Byerly Ex Rel. Estate of Byerly v. Connor

Harwell, Chief Justice:

This is a wrongful death action. The dispositive issue is whether respondent South Carolina Public Service Authority, by and through its wholly owned state utility, Santee Cooper (Santee Cooper), owed a duty to warn of a latent hazardous condition which it did not create and about which it had no knowledge. The trial judge held that it did not. We affirm.

I. FACTS

On June 20,1987, Karl A. Byerly, the son of appellant Marvin Byerly, was electrocuted after he dived from a houseboat into the waters of Lake Marion. The houseboat on which the decedent was a guest was moored to…