SC Bar State-Specific Law 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Following South Carolina's 2005 tort reform, a defendant found less than 50 percent at fault in a multi-defendant negligence case is generally liable for:
- Only its proportionate share of the damages (Correct answer)
- The full judgment under joint and several liability
- Double its proportionate share
- Nothing unless the plaintiff was fault-free
Correct answer: Only its proportionate share of the damages
S.C. Code § 15-38-15 limits a defendant less than 50 percent at fault to several liability for its apportioned share, with exceptions such as intentional conduct and alcohol-related torts.
Question 2: Under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act, the general per-person cap on damages recoverable from a governmental entity for a single occurrence is:
- $300,000 (Correct answer)
- $1,000,000
- $600,000
- $100,000
Correct answer: $300,000
S.C. Code § 15-78-120 caps recovery at $300,000 per person and $600,000 per occurrence, and bars punitive damages against governmental entities.
Question 3: In South Carolina, punitive damages are generally capped at:
- The greater of $500,000 or three times compensatory damages (Correct answer)
- The lesser of $250,000 or two times compensatory damages
- Ten times compensatory damages with no dollar limit
- There is no statutory cap on punitive damages
Correct answer: The greater of $500,000 or three times compensatory damages
S.C. Code § 15-32-530 caps punitive damages at the greater of $500,000 or three times compensatory damages, subject to enumerated exceptions.
Question 4: In Davenport v. Cotton Hope Plantation, the South Carolina Supreme Court held that implied assumption of risk:
- Is no longer a complete bar and is subsumed into comparative fault (Correct answer)
- Remains an absolute bar to recovery
- Applies only in sports and recreation cases
- Was abolished entirely and may not reduce damages
Correct answer: Is no longer a complete bar and is subsumed into comparative fault
Davenport folded implied assumption of risk into South Carolina's comparative negligence framework, so it reduces rather than bars recovery unless the plaintiff's fault exceeds the defendant's.
Question 5: A wrongful death action in South Carolina must be brought by:
- The executor or administrator of the decedent's estate for the statutory beneficiaries (Correct answer)
- Any surviving family member in their own name
- The surviving spouse only
- The state's Attorney General on behalf of the family
Correct answer: The executor or administrator of the decedent's estate for the statutory beneficiaries
Under S.C. Code § 15-51-20, the personal representative brings the wrongful death action for the benefit of the statutory beneficiaries.
Question 6: Under South Carolina's Protection of Persons and Property Act, a person lawfully present who is attacked in a place where they have a right to be:
- Has no duty to retreat and may use deadly force if reasonably necessary to prevent death or great bodily injury (Correct answer)
- Must retreat if safely possible before using deadly force
- May use deadly force only inside their own home
- May use only proportional non-deadly force outside the home
Correct answer: Has no duty to retreat and may use deadly force if reasonably necessary to prevent death or great bodily injury
S.C. Code § 16-11-440 removes the duty to retreat and permits deadly force where the actor reasonably fears death or great bodily injury.
Question 7: In South Carolina, burglary in the first degree requires entry of a dwelling without consent and with intent to commit a crime, plus:
- An aggravating circumstance such as nighttime entry, being armed, or causing injury (Correct answer)
- Actual completion of the intended crime inside
- A prior burglary conviction in all cases
- Forcible breaking of a locked door or window
Correct answer: An aggravating circumstance such as nighttime entry, being armed, or causing injury
S.C. Code § 16-11-311 elevates dwelling burglary to first degree when aggravators like nighttime entry, arms, injury, or qualifying prior convictions are present.
SC Bar State-Specific Law 3
Following South Carolina's 2005 tort reform, a defendant found less than 50 percent at fault in a multi-defendant negligence case is generally liable for: