In a 4-to-1 vote, the state's high court reversed a county circuit court ruling and ordered the insurer to reform a $40,000 policy to comply with the $750,000 limits.

The trucker was hauling cut trees in 2004 when he was involved in a crash that killed the wife of the plaintiff. South Carolina requires trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds carrying nonhazardous loads to have at least $750,000 in liability insurance coverage per incident.

Canal Insurance, which insured the truck with a $40,000 liability limit, argued that even though the truck was a 10-wheeler weighing approximately 26,000 pounds, the driver was a "private" carrier transporting his own property without compensation and was allowed by state regulators to carry lower liability limits. Canal further argued that the driver was not required to carry the $750,000 because "lumber haulers engaged in transporting lumber and logs from the forest to the shipping points in this state" are exempt.

But the high court ruled that in this case the insurer was wrong in not classifying the driver as a motor carrier and in trying to apply the lumber hauler exemption.

Canal Insurance maintained the driver not compensated for transporting the wood; rather, he owned the trees and would take them to the mills of his choice.

However, the Supreme Court noted that the driver had worked with a timber broker and had been paid by him for hauling logs to various mills. The court also noted the driver was covered under the timber broker's workers' compensation policy and that the broker had loaned him money to purchase his truck.

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Tree-hauling trucker must carry commercial liability limits

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