Split Supreme Court OKs Use of 'Empty Chair' Defense, but Not Apportionment of Fault

A divided South Carolina Supreme Court last week ruled that a defendant in a worker’s third-party action can make the argument that the worker’s employer should bear the blame for the worker’s injuries, even though the jury cannot apportion any of the liability to the employer.   Many states allow tort defendants to argue that fault for a plaintiff’s damages should be attributed to someone else who is not a party to the lawsuit. This is known as the “empty chair” defense. But when the defendant is being sued for a worker’s on-the-job accident, a...