South Carolina § 15-3-670 - Circumstances in which limitations provided by Sections 15-3-640 through 15-3-660 are not available as defense.

§ 15-3-670. Circumstances in which limitations provided by Sections 15-3-640 through 15-3-660 are not available as defense.

(A) The limitation provided by Sections 15-3-640 through 15-3-660 may not be asserted as a defense by a person in actual possession or control, as owner, tenant, or otherwise, of the improvement at the time the defective or unsafe condition constitutes the proximate cause of the injury or death for which it is proposed to bring an action, in the event the person in actual possession or control knows, or reasonably should have known, of the defective or unsafe condition. The limitations provided by Sections 15-3-640 through 15-3-660 are not available as a defense to a person guilty of fraud, gross negligence, or recklessness in providing components in furnishing materials, in developing real property, in performing or furnishing the design, plans, specifications, surveying, planning, supervision, testing or observation of construction, construction of, or land surveying, in connection with such an improvement, or to a person who conceals any such cause of action.

(B) For the purposes of subsection (A), the violation of a building code of a jurisdiction or political subdivision does not constitute per se fraud, gross negligence, or recklessness, but this type of violation may be admissible as evidence of fraud, negligence, gross negligence, or recklessness.

(C) The limitation provided by Section 15-3-640 may not be asserted as a defense to an action for personal injury, including a personal injury resulting in death, or property damage which is:

(1) by its nature not discoverable in the exercise of reasonable diligence at the time of its occurrence; and

(2) the result of ingestion of or exposure to some toxic or harmful or injury producing substance, element, or particle, including radiation, over a period of time as opposed to resulting from a sudden and fortuitous trauma.

HISTORY: 1962 Code SECTION 10-155; 1970 (56) 2397; 1986 Act No. 412, SECTION 3; 2011 Act No. 52, SECTION 5, eff January 1, 2012.

Editor's Note

2011 Act No. 52, SECTION 7, provides as follows:

"SECTION 7. This act takes effect January 1, 2012, and applies to all actions that accrue on or after the effective date except the provisions of SECTION 3 do not apply to any matter pending on the effective date of this act."

Effect of Amendment

The 2011 amendment inserted subsection (B) relating to fraud per se, gross negligence, or negligence, added subsection identifiers (A) and (C), changed subsection designators (i) and (ii) to (1) and (2), and made nonsubstantive changes.