South Carolina Personal Injury Laws To Be Aware Of

If you were hurt due to the negligence of another party, then a personal injury lawsuit might be the perfect tool for you. However, lawsuits aren't best for every situation. If your state's laws aren't in your favor, then a lawsuit could be a waste of time and money. To help you figure out whether a lawsuit is the best option for you, here is an overview of pertinent laws in South Carolina:

The Statute of Limitations

Your first concern is going to be whether you are past the statute of limitations or not. If more than 3 years have passed since the date of the accident, then your lawsuit might be over before it even began. However, you don't need to lose hope completely, since there are some critical exceptions.

Firstly, minors are unable to file lawsuits, which means that they get an extension. From the date that the minor legally becomes an adult, they have 3 years to file.

The second big exception applies to discovered injuries that were found long after the injury actually happened. For example, negligent exposure to known carcinogens could qualify as a discovered injury, in which case you tend to have 3 years to file from the date of discovery.

Comparative Fault

When it comes to determining how relative responsibility factors into rulings, some states are very strict, some are very lenient, and South Carolina falls right in the middle.

In South Carolina, your winnings can be reduced proportionally to your level of responsibility. If you were 5% responsible for your injuries, then you can still get 95% of the money that you asked for. For example, if you were driving and weren't paying complete attention to the road, and then were hit by another car, then the defense might be able to prove that you could have avoided the accident if you were paying attention. Therefore, you might get less money than you initially asked for.

This becomes very different if the defense can prove that you were more than 50% responsible, at which point you will not get any winnings at all. For this reason, you want to know exactly what kind of evidence the defense has and whether they can prove that you were more than 50% responsible. If that is possible, then you want to built a bulletproof counterargument as to why your level of responsibility was below 50%. If you can reduce that level of responsibility even to 49%, then you will get 51% of the money that you asked for, rather than no money at all. Check out the site for more information on personal injury attorneys.

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