S.C. Tort Debate: The Trial Lawyer Lobby

By: Jenn Wood

https://www.fitsnews.com/2025/09/12/bought-and-paid-for-trial-lawyer-lobby-corrupts-s-c-tort-debate/

South Carolina’s Republican supermajority loves to brag about standing up for small businesses and lowering costs for working families. But when the time came to act on those promises by passing long-overdue lawsuit reform this spring, a different set of interests was suddenly pulling their strings.

Suddenly, “conservative” senators started carrying water for one of the most liberal, anti-competitive, anti-business special interests South Carolina has ever known: the über-wealthy, über powerful trial lawyer lobby.

Attorneys and law firms poured over $1.1 million into S.C. Senate campaigns in 2024 and the first two quarters of 2025 — money funneled through direct donations, PACs and shadowy “consulting” arrangements. That staggering influx of cash coincided with a series of high-profile defections, backroom amendments and a watered-down “compromise” on lawsuit reform that left reformers empty-handed — and exposed just how extensively the trial lawyer lobby has purchased influence in the Palmetto State capital.

The pay-to-play dynamics were laid bare on March 4, 2025, when S.C. senator Tom Fernandez dropped a bombshell during the floor debate on S.244, the session’s marquee tort reform bill.

“The trial lawyer lobby has offered me campaign fundraisers in the amount of $50,000 to $100,000 per campaign if I voted against this,” Fernandez said, noting he was saying “the quiet part out loud.”

Lawmakers immediately gaveled the chamber to a rushed recess – and Fernandez later walked back his claim, gaslit his critics and ended up voting with the trial lawyer lobby he essentially accused of bribing him. But his remark was a rare on-the-record acknowledgment of what insiders have long known: votes in Columbia are openly traded for cash (and perhaps other carrots… and sticks).

As it relates to the trial lawyer lobby, the numbers don’t lie. The nearly $1.1 million in trial lawyer contributions (.pdf) logged over the past year-and-a-half aligned neatly with the fundraising spikes of senators like Overture Walker, Deon Tedder, Stephen Goldfinch, Carlisle Kennedy, Jason Elliott, Jeffrey Graham, Matt Leber and Michael Gambrell — many of whom did dramatic 180-degree turns on their previous positions.

First, take a look at the campaign finance windfalls…

THE TRIAL LAWYER LOBBY’S MONEY MACHINE

On paper, the S.C. Association for Justice (SCAJ) and its sprawling network of PACs steered approximately $202,000 into the campaign accounts of state senators and representatives in 2024 and 2025.

This money was dispersed through a maze of entities — with so-called “Justice PACs” individually enumerated each kicking in around $5,000 to $7,000 apiece. Meanwhile, the main SCAJ pacs (like SC Association for Justice PAC and South Carolina Association for Justice PAC) dropped the largest checks, $43,000 and $38,500. Smaller name variations (“SCAJ PAC,” “SC Assn for Justice PAC,” etc.) filled in the rest, each moving anywhere from a few hundred dollars to five figures.

That $202,000 is only the traceable part of the operation, too. The trial lawyer lobby has long relied on a web of dark money groups, advertising campaigns, and front organizations to amplify its influence far beyond what appears in state ethics filings.

For example, trial lawyer money has been an integral part of seven-figure campaigns led by establishment Republican leaders in the S.C. House in the hopes of ousting conservative lawmakers. Trial lawyer money also purchased a deluge of messages from MAGA-affiliated social media influencers earlier this year to distort the debate at the S.C. State House.

Whether funneled through a political action committee, a law firm check or a front group blasting text messages to senators’ cell phones – the money ultimately came from the same place. And it ultimately produced the same outcome: a watered-down bill that left citizens holding the back, reformers licking their wounds and South Carolina trial lawyers stronger than ever.

FLIPPED VOTES AND FAILED REFORM

Despite their previous support for lawsuit reform, senators Mike Gambrell and Josh Kimbrell defected from the conservative banner when it mattered most.

Was it trial lawyer money that drove their rapid ideological “reorientation?”

A co-sponsor of prior tort reform bills, Gambrell raised $20,750 from attorneys and law firms in late 2024–mid-2025 — an 800% increase from the same period year-over-year, representing two-thirds of his total contributions. Most of that money came from outside his district, incidentally. By the time S.244 hit the floor, he was voting with the trial lawyers.

