A bill

 

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING SECTION 15-3-710 SO AS TO DEFINE NECESSARY TERMS, PROVIDE FOR CIVIL CAUSE OF ACTIONS AGAINST CERTAIN LICENSEES WHO FURNISH ALCOHOL TO VISIBLY INTOXICATED INDIVIDUALS UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES, TO PROVIDE EXCEPTIONS TO LIABILITY, AND TO PROVIDE THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION ARE THE EXCLUSIVE MANNER FOR BRINGING DRAM SHOP CAUSE OF ACTIONS.

 

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

 

SECTION 1.  Article 5, Chapter 3, Title 15 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

 

    Section 15-3-710.  (A) As used in this section:

       (1) "Alcohol" means beer, wine, alcoholic liquors, or alcoholic beverages as defined in Section 61-6-20; alcoholic liquor by the drink or alcoholic beverage by the drink as defined in Section 61-6-20; or any other type of alcoholic beverage that contains any amount of alcohol and is used as a beverage for human consumption.

       (2) "Licensee" means any person or entity licensed to sell alcohol by the State of South Carolina or any agency or department thereof. The term "licensee" includes any owner, partner, manager, agent, employee, or other person or entity engaged in a single business enterprise with another licensee or permittee or one for whose conduct a licensee or permittee may be vicariously liable.

       (3) "Visibly intoxicated" means an individual who displayed visible signs and symptoms of intoxication that would have been obvious to a trained alcohol server under the circumstances.

       (4) "Trained alcohol server" means an alcohol server who has completed the training required by Chapter 3, Title 61.

    (B) Except as provided in this section, a licensee is not liable in a civil action arising out of the sale, service, or furnishing of alcohol.

    (C) A person other than the intoxicated individual, who has suffered bodily injury, death, or property damage caused by the acts or omissions of the intoxicated individual possesses a civil cause of action against a licensee if the person shows, by the preponderance of the evidence that the licensee knowingly sold, served, or directly furnished alcohol to an individual who was visibly intoxicated, and the sale, service, or direct furnishing of alcohol to the intoxicated individual was a proximate cause of the person's bodily injury, death, or property damage.

    (D) A person who was nineteen years of age or older at the time of the sale, service, or direct furnishing of alcohol by a licensee does not possess a civil cause of action against a licensee for the sale, service, or furnishing of alcohol if:

       (1) at the time the person suffered bodily injury or death, the person was riding as a passenger in a motor vehicle operated by an intoxicated individual and had knowledge of the operator's intoxication; or

       (2) at the time the person suffered property damage, the person had placed the damaged property in the possession, custody, or control of the intoxicated individual with knowledge of either:

           (a) the individual's intoxication;

           (b) the individual's addiction to intoxication; or

           (c) the individual's habit of becoming intoxicated and the individual's propensity to operate a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

    (E) A person who was under the age of nineteen years at the time of the sale, service, or direct furnishing of alcohol by a licensee possesses a civil cause of action against the licensee if that person shows by the preponderance of the evidence that:

       (1) the licensee knowingly sold, served, or directly furnished alcohol to the person under the age of nineteen; and

       (2) the licensee's sale, service, or direct furnishing of alcohol to the person under the age of nineteen was a proximate cause of the person's bodily injury, death, or property damage.

    (F) A licensee who affirmatively proves a forensic digital identification system approved by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division was used to confirm the validity of the person's identification has not knowingly sold, served, or furnished alcohol to that person for the purposes of subsection (E).

    (G) Upon the death of any party, the action or right of action authorized by this section will survive to or against the part's personal representative.

    (H) A licensee is not chargeable with knowledge of acts by which a person becomes intoxicated at other locations.

    (I) If an attorney initiates or maintains a civil action against a licensee under this section when a reasonable attorney in the same circumstances would not conclude that under the facts, the civil action against the licensee was justifiably initiated or maintained under this section, then the court shall award that licensee reasonable attorney's fees of not less than five thousand dollars and costs to be paid by that person to that licensee upon a motion made within ten days following the conclusion of a trial and after a verdict has been rendered, or a case has been dismissed by summary judgment, direct verdict, or judgment notwithstanding the verdict.

    (J) The provisions of this section are the exclusive manner for bringing a dram shop cause of action.

 

SECTION 2.  The repeal or amendment by this act of any law, whether temporary or permanent or civil or criminal, does not affect pending actions, rights, duties, or liabilities founded thereon, or alter, discharge, release or extinguish any penalty, forfeiture, or liability incurred under the repealed or amended law, unless the repealed or amended provision shall so expressly provide.  After the effective date of this act, all laws repealed or amended by this act must be taken and treated as remaining in full force and effect for the purpose of sustaining any pending or vested right, civil action, special proceeding, criminal prosecution, or appeal existing as of the effective date of this act, and for the enforcement of rights, duties, penalties, forfeitures, and liabilities as they stood under the repealed or amended laws.

 

SECTION 3.  If any section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this act is for any reason held to be unconstitutional or invalid, such holding shall not affect the constitutionality or validity of the remaining portions of this act, the General Assembly hereby declaring that it would have passed this act, and each and every section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, and word thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more other sections, subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs, sentences, clauses, phrases, or words hereof may be declared to be unconstitutional, invalid, or otherwise ineffective.

 

SECTION 4.  This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

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