Green v. Lewis Truck Lines, Inc.
Docket: 23887
Court: Supreme Court of South Carolina; July 6, 1993; South Carolina; State Supreme Court
Appellant Darrell Green appeals a summary judgment in favor of the South Carolina Department of Education regarding a negligence suit stemming from a school bus accident on September 21, 1987, in which he sustained serious head injuries. His grandmother, Lethea Green, filed the suit on June 21, 1991. The Department sought summary judgment, claiming the suit was barred by the two-year statute of limitations under the original Tort Claims Act (1986 Act). Green argued that the statute of limitations should be tolled due to his minority status at the time of the accident. The trial judge dismissed the case, stating that the 1986 Act did not provide for tolling and that the tolling provisions added in 1988 applied only to claims arising after that date. Green's appeal raised two key issues: whether the 1986 Tort Claims Act allowed tolling for minors and whether failing to provide such tolling constituted an equal protection violation. The court affirmed the trial judge's conclusion that the 1986 Act did not implicitly allow for tolling, agreeing with a prior case, Searcy v. Department of Education, which limited tolling to actions arising after the 1988 Amendment. However, the court found merit in Green's equal protection claim, stating there was no rational basis to deny tolling for minors when suing a governmental entity compared to a private entity. The 1986 Act's purpose of limiting governmental liability did not justify this distinction since tolling for minors would not affect the entity's liability. Consequently, the court reversed the summary judgment, granting Green the right to toll the statute of limitations for his claim against the Department, aligning with the equal protection guarantees under the law. The judgment was reversed, with justices Harwell, Finney, Toal, and Moore concurring.