No one ever starts their day thinking, “I’ll be getting into an accident today.” However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around 40 million people end up in an ER each year for an injury. When those injuries are caused by another person’s or entity’s negligence, you may be due fair compensation for your losses. A Florence personal injury lawyer can help you understand what steps you need to take to recover a settlement during an initial free consultation.
When you retain the services of The Solomon Law Group, LLC for your personal injury claim, you’ll benefit from the guidance and support of the entire team. Our team brings with them decades of combined experience navigating South Carolina court systems and negotiating with all the major insurance carriers and self-insured defendants.
That is the exact kind of support you’ll want to help you with your case. So, if you want to speak with a Florida injury attorney about how they can help you, contact us to schedule a free, no-risk initial consultation.
Common Types of Injury Accidents That Occur in the Pee Dee Region
In South Carolina, you could be the victim of several types of personal injury accidents, including:
Car Accidents
Car crashes are the most common type of personal injury claim. These motor vehicle collisions can be anything from a minor fender-bender to a major head-on accident. According to information compiled by the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, a traffic collision occurs every 3.7 minutes, and an injury accident happens every 15.4 minutes.
Slip and Fall Accidents
A slip and fall accident can happen at your friend’s home, in a restaurant, at a movie theater, at your office, at a bus station, or any other private or public venue. These types of incidents are considered premises liability ones.
When an accident like this occurs, your Florence personal injury lawyer could name the property owner and any staff they may have as at-fault parties in your lawsuit. Defendants could also include government entities who were in charge of managing particular premises.
Product Liability
A product liability injury happens when a device, appliance, or any other type of consumer good causes harm. That includes a product that the manufacturer has recalled. Just because the company knows its product causes harm does not absolve it from being held liable for the harm it caused.
Negligent Security
Whenever you visit a nightclub, concert, sporting event or other public gathering, you have the same expectation of being safe as you would when visiting any type of business. Operators of those large gathering spaces have an obligation to provide adequate security to protect visitors from harm. Failing to do so would be considered a breach of duty.
The concept of negligent security can also apply to apartment complexes or office buildings that do not provide security for their tenants. If a break-in leads to property loss or injury, the owners of those buildings could be held liable.
Establishing Negligence in Your Florence Personal Injury Case
When you file a Florence accident claim, you become the plaintiff in that case. The person who you accuse of causing your injury, which can be more than one party, is the defendant. For instance, in a Florence accident involving a truck, you could name the trucker, their employer, the fleet company, and the loading crew as defendants.
To prevail, your Florence personal injury lawyer needs to establish the following four core elements of negligence:
Duty of Care
Whether you’re driving a car or own a business, you have a duty of care not to cause harm to others. That duty of care is to provide reasonable safety for others.
As a motorist, your duty of care is not to speed and to follow traffic laws. As a business owner, your duty of care is to provide a safe environment for your staff and customers. A duty of care is what the average person would consider to be safe.
Breach of Duty
A breach of duty is someone violating their duty of care. If you run a red light and get into a car crash in Florence, or you don’t repair a buckled sidewalk outside your store and someone suffers a slip and fall, you are breaching your duty of care. Some folks might consider a breach to be unintentional. No one means to cause someone else harm.
However, the lack of action to remedy an unsafe environment can be considered neglect. The same can be said of a driver who doesn’t think that racing through a light will lead to them being in an accident. When a breach of duty causes an accident, you or your Florence personal injury attorney can hold any liable party accountable by filing an insurance claim or lawsuit.
Causation
The causation in an injury lawsuit is tied directly to the breach of duty. You and your Florence lawyer need to establish that the defendant’s breach of duty or negligence caused the accident that led to you getting hurt.
Damages
The final element to consider in this type of case is the damages. What have you lost as a result of the accident? Those damages could include the following items:
- All medical expenses to treat the injury
- Costs for ongoing therapy
- Medical supplies
- Prescription medications
- Lost wages
- Future earning potential (if applicable)
- Pain and suffering
Establishing these elements can prove challenging for someone who doesn’t have legal expertise. This is why countless others who are hurt rely on the services of a Florence personal injury attorney to assist them with their case, and you should consider doing the same. An initial no-obligation case consultation with one of our lawyers is complimentary, so reach out to us for that meeting now.
Time Limitations for Filing an Injury Lawsuit in South Carolina
The statute of limitations in a South Carolina personal injury lawsuit is three years. That means you have three years from the date of the injury to file your claim. That might seem like a long time, but you don’t want to let the clock run out. The longer you wait to file your claim, the more challenging it can become to gather evidence, such as witness testimony.
Getting Support From a Florence Personal Injury Lawyer
When you file an accident claim, it means that you are dealing with some level of bodily harm or property damage. You don’t have to wait until you’ve fully recovered from the accident to file a negligence claim.
The Solomon Law Group, LLC is standing by to hear your side of the story. We provide a free case evaluation that will allow us to assess how your accident occurred, who’s responsible, and your legal options. We always offer our clients an honest assessment of the best path forward for their claims.
Reach out to our law firm to set up your case evaluation today.
