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Dykema v. Carolina Emergency Physicians3/4/2002
were inapplicable to this case. We agree.
At the time this action arose in February 1994, S.C. Code Ann § 15-78-120 limited the tort liability of state agencies and employees as follows:
(1) Except as provided in Section 15-78-120(a)(3), no person shall recover in any action or claim brought hereunder a sum exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand dollars because of loss arising from a single occurrence regardless of the number of agencies or political subdivisions involved.
(2) Except as provided in Section 15-78-120(a)(4), the total sum recovered hereunder arising out of a single occurrence shall not exceed five hundred thousand dollars regardless of the number of agencies or political subdivisions or claims or actions involved.
(3) No person may recover in any action or claim brought hereunder against any governmental entity and caused by the tort of any licensed physician or dentist, employed by a governmental entity and acting within the scope of his profession, a sum exceeding one million dollars because of loss arising from a single occurrence regardless of the number of agencies or political subdivisions involved.
(4) The total sum recovered hereunder arising out of a single occurrence of liability of any governmental entity for any tort caused by any licensed physician or dentist, employed by a governmental entity and acting within the scope of his profession, may not exceed one million dollars regardless of the number of agencies or political subdivisions or claims or actions involved.
In Southeastern Freight Lines v. City of Hartsville, 313 S.C. 466, 443 S.E.2d 395 (1994), we held the Legislature's adoption of the Uniform Contribution Among Joint Tortfeasor's Act (Uniform Contribution Act) impliedly repealed the statutory tort claims cap set forth in section 15-78-120(a)(1), which was adopted by the Legislature as part of the South Carolina Tort Claims Act in 1986. Subsequent to Southeastern, the Legislature responded with 1994 Acts No. 497, Part II, Section 107, in which it held the provisions of section 15-78-120(a)(1) were reenacted and made retroactive to April 5, 1988, the effective date of the Uniform Contribution Act.
Two years later, in Knoke v. S.C. Dep't of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, 324 S.C. 136, 478 S.E.2d 256 (1996), we held that Southeastern (and our subsequent opinion in McLain v. S.C. Dep't of Educ., 323 S.C. 132, 473 S.E.2d 799 (1996)), such that the statutory cap was inapplicable to Knoke's claim, filed before July 1, 1994.
In 1997, the Legislature enacted 1997 Act No. 155, Part II, § 55, in which it reenacted section 15-78-120, in toto, and established higher limits of liability. The reenactment of section 15-78-120 states that it takes effect upon approval by the Governor [June 14, 1997] and "applies to claims or actions pending on that date or thereafter filed, except where final judgment has been entered before that date." 1997 Act No. 155, Part II, § 55(F). Most recently, however, in Steinke v. S.C. Dep't of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, 336 S.C. 373, 520 S.E.2d 142 (1999), we held that the Legislature's purported reenactment of the statutory caps in 1997 Act No. 155 could not, by the above language of subsection F, retroactively overrule this Court's interpretation of the statutes in Southeastern. Accordingly, we held the plaintiffs' recovery was not limited by the Tort Claims Act as their case was filed prior to the Legislature's 1994 reinstatement of the statutory caps set forth in § 15-78-120(a)(1)(which were effective July 1, 1994, whereas plaintiffs had filed their claims in June 1994).
GHS contends the $1 million dollar caps of § 15-78-120(a)(3)&
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