Benjy Hardee has been among the most influential business leaders in Horry County for the past 30 years. Last night he joined over 1,000 Grand Strand residents, business leaders, H.O.A. members, restaurant and bar owners saying that S.C. must have complete tort reform coming from our state house.
Hardee thanked Rep. William Bailey for putting the town hall together. The event was promoted by the North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce.
Says Hardee, “The state of South Carolina is in a bad way. Small businesses are the heartbeat of South Carolina. They are job providers.” He adds, “There is a reason why insurance companies are leaving…. We are a happy state to be sued in. And that’s got to change. Small businesses can’t survive.”
Hardee states that there needs to be some serious tort reform in Columbia, S.C. He says this is the responsibility of S.C. Senators and Representatives, not the insurance commission.
Hardee states, “Many of my good friends are lawyers, and they are protecting the environment they live in. A lot of them are legislators. They are on the [key legislative] committees and they chair the [key legislative] committees. To get tort reform passed in South Carolina, and I know that is what you are attempting to do, is to build a ground swell of support from the business community. It’s got to happen. And if we can’t get it done, we have to start electing people who will get it done.”
COULD THE PROBLEM BE A PERSON?
MyrtleBeachSC News spoke with two restaurant owners from Conway, one from North Myrtle Beach and one from Carolina Forest. They all agree that Senator Luke Rankin is the problem.
There are a million ways to kill a bill in committee they told us, and Rankin knows every way that exists. If he doesn’t kill it in subcommittee himself, he gets a surrogate to do it for him.
Rankin has served as a Senator in Columbia for over 30 years. He has vast seniority and sits on the most powerful subcommittees, including the judiciary.
Rankin’s primary constituent is the S.C. Trial Lawyers. This group put him in his key position as head of the S.C. Judiciary when Alex Murdaugh was the president of the Trial Lawyers.
His specialty is seeing that bills like South Carolina H. 4529, sponsored by Laurens S.C. Representative Stewart Jones never make it to the House floor or Senate floor for a vote. Rankin ensures that the bill dies in subcommittee. This way his trial lawyer friends can continue to rake in the millions suing insurance companies.
What is South Carolina H. 4529
The bill reads:
Section 61-2-670. (A)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a person who sells, furnishes, or serves alcoholic beverages to an individual of lawful drinking age may not become liable for injury, death, or damage caused by or resulting from the intoxication of that individual, including injury or death to other individuals; provided, however, every spouse, child, parent, or other individual who is injured in person, property, or means of support by an intoxicated individual has a right of action for all damages actually sustained as well as exemplary damages against any person who knowingly sells, furnishes, or serves alcoholic beverages to an individual contrary to the provisions of law, who was visibly intoxicated, when the sale, furnishing, or serving is the proximate cause of such injury or damage.
(2) For the purposes of this section, “knowingly” means knew or should have known under the circumstances.
(B) Upon the death of any party, the action or right of action will survive to or against the party’s personal representative.
(C) The party injured, or the party’s legal representative, may commence a joint or separate action against the individual intoxicated or the person who furnished the alcoholic beverages, and the claims must be by civil action in any court having jurisdiction.
(D) Evidence sufficient to establish that an individual was visibly intoxicated as set forth in subsection (A)(1) must be based on the totality of the circumstances present at the time of service of the alcoholic beverages to the individual. The evidence either must be direct evidence or, if circumstantial, may not require or allow the finder of fact to speculate.
(E) Nothing in this section authorizes the consumer of any alcoholic beverage to recover from the provider of the alcoholic beverage for injuries or damages suffered by the by the consumer caused by the consumer’s ingestion of alcohol.
What would this bill do? Dry up the money for lawyers.
This bill alone would bring back the many insurance providers who are leaving our state. South Carolina Insurance Commissioner Michael B. Wise informed a group of restaurant and bar owners last night that insurance companies are currently paying out $3 in liabilities for every $1 they collect.
Why? Because Rankin’s 2017 bill allows lawyers to sue every establishment that served a given patron throughout any given day. Example: A patron visits the Famous Toastery at noon and has a glass of wine with her meal. At 3 p.m. she visits the Boat House and has two beers listening to a local music group. At 8 p.m. she visits the House of Blues for a music concert. At 11 p.m. she gets into a car wreck near Barefoot Landing.
UNDER RANKIN’S law, every one of these venues can be sued and are sued.
As insurance providers flee from South Carolina, the trial lawyers continue to rake in the money.
Unfortunately, the few providers remaining in S.C. are charging $60,000 to $80,000 annually to restaurant and bar owners for insurance that previously cost $5,000 just a few years ago.
Rankin’s trial lawyer friends are killing the goose that has been laying the golden egg.
Benjy Hardee and other business owners have had enough and want tort reform now.