Brack: On a liquor liability law and our right to know

You might have missed this, but it could impact your pocket if you ever go into a local bar, restaurant or entertainment joint that serves drinks after 5 p.m.

Skyrocketing rates for liquor liability insurance are threatening to shutter some bars and entertainment venues. A state law that passed in 2017 requires all bars, restaurants and venues that serve alcohol after 5 p.m. to carry a $1 million liability insurance policy. But critics say because the measure is missing key language to prevent it from being exploited by insurance companies, business owners are vulnerable to sky-high lawsuits and inflated rates.

One Charleston bar owner told us how his establishment’s annual premium rose from $17,000 to $47,000 in the last four years. And at one American Legion post on James Island, operators had to raise drink prices 25% to cover insurance rate hikes. (That would mean a veteran’s $4 beer now costs $5.)

Upstate resident Asheton Reid of the group S.C. Venue Crisis says it’s normal for bars to have liability insurance, but the new law is missing language that establishes rules to split fault based on the percentage of responsibility related to a lawsuit. “Even if you are just 1% at fault, you can be held responsible for $1 million,” she said. “These frivolous lawsuits in the wake of S. 116 [the new law] have caused spikes in insurance rates. In 2017, we had at least 12 insurance providers, and now we’re down to three in just a few years.”

This is a problem that can be fixed. Two lawmakers introduced bills late last session to address the issue, but they didn’t really have time to get traction. And with the General Assembly not meeting again until January, we hope bars and venues under the oppressive law can survive and not go under.

Also in the news recently is a story from a small Kansas town that’s related to the public’s right to know what’s behind a sketchy episode.

On Aug. 11, police and sheriff’s deputies in Marion County, Kansas, raided the office of The Marion County Register in searches prompted by a restaurant owner’s complaint claiming identity theft of records that were legally obtained and verified by the newspaper, which decided to not publish a story. Even more curious: The newspaper was looking into the newly hired police chief’s past for a possible different story.

The Kansas judge who signed off on what one outlet called a “Gestapo-style” raid of the newspaper office and the homes of the publisher and the town’s vice mayor, apparently was unaware that subpoenas, not search warrants, are proper for authorities who want information from the media. In recent days, a local prosecutor withdrew the warrant and ordered seized items to be returned.

But what’s truly tragic over and above trampling of freedom of the press guaranteed in the Bill of Rights is that the publisher’s 98-year-old mother, a former editor at the paper, died the day after the raid, still stunned about what happened. A local coroner concluded the stress of questionable searches contributed to her death.

Our constitution guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of the press. As outlined this week in a tough editorial in the Charleston City Paper, our media have “the vital social responsibility to publish truthful, objective information without restraint or censorship. That way, voters can make good decisions about public officials, elected and hired, and how they are running government in a civilized society. Fundamental duties of this ‘Fourth Estate’ are to serve as a watchdog for a heavy — or light — hand of government and to offer a vibrant marketplace for ideas to stimulate society.

“What happened in Kansas last week was a fundamental corruption of American freedom.” Nip these abominations in the bud so they don’t spread.

Andy Brack is editor and publisher of the Charleston City Paper and Statehouse Report. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@charlestoncitypaper.com.