South Carolina 2025-2026 Regular Session Status: In Committee

S 892 — Civil Appeal Bonds

Last action — Referred to Committee on Judiciary

  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. 2
    In Committee
  3. 3
    Passed Senate
  4. 4
    Passed House
  5. 5
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill is in committee in the Senate. Introduced February 04, 2026. It must pass committee before a floor vote.

Next likely step: a committee vote, then a floor vote in the Senate.

Prognosis

Stalled 14% · moderate confidence

Where this bill stands today.

Odds of enactment

Low

How often bills like it became law.

  • In Committee

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 1 sponsor

    1 primary, 0 co-sponsors signed on.

Prognosis reads this bill's own signals — stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes and cross-state momentum. Odds come from a model trained on which bills have become law.

Summary

A BILL TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING SECTION 6-29-1230 SO AS TO PERMIT THE COURT TO AWARD ATTORNEY'S FEES AND COSTS INCURRED BY AN APPLICANT AND/OR PROPERTY OWNER TO DEFEND AN APPELLATE PROCEEDING WHERE THE COURT DISMISSES THE APPEAL OR THE DECISION IS NOT REVERSED; SO AS TO ESTABLISH AN APPLICANT AND/OR PROPERTY OWNER IS NOT ENTITLED TO RECOVER IN AN APPEAL WHERE THE DECISION WAS GRANTED FOR A SPECIAL EXCEPTION; SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT THE AMOUNT AWARDED SHALL NOT EXCEED REASONABLE ATTORNEY'S FEES THAT THE APPLICANT AND/OR THE PROPERTY OWNER INCUR; AND SO AS TO INCLUDE THE FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN DETERMINING A REASONABLE RATE FOR ATTORNEY'S FEES.

Bill Text

What changed in the latest version

48 added · 2 removed

Plain-language change summary

The recent amendments to Bill S 892 allow courts in South Carolina to award reasonable attorney's fees to property owners or applicants who need to defend against appeals related to their approved applications. This means that if a person successfully defends their case after an appeal is brought against them, they can recover costs incurred. Additionally, if the approval was given for a special exception, the applicant or property owner cannot reclaim fees in that scenario. This change is important because it provides financial protection for property owners against unwarranted appeals, potentially encouraging more responsible use of the appeal process.

→
Previous
Latest
PK 1DE\½ã6hÀ ­ customXml/item4.xml½XÛn«H}Ÿ¯(ù¡ór8ææ[âãå„>x ŸtÔ:B p.µÔ¿0ý{ý%½lÀÄéŽf”‘’8ì½ÖªU÷§?>obôH³
2025-2026 Bill 892 Text of Previous Version (Feb.
04, 2026) - South Carolina Legislature Online South Carolina General Assembly126th Session, 2025-2026Bill 892Indicates Matter StrickenIndicates New Matter(Text matches printed bills.
Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)                 A bill   TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING SECTION 6-29-1230 SO AS TO PERMIT THE COURT TO AWARD ATTORNEY'S FEES AND COSTS INCURRED BY AN APPLICANT AND/OR PROPERTY OWNER TO DEFEND AN APPELLATE PROCEEDING WHERE THE COURT DISMISSES THE APPEAL OR THE DECISION IS NOT REVERSED;
SO AS TO ESTABLISH AN APPLICANT AND/OR PROPERTY OWNER IS NOT ENTITLED TO RECOVER IN AN APPEAL WHERE THE DECISION WAS GRANTED FOR A SPECIAL EXCEPTION;
SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT THE AMOUNT AWARDED SHALL NOT EXCEED REASONABLE ATTORNEY'S FEES THAT THE APPLICANT AND/OR THE PROPERTY OWNER INCUR;
AND SO AS TO INCLUDE THE FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN DETERMINING A REASONABLE RATE FOR ATTORNEY'S FEES.
  Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
  SECTION 1.  Chapter 29, Title 6 of the S.C.
Code is amended by adding:
      Section 6-29-1230.
(A) The court may award the applicant and/or property owner whose application was approved by the planning commission, board of zoning appeals, board of architectural review, or a similar body the reasonable attorney's fees and costs incurred to defend the decision in appellate proceedings brought pursuant to this chapter.
The applicant and/or property owner is presumptively entitled to recover his fees and costs from an appellant or appellants if the court dismisses such appeal or if the decision is not reversed on appeal.
    (B) An applicant and/or property owner is not entitled to recover under this Section in any appeal of a decision granting an application for a special exception.
    (C) In no event shall the amount awarded exceed the fees that the applicant and/or property owner contracted to pay counsel for work relating to the appeal.
Attorney's fees shall be limited to a reasonable time expended at a reasonable rate.
Factors to be applied in determining a reasonable rate include:
       (1) the nature, extent, and difficulty of the case;
       (2) the time devoted;
       (3) the professional standing of counsel;
       (4) the beneficial results obtained;
and        (5) the customary legal fees for similar services.
  SECTION 2.  This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
----XX---- This web page was last updated on February 04, 2026 at 05:58 PM
⬇ Download PDF
View plain text versions (2)
  • 02/04/2026 View text Current html
  • Introduced Filed vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document

Action History

  1. Referred to Committee on Judiciary

  2. Introduced and read first time

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

Export CSV (upgrade) →

1 sponsors · 0 co-sponsors · 169 not signed on

Sponsors (1)

Co-sponsors (0)

None.

Not signed on (169)

169 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 169 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Subjects

civil-rights
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does S 892 do?
A BILL TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING SECTION 6-29-1230 SO AS TO PERMIT THE COURT TO AWARD ATTORNEY'S FEES AND COSTS INCURRED BY AN APPLICANT AND/OR PROPERTY OWNER TO DEFEND AN APPELLATE PROCEEDING WHERE THE COURT DISMISSES THE APPEAL OR THE DECISION IS NOT REVERSED; SO AS TO ESTABLISH AN APPLICANT AND/OR PROPERTY OWNER IS NOT ENTITLED TO RECOVER IN AN APPEAL WHERE THE DECISION WAS GRANTED FOR A SPECIAL EXCEPTION; SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT THE AMOUNT AWARDED SHALL NOT EXCEED REASONABLE ATTORNEY'S FEES THAT THE APPLICANT AND/OR THE PROPERTY OWNER INCUR; AND SO AS TO INCLUDE THE FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN DETERMINING A REASONABLE RATE FOR ATTORNEY'S FEES.
Who sponsors S 892?
S 892 is sponsored by Senator Russell L. Ott.
What is the current status of S 892?
This bill is in committee in the Senate. Introduced February 04, 2026. It must pass committee before a floor vote.
Where can I track S 892?
Track S 892 free on One Click Politics — get push/email alerts when it moves.

Make your voice heard on S 892

Find the representatives who decide this bill and tell them where you stand — for yourself, or mobilize your whole list in one click with One Click Politics advocacy software.

Find my representatives → Run a campaign

Stay ahead of S 892

Last checked for changes about 2 months ago · updated continuously

One Click Politics tracks every bill in Congress and all 50 states.

Track this bill →