Senate opens wide-ranging tort-reform debate over dram-shop, joint-and-several rules; S.244 carried over

The South Carolina Senate spent a major portion of its floor session debating S.244, an omnibus tort-reform measure that would rewrite how civil liability is apportioned in many types of negligence cases and alter state rules for liquor liability, insurance coverage and construction-defect claims. Senator Johnson (Senator from York), who led the subcommittee that drafted and presented the measure, described the package as a combination of changes to joint-and-several liability, dram-shop (liquor-liability) law, server training, the statute of repose, and insurer-related rules.

S.244’s core aim, as presented on the floor, is to make juries able to apportion fault to “non‑party” tortfeasors on the verdict form so defendants are responsible only for the share of fault a jury assigns them rather than being exposed to unlimited joint-and-several liability. The bill also would explicitly codify a state dram‑shop standard: vendors and licensees could be civilly liable to third parties only where the sale or service of alcohol to a visibly intoxicated person (or where it was reasonably foreseeable the person would become intoxicated) was a proximate cause of the injury. Senator Johnson summarized that the measure would "amend the joint and several liability statute, so that non parties are put on the verdict form."

Why it matters: lawmakers and business groups framed the bill as an attempt to lower liability exposure that they say has driven up insurance premiums and reduced market capacity for certain commercial lines (notably liquor liability). Opponents warned the package could restrict victims’ recovery rights and create procedural or fairness problems when “non‑party” fault is placed before juries.

Key provisions described on the floor - Joint and several liability: The bill would move South Carolina away from traditional joint-and-several exposure in many civil cases by permitting juries to allocate percentages of fault to non‑parties on the verdict form; defendants would be responsible for their assigned share. The bill would also repeal or replace several contribution provisions currently in code (committee discussion cited existing…