2001-2002 Bill 153: Motor Vehicle Accidents, Cases of Bodily Injury Or Property Damage

1 BIL: 153 2 TYP: General Bill GB 3 INB: Senate 4 IND: 20010117 5 PSP: Hutto 6 SPO: Hutto 7 DDN: l:\s-jud\bills\hutto\jud0017.cbh.doc 8 RBY: Senate 9 COM: Banking and Insurance Committee 02 SBI 10 SUB: Motor vehicle accidents, cases of bodily injury or property damage, 11 witness testimony and depositions; Insurance 12 13 14 15 HST: 16 17 Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved 18 ______19 Senate 20010117 Introduced, read first time, 02 SBI 20 referred to Committee 21 22 23 24 Versions of This Bill 25 26 27 28 29 TXT: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO AMEND SECTION 38-77-170, CODE OF LAWS OF 12 SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE 13 PREREQUISITES FOR ALLOWING A RIGHT OF ACTION OR 14 RECOVERY IN A CASE IN WHICH A VEHICLE CAUSES 15 BODILY INJURY OR PROPERTY DAMAGE, SO AS TO 16 INCLUDE DEPOSITIONS AND SWORN TESTIMONY 17 WITHIN THE TYPES OF TESTIMONY PERMITTED BY A 18 WITNESS OTHER THAN THE PLAINTIFF WHEN THE 19 PLAINTIFF’S INJURY WAS CAUSED BY AN UNKNOWN 20 VEHICLE. 21 22 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 23 Carolina: 24 25 SECTION 1. Section 38-77-170 is amended to read: 26 27 “Section 38-77-170. If the owner or operator of any motor 28 vehicle which causes bodily injury or property damage to the 29 insured is unknown, there is no right of action or recovery under 30 the uninsured motorist provision, unless: 31 (1) the insured or someone in his behalf has reported the 32 accident to some appropriate police authority within a reasonable 33 time, under all the circumstances, after its occurrence; 34 (2) the injury or damage was caused by physical contact with 35 the unknown vehicle, or the accident must have been was 36 witnessed by someone other than the owner or operator of the 37 insured vehicle; provided however, the witness must sign an 38 affidavit, or provide sworn testimony in a deposition or in a court 39 of competent jurisdiction attesting to the truth of the facts of the 40 accident contained in the affidavit;

1 [153] 1 1 (3) the insured was not negligent in failing to determine the 2 identity of the other vehicle and the driver of the other vehicle at 3 the time of the accident. 4 The following statement must be prominently displayed on the 5 face of the affidavit provided in subitem (2) above: A FALSE 6 STATEMENT CONCERNING THE FACTS CONTAINED IN 7 THIS AFFIDAVIT MAY SUBJECT THE PERSON MAKING 8 THE FALSE STATEMENT TO CRIMINAL PENALTIES AS 9 PROVIDED BY LAW.” 10 11 SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor 12 and applies to causes of action arising or accruing after the 13 effective date of this section. 14 ----XX----

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