Liquor liability law skyrockets insurance premiums and shuts down Upstate bars

By Peyton Furtado

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    South Carolina (WYFF) — Across the Upstate, bar owners say their businesses are struggling, and some are even having to shut down because of a South Carolina liquor law.

The recently passed law has had several unintended consequences.

It all goes back to a deadly South Carolina DUI crash back in 2014. The suspect and the bars she went to that night didn’t have insurance. SC Bill 116 responded to that, requiring any place that serves alcohol to have at least $1 million in coverage.

The Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium hosts Broadway shows and concerts, serving up entertainment to Hub City weekly. One thing they didn’t serve up this week: alcohol.

Their liquor liability insurance dropped them, and until they find a new provider, they can’t serve alcohol.

“Our food and beverage income is going to drop by 75-80 percent,” said CEO Roger Newton. “It’s huge.”

Newton said their insurance could go from $1,200 to $100,000 a year based on quotes they’ve gotten. If they don’t get the license, they could lose big-name acts and Broadway shows. If they do get the license, they’ll have to find other ways to cover the cost.

“We can only charge so much for a beer. Right now, we’re at $13 for a 25-ounce beer, and at some point, the public will only pay so much,” Newton said.

Their insurance firm is one of many pulling out of South Carolina altogether.

“You can’t pay out $3 for every dollar you take in and stay in business,” said Republican state Sen. Ross Turner.

Turner owns an insurance firm in Greenville, and said this coverage increase, along with a law about who is at fault for crashes, forced price hikes.

“Some guy that had a wreck at 12 o’clock at night but was in your bar from 5 to 6 and had one beer and you did absolutely nothing wrong, but the wreck was horrific enough at midnight that they come back and name you in the suit and your insurance has to basically yield the million dollars,” he said.

And while bar owners like Nick Conte train their bartenders not to over-serve, they can’t always control a customer’s actions.

“Someone out in the parking lot could take prescription medication before they drink. We would have no way of knowing that, only if they showed effects while in our establishment would we really know,” Conte said.

Turner said this was one of his top priorities when the Senate returns in January, but a bill will need to make it through the judiciary committee for anything to happen.

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