COLUMBIA, S.C. - The House Judiciary Committee gave voice approval Tuesday to legislation that seeks to limit the civil liability of businesses in South Carolina.

The change made by the panel on Tuesday was to add that "where the plaintiff resides is a legitimate place to bring a lawsuit."

"We amended it to mirror the bill this committee passed last year," said committee chairman Rep. James Harrison, R-Columbia.

Last year, a similar bill passed the full House but died in the Senate. On Wednesday, the Senate is expected to take up it's own version of lawsuit reform.

Harrison predicted the legislation is headed for "a fierce debate on the floor" when it is expected to come before the full House next week.

The chairman said he expects controversy to center on the requirement that defendants be more than 50 percent responsible for an act before they could be ordered to pay full damages.

Corporations have lobbied the Legislature to change current law, arguing that it allows lawsuits to be filed almost anywhere in the state. They contend lawyers seek out certain counties to file their lawsuits, hoping to find sympathetic juries that will approve bloated financial verdicts.

"This isn't by a long shot the final version," said House Speaker David Wilkins, R-Greenville.

Rep. Doug Jennings, D-Bennettsville, called the voice approval of the measure in committee a compromise.

"I think the Judiciary Committee has attempted to strike a balance between the pro-tort reform movement ... and the interests of those injured people who seek to use the judicial system," Jennings said.

In remarks before a Democratic caucus session earlier in the day, Jennings said the residents of Graniteville should come to the Legislature when it considers limiting such lawsuits.

Many at a Democratic-sponsored hearing on Monday night wept openly as they heard "moving testimony" about the suffering and deaths resulting from the recent railroad derailment and chemical spill, Jennings said.

"There's no way you could vote on a cap on economic damages after you listened" to the testimony, Jennings told his colleagues.

A Senate version of the legislation would cap punitive damages a jury can award for pain and suffering at $250,000.

The proposed legislation would not affect the Graniteville residents who have filed suit against Norfolk Southern, but tort reform opponents are using the disaster as an example to show how changes could affect those in future tragedies.

Nine people were killed and 250 injured when a Norfolk Southern train hit a parked one on Jan. 6, rupturing a chlorine tanker that spread a toxic cloud over the tiny textile town. Some 5,400 residents were evacuated from their homes for at least a week, many missing work and school because of the evacuation.