Palmetto Political Stock Index: 3/18/2025

I’d wager that there are no more than about 450 dedicated (i.e., it’s their majority regular income source) plaintiff tort lawyers in the entire state. Add their staff, and you get about 3500 people. Meanwhile the construction, retail, trucking and hospitality industry that has to pay the worst commercial liability rates in the entire southeast employs probably about 1 million people, and their millions of customers have to absorb the pass-through costs of said insurance. The needs of the many far, far outweigh those of the few, but I can’t see anyone holding more political leverage than the tort plaintiff’s bar. Despite how wrong it is, you can’t help but be in awe of the raw, calculated, unapologetic exercise of pure political power that the guys can bring to bear. It would be like watching Darth Vader wiping out 500 Rebels single-handedly without an ounce of remorse. Terrifying, but awesome.