Fireworks are sold from roadside stands across the Lowcountry all year, and they go off on the Fourth, at New Year’s, at the beach and at backyard parties in between. When one goes wrong, the injuries are burns, hand and eye injuries, and hearing damage, and they fall hardest on children. People assume that because South Carolina allows consumer fireworks, a fireworks injury claim in South Carolina cannot be brought. That assumption is wrong.

What South Carolina fireworks law allows, and what it requires

South Carolina regulates fireworks through the State Board of Pyrotechnic Safety in Title 40, Chapter 56 of the Code, and through Title 23, Chapter 35. “Consumer fireworks” are the small devices that meet federal Consumer Product Safety Commission standards, formerly called Class C fireworks (S.C. Code § 40-56-20(3)). “Display fireworks” are the large aerial shells used in professional shows and may be stored and supplied only by licensed wholesalers (§ 40-56-20(6), § 40-56-240).

The statute sets duties that matter in an injury case. Fireworks may not be sold to anyone under sixteen (§ 40-56-220(D)). Retail sale and use of small bottle rockets are not legal in the State (§ 40-56-220(C)). All consumer fireworks must meet federal DOT and CPSC standards (§ 40-56-220(B)). Fireworks built to produce a loud, piercing effect with more than two grains of composition, the ground salutes, cherry bombs and M-80s, are unlawful to make, store, transport or possess here (§ 23-35-130(A)). And a retailer cannot get a sales license without public liability insurance of at least one million dollars per person and per occurrence (§ 40-56-230(A)). That last provision is worth remembering: the stand that sold the product is required by law to be insured for exactly this.

Property owners, landlords and condominium boards can also establish a posted “Fireworks Prohibited Zone” under § 23-35-175, and subsection (K) of that section says nothing in it “is designed to abrogate any civil remedies available under statutory or common law.”

Who can be liable in a fireworks injury claim in South Carolina

The person who lit it

Someone who aims a Roman candle at a friend, lights a shell next to a crowd, relights a dud, or hands a lit sparkler to a toddler is negligent in the ordinary sense. Our post on the types of negligence in South Carolina covers the elements. Where the person is a minor, the parents’ homeowner’s policy is usually where the claim goes, and the question becomes whether an adult supervised the children and the fireworks.

The host or property owner

A homeowner, a rental host, a business or a homeowners’ association that puts on a display owes its guests reasonable care. South Carolina’s premises liability law turns on the visitor’s status, and a guest invited for the host’s benefit, or a customer, is owed the highest duty: to discover and warn of or fix dangerous conditions. Under Sims v. Giles, an owner owes an invitee the duty of exercising reasonable or ordinary care for the invitee’s safety. Firing shells over a crowd, using an unstable launch surface, and running a display while serving alcohol are the recurring facts. Our post on stores’ duties to their shoppers explains the invitee standard in the retail setting.

The retailer

A sale to a fifteen-year-old, a sale of a prohibited device, or a sale of a product that does not meet federal standards violates the duties in § 40-56-220. Under the negligence per se rule the South Carolina Supreme Court applied in Whitlaw v. Kroger Co., a plaintiff who is within the class a statute protects, and who suffers the harm it was meant to prevent, can use the violation to establish the retailer’s breach, provided the violation caused the injury. The one-million-dollar insurance requirement means there is coverage behind the stand.

The manufacturer and distributor

A firework that explodes on the ground instead of in the air, tips over, has a fuse that burns too fast, or lacks adequate warnings is a defective product. South Carolina imposes liability on one who sells a product “in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer” when the seller is in the business of selling it and it reaches the user without substantial change (S.C. Code § 15-73-10). The first South Carolina Supreme Court case on fireworks and strict liability, Hatfield v. Atlas Enterprises, Inc., involved a young woman burned in a fire at her father’s fireworks store; the Court held that strict liability under the statute applies only to injuries after the 1974 Act took effect and declined to treat fireworks distribution as an abnormally dangerous activity outside the statute. For any injury today the statute applies in full. The defence in § 15-73-20 bars recovery only for a user who discovered the defect, appreciated the danger and used the product anyway. Our post on defective toys walks through the same product-liability framework.

Comparative fault and the “you lit it yourself” argument

The insurer’s first move is to say the injured person was holding the firework. South Carolina uses modified comparative negligence: under Nelson v. Concrete Supply Co., a plaintiff whose negligence is not greater than the defendant’s still recovers, with the award reduced by the plaintiff’s share. Holding a legally sold firework that malfunctions is not negligence. Lighting one while drunk, or relighting a dud, may be. The facts decide the percentage, and the percentage decides the money.

Children and fireworks

A child’s fault is measured against what a child of that age and experience would do, not an adult’s standard, and the adult who supplied or supervised the fireworks carries the larger share of responsibility. The statute’s age limit exists because the legislature judged that people under sixteen should not be buying these products at all. If your child was injured with fireworks bought by or given to a minor, both the seller and the adults present are proper parties.

Evidence that disappears fast

• —Keep the remains of the firework, the packaging, the receipt and any unused items from the same batch. Do not throw away the box; it identifies the manufacturer, importer and lot.
• —Photograph the launch site, the distance to where people were standing, and the surface the device was fired from.
• —Write down who bought the fireworks, where, and who was supervising.
• —Get names of every guest who saw it. Party crowds scatter, and phone video is deleted.
• —Seek medical care immediately for burns and eye injuries and keep every record. Burn treatment runs for months and its cost is a large part of the claim.

What that evidence supports is set out in our post on what damages you can claim in a South Carolina personal injury case.

Frequently asked questions

Fireworks are legal in South Carolina. Can I still sue?

Yes. Legal to sell and legal to use does not mean the product was sound, the sale was lawful, or the person who lit it was careful. The fireworks statute itself preserves civil remedies.

I was hurt at a friend’s house. Do I have to sue my friend?

The claim is usually made against the homeowner’s insurance policy, which exists for this. Most cases resolve with the insurer without a lawsuit against the friend personally. We can explain how that works in your situation.

The firework was bought in another state. Does that matter?

It can change which retailer’s rules were broken, but the manufacturer’s and distributor’s product liability, and the negligence of whoever used it in South Carolina, are unaffected.

How long do I have to bring a fireworks injury claim?

Three years for most personal injury claims under S.C. Code § 15-3-530(5). A claim involving a city or county display is subject to the shorter Tort Claims Act periods. The evidence deadline is a matter of days.

Talk to a South Carolina fireworks injury attorney

Fireworks cases involve a seller, a maker and a user, and the strongest claim depends on sorting out which of them failed. Klok Law Firm handles injury claims in Charleston, Mount Pleasant, and across Berkeley and Dorchester counties. Call Klok Law at (843) 701-1695 to discuss your options, or visit our personal injury page.

This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. For advice about your specific situation, contact Klok Law at (843) 701-1695.