South Carolina Personal Injury Laws: Deadlines to Sue, Fault Rules and Damage Caps

Three years for assault, battery, or any injury to the person or rights of another not arising from a contract.

Three years for taking, detaining or injuring goods or personal property (such as a car), and three years for trespass on or damage to real property.

Three years from the date of the treatment, omission or operation, or three years from when the injury was or reasonably should have been discovered, but not more than six years from the date of the occurrence. For a foreign object left in the body, the deadline is two years from discovery, but never less than three years after the object was left.

Three years, beginning on the date of death.

The action must be brought by or in the name of the executor or administrator of the estate. It is for the benefit of the surviving spouse and children; if none, the parents; if none, the heirs. The recovery is divided among them in the shares they would take if the person had died without a will. A probate court may deny or limit a parent's share if the parent failed to reasonably support the person during childhood.

No statutory cap on compensatory damages in general injury cases was found in the damages chapter. Caps apply to noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases, to punitive damages, and to claims against government entities.

Noneconomic damages are capped at $350,000 per claimant against a single health care provider or a single institution. When more than one provider or institution is liable, each is limited to $350,000 per claimant and the total for all is limited to $1,050,000 per claimant. These amounts are adjusted each year for inflation and published in the State Register. The caps do not apply if the defendant was grossly negligent, willful, wanton or reckless, committed fraud or misrepresentation related to the claim, or altered or destroyed medical records to avoid liability. Economic damages are not capped.

Allowed only if the plaintiff proves by clear and convincing evidence that the harm resulted from the defendant's willful, wanton or reckless conduct, and only after compensatory or nominal damages are awarded. A defendant can request a two-stage (bifurcated) trial. The general cap is the greater of three times compensatory damages or $500,000. The cap rises to the greater of four times compensatory damages or $2 million if the conduct was motivated primarily by unreasonable financial gain with management knowledge, or could lead to a felony conviction. There is no cap if the defendant intended to harm and did harm the claimant, if the defendant was convicted of or pled guilty to a related felony, or if the defendant's judgment was substantially impaired by alcohol or drugs.

Under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act, a claimant may file a verified claim (with the State Fiscal Accountability Authority or the employing agency for the state, or with the political subdivision); if filed, it must be received within one year after the loss was or should have been discovered. A lawsuit must be filed within two years after the loss was or should have been discovered, or within three years if a claim was first filed. Recovery is capped at $300,000 per person and $600,000 per occurrence ($1.2 million for claims caused by government-employed physicians or dentists). Punitive damages and prejudgment interest are not allowed.

Strict liability statute. If a person is bitten or otherwise attacked by a dog while in a public place or lawfully in a private place (including the dog owner's property when there by invitation or performing a legal duty), the owner or keeper is liable for the damages. It does not apply if the person provoked or harassed the dog and that caused the attack, or to certain trained law-enforcement dogs acting under lawful command.

Auto liability policies must provide at least $25,000 for bodily injury to one person, $50,000 for bodily injury to two or more people in one accident, and $25,000 for property damage.

A driver in a crash that injures or kills anyone must immediately, by the quickest means available (oral or written), notify the local police department if the crash is inside a city or town, or otherwise the county sheriff or the nearest South Carolina Highway Patrol office. A driver may briefly leave the scene to report the crash.

If a crash causing injury, death or total apparent property damage of $1,000 or more was not investigated by a law enforcement officer, the vehicle's operator or owner must send the SC Department of Motor Vehicles a written report with verification of liability insurance within 15 days, in the manner the DMV and Department of Public Safety prescribe. Not sending the verified report is treated as prima facie evidence that the vehicle was uninsured. When an officer investigates such a crash, the officer files the report with the DMV within 24 hours after finishing the investigation.

A driver in a crash causing injury, death or damage to an attended vehicle must stop at or as close to the scene as possible and stay until they have given their name, address and vehicle registration number, shown their license if asked, and given reasonable help to anyone injured (including arranging transport for treatment). After a crash with injury: a misdemeanor punishable by 30 days to 1 year in jail and/or a $100–$5,000 fine. With great bodily injury: a felony, 30 days to 10 years and a $5,000–$10,000 fine. With death: a felony, 1 to 25 years and a $10,000–$25,000 fine. Leaving a crash that damaged only an attended vehicle is a misdemeanor: up to 1 year and/or a $100–$5,000 fine. For an unattended vehicle, the driver must find the owner or leave a written note with names, addresses and what happened.

