South Carolina is a lovely state with mostly lovely weather,
though this time of year its appearance on the map looks like the
country's jutted chin daring a hurricane to sock it. South
Carolina courts have been known to sock it to defendants,
particularly in asbestos cases.
Luckily, asbestos has nothing to do with today's case,
Britt v. Sorin Grp. Deutschland GmbH, 2023 U.S. Dist.
LEXIS 158410 (D.S.C. Sept. 6, 2023). From the perspective of your
friendly neighborhood defense hack, the court's decision is
more good than bad. The defendant medical device manufacturer won
all its summary judgment motions, except for punitive damages. The
case is frankly a bit weird, because the plaintiff seemed to be
claiming that the defendant's device, which regulates blood
temperature during an operation, caused an unusual bacterial
infection years after the fact with no intervening problems.
