The wealthy and powerful insurance lobby is hard at work in South Carolina, trying to pass legislation that will make it harder for injured people to get fair compensation. They’ve fooled many businesses and professionals–even some homeowners–with promises of lower insurance rates. But, when asked for details, the answers dry up. They can’t say how much your rates will go down, or exactly how they’ve calculated that change. They won’t guarantee a decrease in rates. There’s a reason for that.
A few years ago, the industry made the same type of pitch in Louisiana. They claimed taking rights away from car accident victims would decrease auto insurance rates by 10-25%. Instead, they’ve climbed…and climbed. Now, Louisiana has the highest car insurance rates in the country, and many injury victims can’t get fair compensation. That’s a big win for insurance companies and a big loss for everyone else.
Here are some of the ways S.B. 244 would hurt South Carolina residents.
- Damages for victims of medical malpractice would be capped no matter how seriously injured they are, even when the defendant acted with gross negligence or recklessness or committed fraud.
- It would be much harder for an injured party to bring a bad faith claim against an insurance carrier, making it easier and less risky for insurance companies to lowball injury victims and use delaying tactics to force insufficient settlements.
- Fault would be allocated differently, making it harder for an injured person to receive full compensation for their medical bills and other losses.
- The range of damages covered by uninsured motorist coverage would be narrowed, meaning many people injured by an uninsured driver would no longer be able to collect the full amount they would have received from that driver.
- Victims of construction accidents and defective construction would no longer be entitled to compensation based on certain code violations, making it harder and more expensive to secure compensation.
- Some victims of drunk drivers would lose their right to collect damages from a bar or restaurant that overserved the driver.
- Car accident victims who were not wearing seatbelts could lose some or all of their compensation even when the other driver was negligent.
Each of these changes hurts injured people in South Carolina. Each of these changes saves insurance companies a lot of money. Nothing in this law requires insurance companies to lower premiums.
In the next several days, we’ll be providing more in-depth information about each of the changes described above. But there’s something you can do right now. Call your state legislators and tell them to vote no on tort reform. Tell them you don’t want to make insurance companies richer at the expense of your friends and neighbors.
You can find contact information for your legislators by entering your address here: https://fairsc.com