South Carolina H 5441: Dram Shop Cause of Actions

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 5441 Text of Previous Version (Jun. 04, 2026) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 5441

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH 
CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING SECTION 15-3-710 SO AS TO DEFINE NECESSARY 
TERMS, TO PROVIDE FOR CIVIL CAUSE OF ACTIONS AGAINST CERTAIN LICENSEES WHO 
FURNISH ALCOHOL TO VISIBLY INTOXICATED INDIVIDUALS UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES, 
TO PROVIDE EXCEPTIONS TO LIABILITY, AND TO PROVIDE THE PROVISIONS OF THIS 
SECTION ARE THE EXCLUSIVE MANNER FOR BRINGING DRAM SHOP CAUSE OF ACTIONS.

Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Article 5, Chapter 3, Title 15 of the S.C. Code is 
amended by adding:

 Section 
15-3-710. (A) As used in this 
section:

 (1) 
"Alcohol" means beer, wine, alcoholic liquors, or alcoholic beverages as 
defined in Section 61-6-20; alcoholic liquor by the drink or alcoholic beverage 
by the drink as defined in Section 61-6-20; or any other type of alcoholic 
beverage that contains any amount of alcohol and is used as a beverage for 
human consumption.

 (2) 
"Licensee" means any person or entity licensed to sell alcohol by the State of 
South Carolina or any agency or department thereof. The term "licensee" 
includes any owner, partner, manager, agent, employee, or other person or 
entity engaged in a single business enterprise with another licensee or 
permittee or one for whose conduct a licensee or permittee may be vicariously 
liable.

 (3) 
"Visibly intoxicated" means an individual who displayed visible signs and 
symptoms of intoxication that would have been obvious to a trained alcohol 
server under the circumstances.

 (4) 
"Trained alcohol server" means an alcohol server who has completed the training 
required by Chapter 3, Title 61.

 (B) 
Except as provided in this section, a licensee is not liable in a civil action 
arising out of the sale, service, or furnishing of alcohol.

 (C) A 
person other than the intoxicated individual, who has suffered bodily injury, 
death, or property damage caused by the acts or omissions of the intoxicated 
individual possesses a civil cause of action against a licensee if the person 
shows, by the preponderance of the evidence that the licensee knowingly sold, 
served, or directly furnished alcohol to an individual who was visibly 
intoxicated, and the sale, service, or direct furnishing of alcohol to the 
intoxicated individual was a proximate cause of the person's bodily injury, 
death, or property damage.

 (D) A 
person who was nineteen years of age or older at the time of the sale, service, 
or direct furnishing of alcohol by a licensee does not possess a civil cause of 
action against a licensee for the sale, service, or furnishing of alcohol if:

 (1) 
at the time the person suffered bodily injury or death, the person was riding 
as a passenger in a motor vehicle operated by an intoxicated individual and had 
knowledge of the operator's intoxication; or

 (2) 
at the time the person suffered property damage, the person had placed the 
damaged property in the possession, custody, or control of the intoxicated 
individual with knowledge of either:

 (a) 
the individual's intoxication;

 (b) 
the individual's addiction to intoxication; or

 (c) 
the individual's habit of becoming intoxicated and the individual's propensity 
to operate a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

 (E) A 
person who was under the age of nineteen years at the time of the sale, 
service, or direct furnishing of alcohol by a licensee possesses a civil cause 
of action against the licensee if that person shows by the preponderance of the 
evidence that:

 (1) 
the licensee knowingly sold, served, or directly furnished alcohol to the 
person under the age of nineteen; and

 (2) 
the licensee's sale, service, or direct furnishing of alcohol to the person 
under the age of nineteen was a proximate cause of the person's bodily injury, 
death, or property damage.

 (F) A 
licensee who affirmatively proves a forensic digital identification system 
approved by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division was used to confirm the 
validity of the person's identification has not knowingly sold, served, or 
furnished alcohol to that person for the purposes of subsection (E).

 (G) 
Upon the death of any party, the action or right of action authorized by this 
section will survive to or against the part's personal representative.

 (H) A 
licensee is not chargeable with knowledge of acts by which a person becomes 
intoxicated at other locations.

 (I) If 
an attorney initiates or maintains a civil action against a licensee under this 
section when a reasonable attorney in the same circumstances would not conclude 
that under the facts, the civil action against the licensee was justifiably 
initiated or maintai