(The Center Square) – Asbestos case filings in South Carolina have increased 300% this year over 2024, and the reputation of adjudications has led to a No. 3 ranking nationally from the American Tort Reform Foundation.
The nonprofit organization says, “South Carolina’s asbestos judge has demonstrated a clear bias against corporate defendants, reflected in rulings that lead to unfair trials and excessive verdicts and the frequent appointment of receivers to maximize recoveries from insurers.”
Attached to asbestos litigation each time, South Carolina was also No. 3 last year, No. 5 in 2023, No. 6 in 2022, No. 8 in 2021, No. 4 in 2020 and on the watch list in 2019.
American Tort Reform says former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal’s rulings “have become increasingly extreme.”
By way of explanation, the report says, “At the prompting of plaintiffs’ attorneys, the court has developed a reputation for sanctioning defendants, typically for purported discovery violations, and for imposing punishments that appear disproportionate to the alleged conduct at issue. For example, the court has stripped away defenses, such as by instructing a jury to presume that a company exposed the plaintiff to asbestos after decades-old records were destroyed in a fire.”
In response, the nonprofit says an increase in gross product of $4.76 billion for the state would be generated with specific reforms targeting lawsuit abuse. It said residents “pay a ‘tort tax’ of $886.46 and 40,779 jobs are lost each year according to a recent study by The Perryman Group.”
American Tort Reform says $115.7 million was spent on more than 3 million litigation advertising spots across broadcast, print and digital platforms from Jan. 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025.
The Judicial Hellhole report has been published annually since 2002 by the American Tort Reform Foundation. It seeks to cite “various abuses within the civil justice system, focusing primarily on jurisdictions where courts have been radically out of balance.”
