expected Massey to spend the previous weekend negotiating – and return to the S.C. State House last Tuesday (March 11, 2025) eager to cut a deal. He did neither. Instead, Massey declined to engage his colleagues during the break – sending dozens of phone calls straight to voicemail – and returned to Columbia, S.C. ready to cut some ass.
Behind closed doors, Massey put his fellow “Republicans” on blast – reminding them of his efforts on their behalf and the fact that, prior to this debate, he hadn’t asked them for anything in return.
Here’s how I described it on the latest installment of our Week In Review…
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Our @TheWillFolks invokes Cartman from South Park in describing @ShaneMassey during his recap of the big lawsuit reform debate at the S.C. State House. This is definitely one of the best #WeekInReview episodes ever! #SCStateHouse pic.twitter.com/h6ACtdagc5
— FITSNews (@fitsnews) March 15, 2025
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Massey’s aggressive gambit appears to have paid off.
While significant compromises were made on the legislation last week during extensive closed door negotiations, an agreement preserving as much as 60% of Massey’s original bill was reportedly at the finish line last Thursday (March 14, 2025).
“They’re close,” a source following the negotiations told me. “They have to figure out having a third party on the verdict sheet. That’s what they’re stuck on.”
Under current law, South Carolina juries are limited to assigning financial responsibility for accidents – and compensation for those injured – based solely on parties listed on the jury form. Reformers want to change that to include “any nonparty whose act or omission was a proximate cause of the claimant’s alleged damages.” That way, juries could apportion blame and compensation based on the extent to which a defendant was actually at fault.
Seems fair, right? Of course. It is fair… which is precisely why trial lawyers are opposing it.
The jury form hangup brought negotiations – which were being held in the Senate cloakroom on the third floor of the S.C. State House – to a standstill, prompting the trial lawyer delegation to walk out even after a “tentative agreement” had been reached.
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RELATED | WELL-PLAYED, TRIAL LAWYERS
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“We were going to go down on the floor and have staff draw it up when the trial lawyers walked,” a source close to the negotiations confirmed. “Ten minutes later the chamber adjourned.”
A senator participating in the conversations said Massey had trial lawyers on their heels “because he’s got his votes back.”
As we reported on the Week In Review, Massey’s standing within his own caucus has improved dramatically heading into this week’s negotiations. As many as 28 senators now reportedly back the compromise version of the bill – meaning Massey has more than enough votes to pass an amended piece of legislation out of the Senate.
All of the sources we spoke with agreed something substantive will pass the S.C. Senate as early as next week.
“Don’t know if it will be Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday,” one told us. “(But) senators are being told to stay until a deal is done.”
Passing a meaningful lawsuit reform bill out of the Senate is not the issue, though…
According to our sources, Massey wants to ensure he has the votes to block any attempt by S.C. House speaker Murrell Smith to derail the legislation. Smith is widely expected to attempt to weaken (or kill) meaningful lawsuit reform as it makes its way through his chamber. Trial lawyers have made it abundantly clear they view Smith – one of their own – as their “firewall” on this issue.
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If Massey has enough senators with him, he can more effectively counter Smith’s anticipated obstructionism.
Speaking of Smith, senators have been tracking how trial lawyers’ messaging on this issue has aligned with an anemic liquor liability “reform” bill that cleared Smith’s chamber earlier this month. It’s also not lost on them that one of Smith’s top political confidants – Palmetto political consultant Chris Slick – has been one of the trial lawyer lobby’s most vocal advocates during the debate over S. 244.
Slick previously helped lead a failed bid – one backed by Smith and funded in large part by trial lawyers – to take out numerous fiscally conservative members of the S.C. House.
“Pro-tort reform groups are ready to wreck (Smith),” one senator told me.
Of interest? Slick is a paid consultant for several state senators who voted against Massey’s bill on the first ballot – including Josh Kimbrell and Matt Leber.
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Brutal! We like @JoshKimbrellSC on many issues but it's safe to say his 2026 GOP gubernatorial aspirations are officially kaput. You cannot carry water for the liberal trial lawyer lobby and then go campaign as a conservative in a Republican primary. pic.twitter.com/ZG7jVQgQW6
— FITSNews (@fitsnews) March 13, 2025
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Kimbrell – who penned a guest column on FITSNews over the weekend – told me this week he is tired of “being unfairly targeted by people like Shane (Massey).”
“It’s not fair to paint me with what Chris (Slick) does,” he said. “It’s unfair to put all of that responsibility on me.”
Kimbrell told me Massey was “not working in good faith” on S. 244, and that the Senate leader repeatedly refused his invitation to meet and discuss his concerns with the bill. Kimbrell also blamed Massey for not communicating with his fellow Republicans as to his overall tort reform strategy.
“I’m extremely frustrated with Massey not discussing with the caucus his plans – and attacking half of his own members,” Kimbrell said.
According to Kimbrell, “the person responsible for killing S. 244 is the author.”
“People have bent into pretzels trying to deal with Shane,” he told me last week. “Shane is basically taking his marbles and going home again. He is destroying any chance of getting a bill – putting us in a corner we can’t get out of.”
Is Kimbrell right? Or does Massey have the numbers?
We’ll find out when lawmakers return to Columbia tomorrow…
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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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