COLUMBIA, S.C. - Business groups lobbying the Legislature to make it harder to sue companies are applauding a recent ruling by the South Carolina Supreme Court.

The high court restricted where trials can be held Wednesday, saying lower courts had too loosely interpreted laws.

The court considered whether CSX Railroad, a Virginia corporation, should have been sued in Hampton County for an incident that occurred in Greenwood County.

CSX argued the trial shouldn't be in Hampton because it was neither the location of its business nor where the accident occurred.

The court agreed. The justices said a corporation can be sued where the accident occurred, where it has its principal place of business, and where it has an employee and does business.

The court's ruling "takes the target off the back of the railroads," said Cam Crawford, executive director of South Carolinians for Tort Reform.

But the Legislature still needs to amend the law, he said.

Businesses said the current law was unfair because it let lawyers shop for sympathetic juries.

CSX was one of those lobbying hard for change.

It has been sued successfully multiple times in Hampton County by local trial attorney Johnny Parker.

As a result, rural, blue-collar Hampton County now has a national reputation for producing big verdicts against corporations.

Recently, a Washington group pushing to reduce business liability named Hampton the nation's third-worst "judicial hellhole."

The court ruling means it likely will make it harder for those advocating for plaintiffs at the Statehouse.

Columbia trial attorney John Nichols said the decision was significant.

"As a plaintiff's lawyer, I would have liked to see the law come out the other way," he said.