When suing the government, there are special rules and procedures to follow. These can sometimes make your case a bit harder, but the help of an experienced lawyer can mitigate these extra difficulties.
Two recent cases have actually adjusted the rules a bit, including one decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. Under a South Carolina Court of Appeals Case called Whetstone, victims can file separate claims against individual government employees and the government itself – something that was already allowed under a 2002 case, but was reaffirmed here. Under the U.S. Supreme Court’s Galette case, state agencies can be considered separate, non-government entities for purposes of suing them, and it is up to the facts of the case, not what the government says the agency is.
For help with an injury case of your own, call the South Carolina personal injury attorneys at Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers today at (803) 451-4000 to start with a free case review.
Rules for Suing a Government Entity in South Carolina in 2026
When you file a lawsuit against a party, it is important to know if they are part of the government or not.
Tort Claims Acts
Many states have a law called a Tort Claims Act, which deals with lawsuits against parts of the government. These rules often make claims a bit more complex through
- Notice deadlines requiring you to tell the government of your intent to sue them well before the statute of limitations passes (usually 6 months)
- Other procedural requirements
- Damage caps.
But this only applies if the entity you are suing is part of the government.
Immunity From Suit in Other States
Aside from the Tort Claims Act, state governments are immune from lawsuits in another state’s courts. For example, if you were hurt in South Carolina by the government of North Carolina, you could not sue North Carolina in a South Carolina court; you would have to go to federal court instead.
Are Public Transit Companies Part of the Government?
One of the biggest areas where this issue arises is suing public transit or public transportation organizations. Often, they are arms of the government but may be incorporated as separate companies and operated under the authority of some kind of board or corporate directors.
In many cases, this makes them separate from “the government,” so the South Carolina Tort Claims Act’s limits and notice requirements would not apply.
Galette v. New Jersey Transit Corp. (2026)
A recent U.S. Supreme Court case called Galette dealt with this exact issue, in this exact situation. In a lawsuit against a public transit authority, the victim was trying to get around the limitations and requirements of the South Carolina Tort Claims Act by saying the public transit organization was a separate entity and not part of the government.
The Supreme Court ultimately agreed with this argument, holding that the transit authority was not part of the government. It also held that this needs to be determined based on the facts; a transit authority isn’t part of the government just because they say they are.
Why Does a New Jersey Case Matter for South Carolina?
This case was actually a New York case, but it was filed against an entity from New Jersey; the interstate nature of this case brings up questions that could just as easily occur in South Carolina as they could in any other state.
Moreover, this case was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court and is therefore binding on all 50 states, not just the ones involved.
Suing Government Agencies and Their Employees in 2026
When you file a lawsuit against an employee, you may be able to sue the employer if the accident happened in the scope of their work. But this has some complex issues involved.
Respondeat Superior
The legal principle that allows you to sue an employer for their employee’s on-the-job actions is called “respondeat superior,” which means “let the master answer.” For this to function, your Columbia, SC personal injury lawyers would need to prove three elements:
- The defendant worker was an employee, not an independent contractor.
- They were responsible for the accident, which they committed through negligence (or potentially through reckless or intentional acts).
- The accident happened within the scope of their work duties, while they were working.
This is ultimately a type of “vicarious liability” or “derivative liability” where the employer is responsible for what the employee did, not liable for something they did on their own.
Claims Against Government Employees
This is a bit complex, but technically, respondeat superior doesn’t apply against the government. Instead, all claims are governed under South Carolina’s Tort Claims Act. This still allows vicarious or derivative liability – so the government can be held responsible for its employee’s actions – but it isn’t strictly a respondeat superior case.
Direct Liability
In addition to that claim, you can also typically sue the employer if they did something wrong to cause the accident themselves. For example, if an employer hired a driver they should have known was dangerous, they could be responsible for “negligent hiring.”
Many other types of claims see victims bypassing what the driver did and holding the employer liable for things like improper vehicle maintenance and other mistakes. These can also work outside of auto accidents, too.
Do You Sue the Employer, the Employee, or Both?
In these cases, whichever method of lawsuit is used, the goal is to get money from the employer, who is usually in a better position to afford the damages. However, in cases like auto accidents, the employee might have money through their insurance, and so would the employer. Suing both the employee and the employer would be ideal because the burden of paying can be spread among the two policies.
Ultimately, you may be allowed to sue both, in part because of this 2026 ruling and the 2002 case it was based on.
Whetstone v. Office of Governor (2026)
Whetstone is a 2026 case decided by the Court of Appeals of South Carolina on the issue of whether you can maintain a case against both the individual employee and their employer. In that case, the victim had settled a lawsuit against a driver, but then also sued the driver’s employee – the government – for the employee’s negligence.
The Tort Claims Act says that claims under that Act are final, and you cannot create further claims. So the issue was whether the initial settlement with the driver was one of those final claims, and would then block the lawsuit against the employer.
The South Carolina appeals court held that no, it wasn’t the kind of settlement the Tort Claims Act blocked, so a second lawsuit against the employer for the employee’s negligence was fine.
Wade v. Berkeley County (2002)
In deciding the Whetstone case, the court relied on a 2002 case from the South Carolina Supreme Court called Wade, which had almost identical facts to those presented in Whetstone. Essentially, this doubles down on the rule from Wade: it’s okay to sue a state employee, and then also sue the state in their capacity as the employer.
Call Our South Carolina Personal Injury Lawyers Today
For help with your own injury case, call the Orangeburg, SC personal injury attorneys at Burriss Ridgeway Injury Lawyers today at (803) 451-4000.
