| New Secret Settlement Limits |
| New rules limiting secret settlements in
South Carolina courts have taken effect. The state Supreme Court drafted the new rules earlier this year. They took effect immediately when the Legislature didn't reject them by the beginning of May. The rules do not ban all secret settlements but create several legal hurdles lawyers must cross before they can file motions or settlements that the public can't see. The ban applies only to settlements approved by a judge. Attorneys estimate about 75 percent of civil suits in the state are settled before that point. The push to reduce secret settlements started last summer in U.S. District Court. Chief Judge Joe Anderson worried that secrecy prevented quick discovery of faulty products, such as the Firestone tires the government says contributed to 300 deaths in the late 1990s. |