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Current Status Bill Number:View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.56 Type of Legislation:General Bill GB Introducing Body:Senate Introduced Date:20010110 Primary Sponsor:Wilson All Sponsors:Wilson, Reese, Branton Drafted Document Number:l:\council\bills\skb\18076som01.doc Residing Body:Senate Current Committee:Judiciary Committee 11 SJ Subject:Land surveyors, surveying; limitations period provided for civil actions against when; Courts, Torts, Engineering History Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved ______ ________ ______________________________________ _______ ____________ Senate 20010110 Introduced, read first time, 11 SJ referred to Committee Versions of This Bill
TO AMEND ARTICLE 5, CHAPTER 3, TITLE 15, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE LIMITATION OF CIVIL ACTIONS OTHER THAN FOR THE RECOVERY OF REAL PROPERTY, SO AS TO ADD SECTION 15-3-690, SO AS TO PROVIDE A LIMITATIONS PERIOD FOR ACTIONS AGAINST REGISTERED SURVEYORS OR THEIR EMPLOYEES ENGAGED IN THE PRACTICE OF LAND SURVEYING AND TO PROVIDE WHEN THE LIMITATIONS PERIOD IS NOT AVAILABLE AS A DEFENSE; TO AMEND SECTION 15-3-640, RELATING TO THE LIMITATIONS PERIOD FOR ACTIONS TO RECOVER DAMAGES BASED UPON A DEFECTIVE OR UNSAFE CONDITION OF AN IMPROVEMENT TO REAL PROPERTY, SO AS TO REMOVE SURVEYING AS AN IMPROVEMENT TO REAL PROPERTY INCLUDED IN THIS SECTION; AND TO AMEND SECTION 15-3-670, RELATING TO WHEN THIS PARTICULAR LIMITATIONS PERIOD IS NOT AVAILABLE AS A DEFENSE, SO AS TO REMOVE SURVEYING AND LAND SURVEYING.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 15-3-690. (A) An action to recover damages for a deficiency, defect, omission, error, or miscalculation in any survey or plat must be brought against registered surveyors or their employees engaged in the practice of land surveying who performed or furnished the survey or plat not more than four years from the date of the survey or plat. The cause of action in these cases accrues when the services are rendered as shown from the date on the survey or plat. An action not instituted within the four-year period provided by this section is forever barred. The practice of land surveying is defined in Chapter 22 of Title 40 of the 1976 Code.
(B) The limitation provided by subsection (A) is not available as a defense to a person guilty of fraud, gross negligence, or recklessness in performing or furnishing the survey or plat or to a person who conceals any such cause of action."
SECTION 2. Section 15-3-640(9) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"(9) an action against owners or manufacturers of components, or against any person furnishing materials, or against any person who develops real property, or who performs or furnishes the design, plans, specifications, surveying, planning, supervision, testing, or observation of construction, or construction of an improvement to real property, or a repair to an improvement to real property."
SECTION 3. Section 15-3-670 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"Section 15-3-670. The limitation provided by Sections 15-3-640 through 15-3-660 may not be asserted as a defense by any person in actual possession or control, as owner, tenant, or otherwise, of the improvement at the time the defective or unsafe condition constitutes the proximate cause of the injury or death for which it is proposed to bring an action, in the event such person in actual possession or control knows, or reasonably should have known, of the defective or unsafe condition. The limitations provided by Sections 15-3-640 through 15-3-660 are not available as a defense to any person guilty of fraud, gross negligence, or recklessness in providing components in furnishing materials, in developing real property, in performing or furnishing the design, plans, specifications, surveying, planning, supervision, testing or observation of construction, or construction of, or land surveying, in connection with such an improvement, or to any person who conceals any such cause of action. The limitation provided by Section 15-3-640 may not be asserted as a defense to any action for personal injury, including a personal injury resulting in death, or property damage which is (i) by its nature not discoverable in the exercise of reasonable diligence at the time of its occurrence and (ii) the result of ingestion of or exposure to some toxic or harmful or injury producing substance, element, or particle, including radiation, over a period of time as opposed to resulting from a sudden and fortuitous trauma."
SECTION 4. Nothing in Section 15-3-690 may be construed as:
(1) creating a cause of action not already existing or recognized; or
(2) barring a cause of action existing or accrued on the effective date of this act.
SECTION 5. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
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