March/April 2019

PE Report
‘Fair Share’ Liability Bill Gains Support in South Carolina

A bill supported by the South Carolina Society of Professional Engineers would clarify the allocation of fault in civil suits.

Introduced in the South Carolina General Assembly, the bill (H. 3758) amends sections of the state tort act that address recovering damages resulting from personal injury, wrongful death, or property damage or damages for economic loss or noneconomic loss, such as mental distress, loss of reputation, and pain. If the damages are determined to be proximately caused by more than one person or entity, joint and several liabilities doesn’t apply to any defendant whose conduct is determined to be less than 50% of the total fault for individual damages as compared with the total of the fault of all the persons or entities (including defendants and nonparties) regardless of whether the person or entity was, or could have been named, as a party to the suit.

SCSPE is supporting the bill because it corrects language in the state tort statute to support the proper allocation of fault to all parties for recovering damages in a civil action case. SCSPE’s support is in conjunction with the South Carolina Design Construction Partnership and the South Carolina Coalition for Lawsuit Reform.

The South Carolina Coalition for Lawsuit Reform is advocating for the legislation because it believes two cases that went before the South Carolina Supreme Court resulted in inequitable outcomes. The organization points to the 2017 cases Smith v. Tiffany and Manchin v. Carus Corporation, in which the court ruled that a defendant in a civil injury case with multiple parties can’t have a more responsible party added and have fault apportioned by a judge or jury. The coalition believes the ruling establishes that a single defendant can be forced to pay 100% of the damages even if the plaintiff was partially responsible for their injuries or damages.

The South Carolina Design Construction Partnership includes participation from the state chapters of American Council of Engineering Companies, the American Institute of Architects, the American Society of Civil Engineers, American General Contractors, and the Structural Engineers’ Association of South Carolina.