As Palmetto Promise has discussed regularly on this blog, there is a glaring problem with the South Carolina civil justice system that allows what we have termed “billboard lawyers” to target legitimate businesses for “nuclear” verdicts just because those businesses are successful, not necessarily because they are at fault. The most targeted businesses in the
What a year 2025 has been for the state of South Carolina! With a 2026 election cycle well underway (including a series of Statehouse special elections in recent days) and a busy initial year of the two-year legislative session, there has been no shortage of political activity. As we prepare for the 2026 legislative session, we would like to take a moment to reflect on the impact Palmetto Promise Institute has had on
This commentary by Palmetto Promise board chair Phil Hughes was originally published in the Post and Courier. From stem to stern, South Carolina’s lawsuit system is broken — and anyone who’s run a small business, owned a restaurant that offered alcohol or driven a truck knows it. Sky-high insurance rates, nuclear verdicts and the chilling
After four weeks of heated debate, in the late hours of the night on March 26, the South Carolina Senate reached an agreement on S.244, the tort reform legislation that aims to make South Carolina’s civil liability system fairer, particularly in complex cases that involve multiple parties. Senate passage of the bill was a tremendous
You’ve probably heard the saying: “Winning the battle but losing the war.” That’s exactly what the South Carolina General Assembly risks doing if it narrows its focus to fixing liquor liability problems while leaving the rest of our broken civil liability system untouched. Let’s be clear: Liquor liability is a massive and urgent issue. Over
Our state’s civil justice statutes are in dire need of reform—on many levels. But specifically, it is our system of modified comparative negligence that is often so scandalously unjust. “Nuclear” outcomes have become common, especially in venues like Richland County, where eight-figure verdicts have become routine in recent years. In 2024, a jury awarded a
