Whenever the death of a person shall be caused by the wrongful act, neglect or default of another and the act, neglect or default is such as would, if death had not ensued, have entitled the party injured to maintain an action and recover damages in respect thereof, the person who would have been liable, if death had not ensued, shall be liable to an action for damages, notwithstanding the death of the person injured, although the death shall have been caused under such circumstances as make the killing in law a felony. In the event of the death of the wrongdoer, such cause of action shall survive against his personal representative.
S.C. Code Ann. § 15-51-10
Civil action for wrongful act causing death
Applied in 23 court decisions — leading case Peterson v. Islamic Republic of Iran (2007)
Most recently applied in Crystal Wickersham v. Ford Motor Company (May 2021)
1962 Code SECTION 10-1951; 1952 Code SECTION 10-1951; 1942 Code SECTION 411; 1932 Code SECTION 411; Civ
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: South Carolina Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Carolina statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.