2003-2004 Bill 498: Torts Claims Act, Actions in County Where the Defendant Resides; Venues

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 115th Session, 2003-2004 3 4 S. 498 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 General Bill 9 Sponsors: Senator McConnell 10 Document Path: l:\s-jud\bills\mcconnell\jud0059.gfm.doc 11 12 Introduced in the Senate on March 19, 2003 13 Currently residing in the Senate Committee on Judiciary 14 15 Summary: Torts Claims Act, actions in county where the defendant resides; venues provided for 16 individuals, partnerships and corporations, etc. 17 18 19 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 20 21 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 22 3/19/2003 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-7 23 3/19/2003 Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary SJ-7 24 25 26 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 27 28 3/19/2003 29 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 WHICH MUST 13 BE TRIED IN THE COUNTY WHERE THE DEFENDANT 14 RESIDES, SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR VENUE FOR ACTIONS 15 AGAINST RESIDENT INDIVIDUALS, DOMESTIC 16 CORPORATIONS, FOREIGN CORPORATIONS, FOREIGN 17 LIMITED PARTNERSHIPS, FOREIGN LIMITED LIABILITY 18 COMPANIES, FOREIGN LIMITED LIABILITY 19 PARTNERSHIPS, AND NON-RESIDENT INDIVIDUALS. 20 21 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 22 Carolina: 23 24 SECTION 1. Section 15-7-30 of the 1976 Code is amended to 25 read: 26 27 “Section 15-7-30. (A) In all other cases, the action shall must 28 be tried in the county in which the defendant resides at the time of 29 the commencement of the action it can properly be brought and 30 tried against a particular defendant according to the provisions 31 hereof. If there be is more than one defendant, then the action may 32 must be brought and tried in any the county in which one or more 33 of the defendants to such action resides at the time of the 34 commencement of the an action may be properly maintained 35 against one of the defendants under the provisions hereof. If none 36 of the parties shall reside in the State the action may be tried in any 37 county which the plaintiff shall designate in his complaint. This 38 section is subject, however, to the power of the court to change the 39 place of trial in certain cases as provided by law. 40 (B) All civil actions hereunder against a resident individual 41 defendant must be brought and tried in the county where the 42 defendant is domiciled or resides.

1 [498] 1 1 (C) All civil actions hereunder against nonresident individuals 2 must be brought in one of the following counties: 3 (1) the county where the cause of action arose; or 4 (2) if the cause of action did not arise in this State, the 5 county where the plaintiff resides. 6 (D) All civil actions hereunder against domestic corporations 7 must be brought and tried in one of the following counties: 8 (1) the county of the corporation’s principal place of 9 business; or 10 (2) the county where the cause of action arose. 11 (E) All civil actions hereunder against foreign corporations, 12 foreign limited partnerships, foreign limited liability companies, or 13 foreign limited liability partnerships must be brought and tried in 14 one of the following counties: 15 (1) the county where the foreign corporation, foreign limited 16 partnership, foreign limited liability company, or foreign limited 17 liability partnership has its principal place of business, if in South 18 Carolina; 19 (2) the county where the cause of action arose; or 20 (3) if neither (1) nor (2) apply, where the plaintiff resides. 21 (F) For purposes of this section: 22 (1) ‘domestic corporation’ means any corporation 23 incorporated in this State; 24 (2) ‘foreign corporation’ means a corporation for profit 25 incorporated pursuant to a law other than the law of this State; 26 (3) ‘foreign limited partnership’ means a partnership formed 27 under the laws of any state other than this State and having as 28 partners one or more general partners and one or more limited 29 partners; 30 (4) ‘foreign limited liability company’ means an 31 unincorporated entity organized under laws other than the laws of 32 this State which afford limited liability to its owners comparable to 33 the liability under Section 33 - 44 - 303 and is not required to obtain 34 a certificate of authority to transact business under any law of this 35 State other than this chapter. 36 (5) ‘foreign limited liability partnership’ means a partnership 37 described in article 13 of chapter 41 of Title 33; 38 (6) ‘non - resident individual’ means a person who is not 39 domiciled in this State; 40 (7) ‘principal place of business’ means the location of the 41 corporation’s registered office as designated in the Articles of 42 Incorporation filed with the Secretary of State’s Office;

1 [498] 2 1 (8) ‘resident individual’ means a person who is domiciled in 2 this State.” 3 4 SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor 5 and applies to causes of action arising or accruing on and after the 6 effective date of this act. 7 ----XX---- 8

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