COLUMBIA - The S.C. House overwhelmingly passed a lawsuit-reform measure Wednesday after an early-morning compromise that ended most of the opposition.

The bill passed 101-15. All local House members voted yes.

At the same time, the Senate was in extended debate on its own lawsuit-reform bills, hung up on the proposed $250,000 cap on jury awards for pain and suffering.

The House bill addressed a few items such as stricter penalties for frivolous lawsuits. It did not include the medical-malpractice plan the Senate is debating.

Still, the House bill is monumental because it changes some practices that have been in place for three centuries, opponents said.

"It is a major, transforming change in the way cases are tried in this state," said Rep. Doug Jennings, D-Bennettsville.

Rep. James Smith, D-
Columbia, said the civil courts always have had an even playing field, but now people with grievances will go to court with the scales tipped in favor of the possible wrongdoer.

Smith and Jennings are among the trial lawyers who mostly oppose the lawsuit-reform measures. The opposition was bipartisan.

Rep. John Graham Altman, R-Charleston, also a trial lawyer, said the House was doing the wrong thing.

"This is the insurance company protection act of 2005," Altman said.

He said insurance companies are trying to deceive the public and legislators into thinking frivolous lawsuits are a drag on the economy.

The state already has a law that penalizes those who file frivolous lawsuits, but it is underused, Altman said.

Other lawyers in the House, including Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville, backed the changes, which also are sought by Gov. Mark Sanford, as aiding the economy.

"It is very definitely pro-business legislation," Wilkins said.

Rep. Vida Miller, D-Pawleys Island, said most of the Democrats ended their opposition to the bill after the compromise, which affected where lawsuits can be filed.

"I think the verdict is still out on the impact on the judicial system," she said.

An Horry County lawyer whose firm has made a name for itself in class action injury lawsuits said the bill will hurt ordinary people who are injured in some way.

"They want to restrict the right to file a lawsuit," said Gene Connell of Kelaher, Connell and Connor.

He said that the whole issue of lawsuit reform is overblown and that it is not true that juries are making outrageous awards to plaintiffs.

"I can't tell you the last time they had a million-dollar verdict in Horry County," he said.

In the Senate debate, Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Myrtle Beach, also a trial lawyer, said the cap on pain-and-suffering awards will not help doctors who say their malpractice insurance is too expensive.

The Senate worked late into the evening on the issue.