2003-2004 Bill 4457: Trial Venues; Definitions for Determining Corporation's Principle

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 115th Session, 2003-2004 3 4 H. 4457 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 General Bill 9 Sponsors: Reps. Harrison, Delleney, W.D. Smith, Talley, Clemmons, Cotty, Walker, Kirsh and Mahaffey 10 Document Path: l:\council\bills\pt\1777ahb04.doc 11 12 Introduced in the House on January 13, 2004 13 Currently residing in the House Committee on Judiciary 14 15 Summary: Trial venues; definitions for determining corporation's principle place of business 16 17 18 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 19 20 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 21 12/17/2003 House Prefiled 22 12/17/2003 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary 23 1/13/2004 House Introduced and read first time HJ-81 24 1/13/2004 House Referred to Committee on Judiciary HJ-82 25 26 27 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 28 29 12/17/2003 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO AMEND SECTION 15-7-30, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH 12 CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO ACTIONS THAT MUST BE 13 TRIED IN THE COUNTY WHERE THE DEFENDANT 14 RESIDES, SO AS TO DEFINE KEY TERMS AND TO 15 PROVIDE FACTORS FOR THE COURT TO CONSIDER 16 WHEN DETERMINING A CORPORATION’S PRINCIPLE 17 PLACE OF BUSINESS; TO AMEND SECTION 15-7-100, 18 RELATING TO CHANGING THE PLACE OF TRIAL, SO AS 19 TO PROVIDE FACTORS FOR THE COURT TO CONSIDER 20 WHEN DETERMINING WHETHER TO CHANGE THE PLACE 21 OF TRIAL; TO AMEND SECTION 36-2-803, RELATING TO 22 PERSONAL JURISDICTION BASED UPON CONDUCT, SO 23 AS TO CLARIFY THAT THE SECTION APPLIES ONLY TO 24 CAUSES OF ACTION SPECIFICALLY ENUMERATED IN 25 THIS SECTION; AND TO REPEAL SECTION 58-23-90, 26 RELATING TO THE PROPER VENUE TO BRING AN 27 ACTION AGAINST A LICENSED MOTOR CARRIER. 28 29 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 30 Carolina: 31 32 SECTION 1. Section 15-7-30 of the 1976 Code is amended to 33 read: 34 35 “Section 15-7-30. (A) As used in this section: 36 (1) ‘Domestic corporation’ means a ‘domestic corporation’ 37 as defined in Section 33 - 1 - 400. 38 (2) ‘Domestic limited partnership’ means a ‘domestic 39 limited partnership’ as defined in Section 33 - 42 - 20. 40 (3) ‘Domestic limited liability company’ means a ‘domestic 41 limited liability partnership’ as defined in Section 33 - 41 - 1110 with 42 its principal place of business within this State.

1 [4457] 1 1 (4) ‘Domestic limited liability partnership’ means a 2 ‘domestic limited liability partnership’ as defined in Section 3 33 - 41 - 1110 with its principal place of business within this State. 4 (5) ‘Foreign corporation’ means a ‘foreign corporation’ as 5 defined in Section 33 - 1 - 400. 6 (6) ‘Foreign limited partnership’ means a ‘foreign limited 7 partnership’ as defined in Section 33 - 42 - 20. 8 (7) ‘Foreign limited liability company’ means a ‘foreign 9 limited liability partnership’ as defined in Section 33 - 41 - 1150 with 10 its principal place of business outside of the State. 11 (8) ‘Foreign limited liability partnership’ means a ‘foreign 12 limited liability partnership’ as defined in Section 33 - 41 - 1150 with 13 its principal place of business outside of the State. 14 (9) ‘Nonresident individual’ means a person who is not 15 domiciled in this State. 16 (10) ‘Principle place of business’ means: 17 (a) the corporation’s home office location from which the 18 corporation’s officers direct, control, or coordinate its activities 19 within the State; 20 (b) the location of the corporation’s manufacturing, sales, 21 or purchasing facility within the State if the corporation does not 22 have a home office within the State; or 23 (c) the location at which the majority of corporate activity 24 takes place if the corporation has multiple centers of 25 manufacturing, sales, or purchasing located within the State. The 26 following factors may be considered when determining the 27 location at which the majority of corporate activity takes place: 28 (i) the number of employees located in any one county; 29 (ii) the authority of the employees located in any one 30 county; 31 (iii) the tangible corporate assets that exist in any one 32 county. 33 (11) ‘Resident individual’ means a person who is domiciled 34 in this State. 35 (B) In all other cases not provided for in Section 15 - 7 - 10 or 36 15 - 7 - 20, the action shall must be tried in the county in which the 37 defendant resides at the time of the commencement of the action it 38 properly may be brought and tried against the defendant according 39 to the provisions of this section. If there be is more than one 40 defendant, then the action may be tried in any county in which one 41 or more of the defendants to such action resides at the time of the 42 commencement of an the action properly may be maintained 43 against one of the defendants pursuant to this section. If none of