For falls on government property: the State and its political subdivisions (cities, counties and others) are not liable for losses from snow or ice conditions, or temporary or natural conditions on any public way or other public place due to weather, unless the snow or ice was affirmatively caused by a negligent act of a government employee. Rules for snow and ice on private property come from court decisions, which were not reviewed.

Under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act, a government entity responsible for maintaining highways, roads, streets, causeways, bridges or other public ways is not liable for a defect or condition in, on, under or overhanging the public way that was caused by a third party, unless the entity failed to correct it within a reasonable time after actual or constructive notice. The provision does not mention sidewalks by name, and the statutes read do not address abutting-owner liability. Claims are subject to the Act's claim, time-limit and damage-cap rules (see local government notice).

One law, the South Carolina Tort Claims Act, covers both the State and political subdivisions. Filing an administrative claim is optional; if filed against a political subdivision, it goes to the political subdivision that employs the employee whose act or omission caused the loss, and it must be received within one year after the loss was or should have been discovered. A claimant who files a claim may not sue until 180 days pass, the claim is disallowed, or a settlement offer is rejected. Suit must be filed within two years after the loss was or should have been discovered (three years if a claim was first filed). Recovery is capped at $300,000 per person per occurrence and $600,000 total per occurrence.

A landowner (including tenants, lessees, occupants, easement holders and others in control) owes no duty to keep land safe for, or to warn, people who have permission to use it for recreation, and permitting free recreational use does not make visitors invitees or licensees or make the owner liable for their injuries. The protection does not apply to grossly negligent, willful or malicious failure to guard or warn against a dangerous condition, use, structure or activity, or where the owner charges people to enter (lease payments from the State or a subdivision do not count). Users must still use reasonable care.

Anyone under 21 may not operate or ride (including as a passenger) a two-wheeled motorized vehicle without a Department of Public Safety-approved helmet with a neck or chin strap, reflectorized on both sides; operators under 21 must also wear approved goggles or a face shield unless the vehicle has an approved windscreen. Riders 21 and older are not required to wear a helmet. Violations are misdemeanors punishable by a fine of up to $100 or up to 30 days. The helmet sections do not address whether not wearing a helmet affects damages.

Banned. No person may operate a motorcycle between lanes of traffic or between adjacent lines or rows of vehicles, and a motorcyclist may not pass in the same lane occupied by the vehicle being passed (police officers on duty excepted). Motorcycles are entitled to full use of a lane, and may not ride more than two abreast in a single lane.

Where traffic signals are not in place or not working, drivers must yield (slowing or stopping if needed) to a pedestrian in a crosswalk who is on the driver's half of the road or approaching so closely from the other half as to be in danger, and may not pass a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk for a pedestrian. A pedestrian may not suddenly leave a curb into the path of a vehicle close enough to be an immediate hazard. A pedestrian crossing anywhere other than a marked crosswalk or an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection must yield to vehicles; between adjacent intersections with working signals, pedestrians may cross only in a marked crosswalk; and diagonal crossing is allowed only where traffic-control devices authorize it.

A person riding a bicycle on a roadway has the rights and duties of a motor vehicle driver, except for special bicycle rules and provisions that by their nature cannot apply. A motor vehicle driver must at all times maintain a safe operating distance from a bicycle, and harassing, taunting or maliciously throwing objects at a bicyclist is unlawful. No specific passing distance in feet appears in the section read.

A TNC driver, or the TNC on the driver's behalf, must keep primary auto insurance. While logged on and available but not on a prearranged ride: at least $50,000 per person and $100,000 per incident for death and bodily injury and $50,000 for property damage, plus uninsured motorist coverage as required by state law. While engaged in a prearranged ride: at least $1,000,000 for death, bodily injury and property damage, plus uninsured motorist coverage as required by state law. Coverage may come from the driver, the company or both, and if the driver's insurance lapses or falls short, the company's insurance must pay from the first dollar and defend the claim.

Injured construction workers' claims against their employer go through workers' compensation, which excludes all other rights and remedies against the employer. The exclusive-remedy statute does not bar claims for injuries caused by a subcontractor of the employer or its employees, or a claim by one subcontractor's employee against another subcontractor hired by a common employer. The worker may also sue other third parties, subject to the insurer's lien. Where an uninsured subcontractor's worker is hurt, the higher-tier contractor or its carrier must initially pay benefits and may seek to shift the claim to the Uninsured Employers' Fund.