From the editor: Thanks to subscribers like you, we changed state law
A newspaper can affect its subscribers’ lives in many ways. It can keep you informed, from items small (a new restaurant opening) to large (legislative attempts at passing abortion laws). It can make you think, move you, entertain you or help you be a difference in your community.
And when we are at our best, we make our neighborhoods, our cities, our state better places to live. Our journalism affects decision-making, rights wrongs and exposes people who abuse power. It also can change laws.
Before our South Carolina investigations team began its look into the predatory practices of JG Wentworth and other so-called factoring companies, the Palmetto State had one of the nation’s weakest laws governing their transactions, untouched by state lawmakers for more than 20 years.
Operating largely in the dark, the companies were taking full advantage of the weak law to make millions of dollars each year off vulnerable injury victims, including those with traumatic brain injuries and other conditions. Victims were being persuaded to act against their own best interests, selling future payments they were set to receive as a result of their injuries in exchange for quick cash. Often, those lump sums worked out to be just pennies on the dollar, our reporting revealed. And the quick cash didn’t go far. Often, sellers were left destitute in a matter of years.
The series also raised concerns about how the courts were handling the cases and why the legislature wasn’t doing more to stop it.
Cashed Out, our series spotlighting this issue and ably put together by reporter David Weissman and investigations editor Gina Smith in September, was named the best piece of public service journalism in South Carolina for 2022.
On Tuesday, the story came full circle. It changed South Carolina law.
Now, those companies will no longer be able to prey on South Carolinians. Gov. Henry McMaster signed a comprehensive reform bill Tuesday, turning one of the country’s weakest laws into what industry experts are praising as one of the strongest.
As anyone who follows the S.C. Legislature will tell you, turning bills into laws, particularly to the benefit of consumer protections, is tough to do without much opposition or delays. But this bill swept through the House and Senate without a single vote of opposition.
Horry County Sen. Luke Rankin authored the legislation. When we showed Rankin our findings, he saw the same things we did: A gap in the system that was being exploited to the detriment of South Carolinians who had already suffered so much and needed help.
“This is an example of one where it was clear on its face ... how South Carolina was being played for having no rules to keep predators from re-victimizing victims who otherwise would not be protected,” Rankin told The Sun News.
The revamped law will now prevent companies from forum shopping to favorable judges, eliminate false and misleading advertisements and require judges to give the most vulnerable sellers an attorney advocate to act in their best interests. These were all issues identified by our reporting team.
We are so proud that our work has led to such positive change. And most importantly, we know that this work could not have been done without the support of subscribers like you.
Thank you for that continued support. It helps ensure that we can keep uncovering issues and lead to making our communities better places to live.