1 [4457] 2 1 the parties shall reside in the State the action may be tried in any 2 county which the plaintiff shall designate in his complaint. This 3 section is subject however to the power of the court to change the 4 place of trial in certain cases as provided by law. 5 (C) A civil action tried pursuant to this section against a 6 resident individual defendant must be brought and tried in the 7 county in which the: 8 (1) plaintiff resides at the time the cause of action arose; 9 (2) defendant resides at the time the cause of action arose; or 10 (3) cause of action arose. 11 (D) A civil action tried pursuant to this section against a 12 nonresident individual must be brought and tried in the county in 13 which the: 14 (1) plaintiff resides at the time the cause of action arose; or 15 (2) cause of action arose. 16 (E) A civil action tried pursuant to this section against a 17 domestic corporation, domestic limited partnership, domestic 18 limited liability company, or domestic limited liability partnership 19 must be brought and tried in the county in which the: 20 (1) plaintiff resides at the time the cause of action arose; 21 (2) corporation’s principle place of business at the time the 22 cause of action arose; or 23 (3) cause of action arose. 24 (F) A civil action tried pursuant to this section against a foreign 25 corporation, foreign limited partnership, foreign limited liability 26 company, or foreign limited liability partnership must be brought 27 and tried in the county in which the: 28 (1) plaintiff resides at the time the cause of action arose; 29 (2) foreign corporation, foreign limited partnership, foreign 30 limited liability company, or foreign limited liability partnership 31 has its principle place of business in this State at the time the cause 32 of action arose; or 33 (3) cause of action arose.” 34 35 SECTION 2. Section 15-7-100 of the 1976 Code is amended to 36 read: 37 38 “Section 15-7-100. (A) The court may change the place of trial 39 in the following cases if: 40 (1) When the county designated for that purpose in the 41 complaint is not the proper county; 42 (2) When there is reason to believe that a fair and impartial 43 trial cannot be had therein there; and

1 [4457] 3 1 (3) When the convenience of witnesses and the ends of 2 justice would be promoted by the change. 3 (B) In determining if the place of trial should be changed 4 pursuant to subsection (A)(3), the court shall consider: 5 (1) the relative ease of access to the sources of proof; 6 (2) witness availability and costs of obtaining attendance of 7 a witness; 8 (3) the possibility of viewing premises, if applicable to the 9 action; 10 (4) ease, time, efficiency, and expense incurred trying the 11 case; 12 (5) enforceability of a judgment if one is obtained; 13 (6) administrative difficulties for South Carolina courts; 14 (7) local interests in the trial; and 15 (8) difficulties for South Carolina courts arising from 16 conflict of laws and interpretation of foreign laws. 17 (C) When the place of trial is changed all other proceedings 18 shall must be had in the county to which the place of trial is 19 changed, unless otherwise provided by the consent of the parties in 20 writing duly filed or by order of the court. And the The papers 21 shall must be filed or transferred accordingly.” 22 23 SECTION 3. Section 36-2-803(2) of the 1976 Code is amended to 24 read: 25 26 “(2) When jurisdiction over a person is based solely upon this 27 section, only a cause of action arising from acts enumerated in this 28 section may be asserted against him, and such the action, if 29 brought in this State, shall is not be subject to the provisions of 30 Section 15-7-100(3). This section applies only to causes of action 31 specifically enumerated in this section.” 32 33 SECTION 4. Section 58-23-90 of the 1976 Code is repealed. 34 35 SECTION 5. If any section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, 36 sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this act is for any reason held 37 to be unconstitutional or invalid, such holding shall not affect the 38 constitutionality or validity of the remaining portions of this act, 39 the General Assembly hereby declaring that it would have passed 40 this section, and each and every section, subsection, paragraph, 41 subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, and word thereof, 42 irrespective of the fact that any one or more other sections, 43 subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs, sentences, clauses,

1 [4457] 4 1 phrases, or words hereof may be declared to be unconstitutional, 2 invalid, or otherwise ineffective. 3 4 SECTION 6. The repeal or amendment by this act of any law, 5 whether temporary or permanent or civil or criminal, does not 6 affect pending actions, rights, duties, or liabilities founded thereon, 7 or alter, discharge, release or extinguish any penalty, forfeiture, or 8 liability incurred under the repealed or amended law, unless the 9 repealed or amended provision shall so expressly provide. After 10 the effective date of this act, all laws repealed or amended by this 11 act must be taken and treated as remaining in full force and effect 12 for the purpose of sustaining any pending or vested right, civil 13 action, special proceeding, criminal prosecution, or appeal existing 14 as of the effective date of this act, and for the enforcement of 15 rights, duties, penalties, forfeitures, and liabilities as they stood 16 under the repealed or amended laws. 17 18 SECTION 7. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor 19 and applies to a cause of action arising on or after the effective 20 date of this act. 21 ----XX---- 22

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