COLUMBIA--A bill before state lawmakers could limit the amount of compensation awarded to victims injured in the Graniteville train crash and chlorine spill.

The issue is tied to the contentious debate surrounding 16 tort reform bills that seek limits on such things as the methods used to file civil lawsuits and the rules governing liability and jury awards.

Lawmakers set the stage for discussion on the bills when they sent them to a Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittee for study rather than passing them onto the Senate floor.

For those suffering from the disaster in Graniteville, Senate Bill 38 is the most troubling.

If passed into law as is, the legislation would relieve those found less than 20 percent liable from paying out any more than their fair share of the damages. The law currently says that if one party deemed liable can't pay what they owe, then all others deemed liable must come up with the difference.

The logic behind the current law is that it's the lesser of two evils to make someone who is legally liable pay a bit more than it is to shortchange the victim.

Michael Fields questions that reasoning, however.

"The answer is not to create a new victim," said the South Carolina director of the National Federation of Independent Business, a group backing the bill. "Why should someone be punished for something they didn't do?"

Still, others fear that if many parties were held responsible -- as is expected in the Graniteville case -- no one party would exceed the 20 percent threshold. That means the new bill could limit compensation to "cents on the dollar," said Richard Gergel, a Columbia lawyer leading a class-action suit against Norfolk Southern Railway, the company whose train cars collided Jan. 6 and leaked toxic chlorine gas into the air.

To date there have been nine deaths linked to the tragedy. Hundreds have been hospitalized and more than 5,000 were evacuated from their homes. Damages to people and property are estimated to reach tens of millions of dollars.

Rodney Johnson, a worker at the Avondale Mills textile plant in Graniteville who has been credited with saving 10 people when he grabbed a respirator, traveled Tuesday to the Statehouse to express his concerns over the bill.

"On behalf of everyone hurt and the families of those killed in the train accident and chlorine leak, I beg you, please do not pass anything that can leave us behind to be victims again," Johnson told a press briefing. "I do not understand how the Legislature can pass a law that prevents the victims who went through a train wreck from receiving compensation."

The textile worker was invited to the Statehouse by the South Carolina Trial Lawyers Association to put a human face on the tragedy as well as help push the association agenda.

The association has been battling proposed tort reform changes for years, saying most of the proposed bills would punish people who already have been wronged, like those in Graniteville, said Nola Armstrong, spokesman for the group.

Opponents, mainly Republicans, contend that current laws are bad for business. They argue that out-of-control jury awards and frivolous lawsuits are jacking up insurance and health care costs, and say setting limits like these and others will help bring some semblance of balance to the legal system.

President George Bush has played this message on the national scene, and Gov. Mark Sanford has made changing civil liability laws one of his top agenda items.

During the last legislative session, several House members sponsored bills dealing with tort law, but all died in the Senate.

Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, said Tuesday he didn't want to see a repeat of the dithering and gridlock of past years. He and others said everyone already knows which way they intend to vote and that more time in subcommittee isn't going to change anyone's mind.

"We have seen more testimony and more talk (on this issue) than from both parties in national elections," said McConnell, who is also chair of the judiciary committee. "There comes a time when the rubber has got to hit the road. We have had two years to listen to all the facts and issues."

Sen. Brad Hutto, a Democrat from Orangeburg, was leading the charge to send the bills to subcommittee, saying seven freshman senators needed more time to learn about the complex issues involved. Also, he said he was planning 52 amendments for one of the bills.

"These are complicated issues that are difficult to understand, which is why we were asking for these bills to go to the subcommittee," said Hutto, who is also an attorney. "There an individual can come and tell their stories. ... We don't have that opportunity in full committee."

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