South Carolina General Assembly
119th Session, 2011-2012

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Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

S. 577

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill
Sponsors: Senator Massey
Document Path: l:\council\bills\swb\5124cm11.docx

Introduced in the Senate on February 16, 2011
Currently residing in the Senate Committee on Judiciary

Summary: Safety belt violation admissible in civil court

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2/16/2011  Senate  Introduced and read first time (Senate Journal-page 6)
   2/16/2011  Senate  Referred to Committee on Judiciary 
                        (Senate Journal-page 6)

View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

2/16/2011

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A BILL

TO AMEND SECTION 56-5-6540, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO PENALTIES FOR SAFETY BELT VIOLATIONS, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT A VIOLATION OF ANY SAFETY BELT PROVISION IS ADMISSIBLE AS EVIDENCE IN A CIVIL ACTION TO ESTABLISH COMPARATIVE NEGLIGENCE UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION    1.    Section 56-5-6540(C) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 147 of 2005, is further amended to read:

"(C)    A violation of this article is shall not be considered negligence per se or contributory negligence, and is not admissible as evidence in a civil action. A violation of this article is admissible as evidence in a civil action to establish comparative negligence, if the party presenting the evidence also presents testimony from a qualified expert witness, in accordance with the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure, that the use of a safety belt, more likely than not, would have prevented or reduced the injury."

SECTION    2.    This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

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