Insurance carriers know exactly what they owe. They know when they're supposed to pay. And sometimes, they choose not to anyway.

A Columbia workers' compensation case reveals how this calculated defiance works. The insurance company denied the claim entirely. The injured worker's attorney won at the single commissioner level. Then at the three-commissioner appellate level. The South Carolina Court of Appeals dismissed the carrier's appeal. The carrier appealed again to the state Supreme Court.

Through every level of this process, the insurance company refused to pay the worker's weekly disability benefits. They also refused to provide ordered medical treatment, including necessary back surgery.

The carrier's claims adjuster knew exactly what the Commission had ordered. Her deposition testimony made that crystal clear. This wasn't confusion about obligations. This was deliberate non-compliance.

The Law That Should Prevent This

South Carolina has a specific statute designed to stop exactly this behavior. Under S.C. Code Section 42-17-60, appeals do not operate as a supersedeas. Insurance carriers must continue paying benefits and providing medical treatment during appeals.

The statute removes the automatic stay that appeals might create in other legal contexts. Workers don't have to wait months or years for appeal resolution while going without income or medical care.

This represents a clear policy choice. South Carolina prioritizes injured worker welfare over carrier convenience during disputes.

The Culture of Control

Yet carriers still violate these clear requirements. The pattern reveals something deeper than simple misunderstanding.

Most insurance companies operate with a culture of thinking they control what happens in these cases and in the system itself. This assessment is incorrect, but it drives their behavior.

The strategy is straightforward: deny, delay and fight. Appeal everything. Make workers prove their case multiple times. Hope they give up or settle for less.

Even when faced with clear statutory obligations, some carriers calculate that the risk of penalties is worth the potential savings from delayed payments.

Enforcement Mechanisms That Exist

South Carolina doesn't leave this statute toothless. Under S.C. Code Section 42-3-175, carriers face penalties for non-compliance, including attorney fees and costs for having to litigate compliance issues.

The enforcement escalates systematically. When carriers fail to pay ordered benefits, commissioners must notify the South Carolina Department of Insurance. Additional penalties can be imposed there.

The ultimate enforcement tool is license revocation. If an insurance company intentionally withholds benefits three times within a two-year period, the Department of Insurance can revoke their license to do business in South Carolina.

This represents a nuclear option. Three strikes and carriers lose their ability to operate in the state entirely.

Why Current Penalties Fall Short

The Columbia case proceeded to a Motion to Compel. The hearing commissioner granted the motion and scheduled a hearing to determine penalties against the insurance company.

But carriers continue choosing non-compliance despite these enforcement mechanisms. The current penalty structure, while meaningful, doesn't fundamentally alter the risk-reward calculation for aggressive carriers.

The three-strikes rule remains largely theoretical. No carrier has actually lost their license under this provision, though the threat exists.

The Missing Weapon

South Carolina workers' compensation law lacks a critical enforcement tool available in other areas of the state's insurance law: bad faith causes of action.

In other insurance contexts, South Carolina allows punitive damages when carriers act in bad faith. These damages can reach up to ten times the underlying award amount.

Applied to the Columbia case, punitive damages could have created penalties exceeding six figures. That level of financial exposure would fundamentally change carrier decision-making from the first appeal.

Bad faith laws work in other insurance contexts precisely because they make non-compliance financially devastating rather than merely inconvenient.

The Real Solution

Current penalties operate as a cost of doing business for carriers willing to gamble on non-compliance. Punitive damages would transform that calculation entirely.

When financial consequences become severe enough, even the most aggressive carriers cannot justify the risk. The deterrent effect would be immediate and comprehensive.

Until South Carolina adds bad faith causes of action to workers' compensation law, the current system requires constant vigilance from attorneys representing injured workers.

This means jumping through procedural hoops and working harder on every case. Filing motions to compel compliance. Creating clear records of carrier knowledge and non-compliance. Pursuing every available penalty.

The work is demanding, but it serves two critical purposes: protecting individual clients and holding insurance companies accountable as bad actors in the system.

South Carolina's workers' compensation framework provides strong protections for injured workers. The dedicated professionals at the Workers' Compensation Commission handle cases efficiently and fairly.

But the system's effectiveness ultimately depends on enforcement. Until the financial consequences match the severity of deliberate non-compliance, some carriers will continue choosing defiance over compliance.

The solution exists in South Carolina's own legal framework. Bad faith laws already work to curb insurance carrier abuses in other contexts. Workers' compensation deserves the same protection.