An offer of judgment in South Carolina is a formal, written pretrial settlement proposal filed under Rule 68 of the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure. Either side in a civil case can file one. If the receiving party turns it down and then fails to do better at trial, they pay a steep price: 8% annual interest on the verdict amount, calculated from the date of the offer to the date judgment is entered, plus the other side’s post-offer court costs.1South Carolina Judicial Branch. South Carolina Court Rules – Rule 68 – Offer of Judgment
The rule applies to civil cases generally. It does not apply to domestic relations matters such as divorce, custody, or alimony. If your dispute is a family court case, Rule 68 is not available to you.
Who Can File One
South Carolina’s version of Rule 68 is two-sided. A plaintiff can offer to accept a specific dollar amount to end the case. A defendant can offer to let judgment be entered against them for a stated sum. This is a meaningful difference from the federal version of the rule, which only lets defending parties make offers.1South Carolina Judicial Branch. South Carolina Court Rules – Rule 68 – Offer of Judgment
The offer must be in writing, signed by the party or their attorney, and state a specific dollar amount or describe the terms of the proposed judgment. It must be filed no later than 20 days before the scheduled trial date, and served on the opposing party using the ordinary methods for serving litigation papers under Rule 5. The clerk includes the offer, and any acceptance, in the official case record.1South Carolina Judicial Branch. South Carolina Court Rules – Rule 68 – Offer of Judgment
Your Options After Being Served
You have three real choices: accept, reject (either formally or by letting the deadline pass), or file a counter offer of your own.
Accepting the Offer
To accept, file a written acceptance within 20 days after service, or by 10 days before trial, whichever comes first. That “whichever is earlier” cutoff matters. If trial is only 25 days away when the offer lands, your acceptance window is 15 days, not 20.1South Carolina Judicial Branch. South Carolina Court Rules – Rule 68 – Offer of Judgment
Once you accept, the court immediately enters judgment on the agreed terms. The judgment has the same force as one issued after a full trial, and the court has no authority to adjust it. Acceptance is binding.
Rejecting the Offer
Rejection can be explicit or automatic. If you do nothing by the deadline, the offer is deemed rejected. A rejected offer cannot be introduced as evidence at trial. It only comes back into play after the verdict, when the court determines costs and interest.1South Carolina Judicial Branch. South Carolina Court Rules – Rule 68 – Offer of Judgment
Counter Offers and Later Offers
Making a counter offer does not kill the original offer the way a counter offer kills a contract proposal. Under Rule 68, the original stays alive until it is formally accepted, the acceptance window expires, or the offeror withdraws it. The offering party can withdraw at any time before acceptance or rejection by serving notice on the other side.1South Carolina Judicial Branch. South Carolina Court Rules – Rule 68 – Offer of Judgment
Either side can also file a new offer at a different amount. A subsequent offer supersedes any earlier one that was rejected or withdrawn, and it terminates any interest or costs that had been accruing under the earlier offer. The clock resets to the new offer date.1South Carolina Judicial Branch. South Carolina Court Rules – Rule 68 – Offer of Judgment
What Rejection Actually Costs You
If you reject an offer and the party who made it later obtains a verdict at least as favorable to them as the offer, two consequences follow.
First, the offeror recovers all court costs incurred from the date of the offer through entry of judgment. Those are litigation expenses like filing and service fees, not attorney’s fees.1South Carolina Judicial Branch. South Carolina Court Rules – Rule 68 – Offer of Judgment
Second, and more significantly, the court applies 8% annual interest on the verdict amount, running from the date of the offer to the date of judgment. Which direction that interest runs depends on who made the offer.
If a plaintiff offered to accept $50,000, the defendant rejected it, and the jury then awarded $60,000, the plaintiff recovers 8% annual interest on the $60,000 verdict from the offer date forward. On a case that reached trial two years after the offer, that is $9,600 added to the plaintiff’s recovery.
If a defendant offered $50,000, the plaintiff rejected it, and the jury awarded only $40,000, the plaintiff’s $40,000 award is reduced by 8% annual interest on $40,000 from the offer date to judgment. Over two years, that is a $6,400 reduction, dropping the actual recovery to $33,600.1South Carolina Judicial Branch. South Carolina Court Rules – Rule 68 – Offer of Judgment
On a long-running case with a large verdict, this interest adds up fast. The purpose of the rule is exactly that: to force both sides to evaluate settlement offers seriously rather than reflexively rejecting them.
Attorney’s Fees Are Not Shifted by Rule 68
South Carolina follows the American Rule, so each side normally pays its own attorney’s fees. Rule 68 itself does not change that. Subsection (c) makes clear that the rule does not override any contractual right to recover attorney’s fees under a written agreement between the parties.1South Carolina Judicial Branch. South Carolina Court Rules – Rule 68 – Offer of Judgment
Attorney’s fees enter the picture only when a separate statute or contract authorizes them. The South Carolina Unfair Trade Practices Act, for example, requires the court to award reasonable attorney’s fees and costs to a party who proves a violation.2South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 39-5-140 – Actions for Damages In cases governed by that kind of statute, fees come from the statute itself, not from Rule 68.
If Your Case Is in Federal Court
Federal Rule 68 applies in the U.S. District Court for South Carolina, and it works differently in several ways. Only the defending party can make an offer. The offer must be served at least 14 days before trial, and the receiving party has 14 days to accept. The federal rule shifts post-offer “costs” to the rejecting party but imposes no 8% interest penalty.3Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 68 – Offer of Judgment The Supreme Court held in Marek v. Chesny that “costs” under the federal rule can include attorney’s fees when the underlying statute defines costs to include them.4Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Marek v. Chesney Confirm which rule governs your case before filing or responding to an offer, because the deadlines, who can make an offer, and the financial exposure all change.