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by WILL FOLKS
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Last week, we spoke with leaders of South Carolina’s trucking industry as they sounded the alarm (literally) regarding the increasingly costly and pernicious impacts of lawsuit abuse in the Palmetto State.
Truckers have been the tip of the spear when it comes to pushing back against the corrupt, corrosive influence of the über-wealthy, über-influential South Carolina trial lawyer lobby – a cabal of powerful attorneys who have been abusing the state’s “justice” system for decades.
The former leader of this group? Convicted killer Alex Murdaugh.
Now, there’s fresh evidence Republican primary voters in the Palmetto State – who will go to the polls in just over four months to choose nominees for statewide offices and seats in the S.C. House of Representatives – have had enough of this racket.
According to polling published last week by Palmetto Promise – a Columbia, S.C.-based think tank – GOP voters in South Carolina are increasingly concerned excessive litigiousness is sending their insurance costs through the roof. Accordingly, there is growing support for comprehensive reform of our state’s liability laws – the sort of comprehensive reform lawyer-legislators rejected last year.
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According to the Palmetto Promise survey, 83.9% of Republican primary voters in the Palmetto State are concerned that excessive lawsuits are increasing their insurance premiums – including 62.4% who are “very concerned.” Meanwhile, 84.1% believe South Carolina’s so-called “justice” system is being abused by the trial lawyer lobby (including 57.1% who strongly agree) – and 85.5% feel excessive lawsuits are raising premiums even for those who never file a claim (including 65.8% who strongly feel that way).
“These results confirm what families already know: lawsuit abuse is a hidden tax on everyday life,” said Wendy Damron, president and CEO of Palmetto Promise Institute. “They want a legal system that lowers costs, protects consumers, and ensures the benefits of reform flow directly back to South Carolinians — not special interests.”
Damron’s group also noted GOP primary voters were supportive of comprehensive reforms aimed at “accountability, transparency and fairness, including modernizing the judiciary and reducing insider control of the court system.”
“Voters believe the system is broken,” Palmetto Promise’s survey noted. “A broad majority agrees the legal system is being used in ways that unfairly increase costs for consumers.”
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???? Our @TheWillFolks spoke with Rick Todd, president and CEO of @SCTruckingAssoc, about the "unlimited resources" the S.C. Trial Lawyer lobby continues to throw in support of our broken "justice" system. "The other side is never going to quit," Todd said. pic.twitter.com/nrKVp9rILG
— FITSNews (@fitsnews) January 22, 2026
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Specifically, 61.5% said they opposed allowing lawmakers who were practicing attorneys to help choose judicial candidates – including 41.2% who strongly opposed the practice.
The poll also found a whopping 88.4% of Palmetto State Republicans supported a mandatory retirement age for judges – including 58.3% who strongly supported it. Also, 68.7% of respondents opposed letting judges to serve for up to ten years past their retirement age – including 40.6% who strongly opposed such post-retirement service.
That’s an issue that could factor prominently in a key vote scheduled for later this year which will determine the next justice of the S.C. supreme court (one of three critical fronts we are following in this broader war).
Legislation to rein in retired judges was introduced last spring by S.C. senator Wes Climer but his bill, S. 622, has not advanced out of the Senate’s judiciary committee – a panel controlled by liberal trial lawyer Luke Rankin.
Palmetto Promise’s survey was conducted by Atlanta-based Wick. It also included a poll of the 2026 Republican gubernatorial primary in South Carolina. For our coverage of those results, click here.
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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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2 comments
South Carolina Republican voters are so gullible. They have been duped into thinking tort reform is about lowering the cost of insurance. Try putting a provision in the legislation that says, upon passage, insurance companies must lower premiums. They will fight that to the death, because it is not about lower premiums its about higher insurance company profits. The vast majority of SC residents will lose rights with tort reform. They will lose the ability to get compensation when they are injured, and in exchange, they will get NOTHING. As was the case the last time tort reform was pushed through, there was no decrease in premiums, and there never will be.
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