Four systems, and South Carolina uses the more common threshold
American fault law splits into four real categories: pure comparative negligence, modified comparative negligence with a 50% bar, modified comparative negligence with a 51% bar, and pure contributory negligence. South Carolina uses the 51% bar — the more typical of the two modified thresholds nationally.
A genuinely significant historical shift
South Carolina wasn't always a comparative negligence state. It adopted modified comparative negligence judicially in the early 1990s, moving away from the stricter all-or-nothing contributory negligence rule the state had followed before — a shift that fundamentally reshaped how shared fault gets handled in South Carolina injury claims.
The 50/51 distinction, precisely
A claimant found exactly 50% at fault still recovers half of their damages under South Carolina's rule, because the bar applies only once fault actually reaches 51%. A claimant found 51% at fault recovers nothing at all.
A genuinely distinctive second use for the same 50% line
South Carolina's 1988 Contribution Among Tortfeasors Act uses this same 50% threshold for an entirely separate purpose: deciding whether a defendant is protected from joint and several liability. A defendant under 50% fault pays only their own share; a defendant at 50% or more can be on the hook for the full judgment. See our full guide to how fault and liability work together in South Carolina for the details, and the real exceptions to it.
The other three systems, for context
A smaller group of about 12 states uses the stricter 50% bar, where recovery is barred at fault merely equal to the other side's. At the more forgiving end, pure comparative negligence states like California never bar recovery for ordinary fault at all. See our guide to the other states using a 51% bar for South Carolina's closest peer group nationally.