§ RULE 76. ARBITRATION: AUTOMOBILE REPARATION

RULE 76. ARBITRATION: AUTOMOBILE REPARATION

(a) Arbitration Panels. Resident circuit judges, by order of reference, shall designate attorneys to constitute a panel of arbitrators for automobile reparation actions under the South Carolina Automobile Reparation Reform Act of 1974. To insure a sufficient number of arbitrators in each county, more particularly those counties with fewer attorneys, a panel of arbitrators for each county shall consist of all attorneys in good standing, duly admitted to practice law and actively engaged in the practice of law in the State whose principal offices now or hereafter are located within the judicial circuit of which such county is a part.

(b) Depositions in Arbitration. The procedure for the taking of depositions in arbitration actions shall be the same as set forth in Rules 26 through 32. The monetary limitation for the taking of depositions under the provisions of Rule 30(a)(2) shall not be applicable in the taking of depositions in arbitration proceedings.

(c) Arbitration Docket. The arbitration docket required by the Act to be maintained by the clerks of court shall be on a form specified by the Director, South Carolina Court Administration, and the claims submitted to arbitration shall be assigned a case file number using a numbering system similar to that set forth in “Instructions for Filing, Indexing, Numbering and Preserving Records within the Judicial System of South Carolina,” issued by the Office of South Carolina Court Administration.