A gubernatorial candidate who was once the face of tort reform – including the lead sponsor of his own bill – Kimbrell flipped in March, co-sponsoring a trial lawyer-backed amendment with senators Goldfinch and Billy Garrett (both trial attorneys). He also sided with them during multiple procedural votes. While Kimbrell’s direct trial lawyer cash haul was smaller, his ties to consultant Rebecca Madsen – who also worked with Matt Leber – tethered him more closely to the trial lawyer orbit.

The Goldfinch amendment — a Trojan horse that would have allowed juries to assign fault to non-parties while shielding certain defendants — failed on a 25–19 vote. But the broader reform effort was gutted, replaced by a hollow compromise.

This watered down version of S.244 cleared the Senate 35–7. Every Republican senator voted for it — even those who had carried the trial lawyers’ water throughout the months-long debate.

Reformers quickly realized the “compromise” was anything but. The bill:

• Codified the unfair Smith v. Tiffany (.pdf) precedent, ensuring bars and businesses could still be held liable for 100% of non-economic damages even if they were only 1% at fault.

• Raised malpractice caps and expanded government liability, guaranteeing higher insurance and taxpayer costs.

• Doubled auto insurance minimums — meaning Palmetto State drivers will soon pay even more.

• Imposed new ID-scanning costs on small businesses while only marginally reducing liquor liability coverage.

The silence from the lobby after the bill’s passage spoke volumes: they had won.

Their victory also shocked S.C. Senate majority leader Shane Massey, who had entered the debate believing the “conservative” majority he helped elect would stand with him.

“I’m perfectly happy going and trying this case because the jury’s different,” Massey said in February, referring to the fact trial lawyer allies lost several key Democratic seats in the 2024 – along with conservatives replacing centrist Republicans in several other districts.

Massey had the votes, too… until the trial lawyer money spigot got turned on.

KENNEDY AND LEBER’S TURN…

In April, FITSNews documented how freshman senator Carlisle Kennedy “servilely sold out” to the trial lawyer lobby, collecting $25,000 in just seven weeks during the height of the reform battle — almost all of it from out-of-district lawyers. His votes tracked perfectly with his fundraising.

Matt Leber, meanwhile, has become a scandal within the scandal. In the first half of 2025, he pocketed over $20,000 from trial lawyer interests – far more than in prior years. His filings also revealed questionable payments to “consultants,” including Rebecca Madsen — a political operative with ties to leading trial lawyer mouthpiece Chris Slick.

Slick has since deleted his account on X, which spewed venom against trial lawyer opponents for months.

As our media outlet has reported in our Mistress-Gate coverage, Madsen may have been more than just a “consultant.” Leber’s wife has publicly accused her of carrying on an affair with the senator. Investigators are now conducting a multi-agency review of Leber’s campaign finances, which were nearly $8,000 in the red.

Leber has also been accused of using taxpayer-funded Senate vehicles to transport alleged mistresses to the governor’s mansion and afterparties. He denies wrongdoing, but the scandal — mixing alleged personal misconduct, campaign finance irregularities and lobby ties — epitomizes the culture of corruption that derailed reform.

THE BIGGER PICTURE: DEAD ON ARRIVAL

This story isn’t about one bill – or one senator’s implosion. It’s about a rigged system. As more than a million dollars in trial lawyer contributions flooded S.C. Senate campaigns over the past eighteen months, senators shifted their positions while their campaign accounts swelled.

Then, on cue, a so-called conservative majority did the bidding of a powerful liberal lobby.

Meanwhile, Palmetto families continue to pay an annual “tort tax” — anywhere from $3,200 to $3,600 per household, according to recent studies.

Thanks to the legislation passed this year, that tort tax will climb and insurance rates will rise. Meanwhile, malpractice caps are now higher. Government liability is now broader. And the powerful trial lawyer lobby? It is stronger than ever.

The bottom line: The trial lawyers didn’t just win the 2025 tort reform fight — they destroyed their opposition.

Powerful lawyer-legislators won the day – just as they did in the equally critical battle for reform of the Palmetto State’s badly broken judicial system.

Will things ever change?

No… and least not until voters demand accountability. Absent that, every future attempt at meaningful reform will meet the same fate: dead on arrival before a lawyer-controlled legislature that’s more loyal to cash than constituents.