South Carolina House continues push for comprehensive tort reform

As I mentioned last month in this forum, the House GOP caucus convened for our annual legislative planning retreat to discuss the upcoming legislative session and our shared values of limited government, individual liberty, fiscal responsibility, and strong, safe communities.

Earlier this year, we successfully passed and the Governor signed into law H 3430, marking the initial phase of our tort reform efforts. I played a pivotal role in guiding this liquor liability reform through the legislative process on the House side.

The legislation encompasses sweeping liquor liability reform and long-overdue updates to our states’ joint and several liability laws. It ensures that businesses are held accountable for their share of fault, rather than being punished for the actions of others. After the House consistently championed this issue for three consecutive sessions, the and the Senate finally reached a consensus on these key points. Consequently, we delivered substantial liquor liability relief to restaurants, bars, and VFW posts across our state, as well as businesses and individuals facing liability claims, including those arising from the actions of others.

In my efforts to reach consensus with the Senate, as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, I established an ad hoc committee to explore other aspects of tort reform. This committee started with medical malpractice and will in the coming weeks take up construction defect liability/the statute of repose, and time limit settlement demand-related claims commonly known as Tiger River demands.

Earlier this month, the ad hoc committee convened and received testimony from diverse stakeholders representing various perspectives on the medical malpractice issues. Tort reform in the medical malpractice context involves amendments to various statutes, particularly those that often differentiate treatment of medical providers based on whether they are for-profit private hospitals, charitable hospitals, or government/public hospitals.

For-profit private hospitals are subject to a medical malpractice cap statute that limits non-economic damages. This statute includes a single defendant cap of $350,000 per claimant against a single provider or institution, and an aggregate cap of $1,050,000 if there are multiple defendants. These caps are adjusted annually for inflation. Economic damages, such as medical bills and lost wages, are not capped, and punitive damages are not barred by the statute.

In contrast, the South Carolina Tort Claims Act (SCTCA) caps damages at $300,000 per person and $600,000 per occurrence for governmental entities. Punitive damages are also barred against governmental entities. Charitable nonprofit hospitals are treated similarly to charitable organizations, with recovery against the charity limited to the SCTCA caps. Further suing the charity generally blocks suit against individual employees unless the employee acted recklessly or grossly negligent. In essence, charitable hospitals are capped by the SCTCA caps with employee protection.

The Senate’s legislation includes changes to the medical malpractice area of law which are in part intended to resolve problems that recent lawsuits have highlighted including the need to review and address the statutory definition of “occurrence” to ensure that the limits and caps are actually meaningful.

Additionally, the bill aims to review the cap amounts to ensure that the potential recovery adequately protects victims of malpractice without inappropriately increasing healthcare costs.

Following the medical malpractice hearings, we will schedule hearings on the other components of tort reform to expedite the legislative process when we reconvene in January. Next month I will share my thoughts on the importance of the continued efforts with judicial reform, namely improvements to our magistrate court system.

It is my honor and privilege to represent the citizens of District 120. If I can be of assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Weston Newton is the representative for District 120 in the State House of Representatives. WestonNewton@schouse.gov