If you were seriously injured by a motor vehicle while walking, jogging, or running in South Carolina, you may be entitled to a significant financial recovery. South Carolina law protects pedestrians, and it holds negligent drivers accountable when they cause dangerous accidents.
Marc Brown is an unwavering Columbia personal injury lawyer and advocate for his clients. He can help you collect the financial compensation you deserve. Request a free consultation with an experienced accident lawyer.
What Are Your Legal Rights as an Injured Pedestrian in South Carolina?
In South Carolina, drivers have a legal obligation to avoid hitting pedestrians. While it may seem obvious that all drivers should do this, pedestrian accidents happen at alarming rates, and the South Carolina legislature has found it necessary to write this duty into the South Carolina Code. As a result, the law in South Carolina now states, “every driver of a vehicle [must] exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian.”
When a driver fails to exercise due care and hits a pedestrian, the pedestrian is entitled to recover just compensation for his or her injuries. This includes not only compensation for direct financial costs such as medical bills and lost income, but also compensation for pain and suffering, emotional trauma, and other non-financial losses. Auto insurance covers pedestrian accidents, so most cases will involve filing a claim with the negligent driver’s insurance company. However, since South Carolina only requires drivers to carry $25,000 in bodily injury liability (BIL) coverage, in many cases, injured pedestrians will need to pursue other sources of financial recovery as well. Depending on the circumstances involved, these may include:
- An uninsured/underinsured motorist (UIM) claim (with stacking if multiple policies are available)
- A claim for a road or vehicle defect
- A claim for a bicycle or helmet defect
- A claim against the at-fault driver’s employer (if the driver was on the clock when the car accident occurred)
When Can You Seek Financial Compensation For A Pedestrian Accident?
Any time you are involved in a collision with a motor vehicle as a pedestrian, you should speak with an attorney about seeking just compensation. We represent individuals who have been injured in pedestrian accidents throughout South Carolina, and we are happy to provide you with a free assessment of your legal rights.
Claims against negligent truck drivers, product manufacturers, road contractors, government entities, and drivers’ employers can take many different forms, and attorney Marc Brown can use his experience to identify all of the claims you have available. Common grounds for seeking financial compensation after pedestrian accidents in South Carolina include:
- Speeding
- Running a red light or stop sign
- Attempting to “beat” a yellow light at an intersection
- Driving while drunk or high
- Driving while distracted
- Drifting or swerving off the road
- Falling asleep behind the wheel
- Designing, manufacturing, or selling a dangerous vehicle, vehicle component, bicycle, or bicycle helmet
- Designing or building a dangerous road
- Hiring an inexperienced driver or a driver with a bad driving history
What Types of Injuries Occur In Pedestrian Accidents In Columbia?
Choosing to walk to a community destination is an eco-conscious and fitness-friendly decision, but when exposed pedestrians walk in close proximity to moving traffic, they are vulnerable to serious or catastrophic injuries in a collision. An average car weighs around 4,000 pounds. Drivers are rarely injured in pedestrian accidents, but a collision can be deadly to the pedestrian. Common injuries in South Carolina pedestrian accident claims include the following:
- Fractures, including those of the limbs, hips, pelvis, and spinal vertebrae
- Neck injuries
- Back injuries
- Brain injuries
- Internal organ injuries
- External head, facial, and dental injuries
- Soft-tissue injuries like sprains, strains, torn ligaments, and tendon injuries
- Spinal cord damage
- Lacerations and contusions
- Severe abrasions (road rash)
- Traumatic amputations
- Burn injuries
Serious injuries are costly to treat as well as painful and traumatic. Catastrophic injuries are not uncommon in pedestrian accidents and can cause permanent disability, leaving an injury victim with an uncertain future, with impacts on all aspects of their life. While a successful pedestrian accident claim cannot erase the injury, it opens doors to the best medical care and relieves related financial anxieties, allowing an injury victim to focus on maximizing their physical healing. A successful claim also brings injury victims and their families a sense of justice through the financial accountability they deserve.
What If The Insurance Company Accuse Me Of Being At Fault?
If the insurance companies accuse you of being at fault, you will not be alone. The insurance companies routinely try to avoid liability by blaming accident victims for their own injuries, and this is especially common in pedestrian accidents. While you should not let the insurance companies blame you, you should also know that even if you were partially at fault, you could still be entitled to a financial recovery under South Carolina law.
What Is Comparative Negligence In a Pedestrian Accident?
Unlike the handful of no-fault car accident states, which require accident victims to file claims against their own auto insurance regardless of who caused the car crash or pedestrian accident, North Carolina is a fault-based insurance state with a modified comparative negligence system. South Carolina’s Title 15 Section15-38-10 states the following:
“ …if indivisible damages are determined to be proximately caused by more than one defendant, joint and several liability does not apply to any defendant whose conduct is determined to be less than fifty percent of the total fault for the indivisible damages …”
In other words, if a pedestrian is less than 51% at fault for their injuries, they may file a claim to recover compensation for their damages. In this case, however, their percentage of fault is subtracted from the amount of compensation the insurance company pays them.
For example, suppose the insurance company finds a pedestrian 20% at fault for the accident because they were wearing dark clothing while crossing at a crosswalk in the evening? If the injury victim’s damages equal $100,000, the insurance company reduces the payout on the claim to $80,000.
A skilled accident attorney in Columbia compiles evidence and defends the injured pedestrian’s rights against an insurance company that might assign them an undue percentage of fault. In the above example, an experienced attorney might also seek compensation against a city road planning agency for contributing to the accident by failing to provide sufficient lighting at a crosswalk, thereby maximizing the pedestrian accident victim’s total financial recovery.
How Can You Determine Fault In a Columbia Pedestrian Accident?
After a pedestrian accident in South Carolina, the driver’s insurance company assigns an adjuster to investigate the accident, determine fault, and assess the injury victim’s damages. Unfortunately, the insurance adjuster is not on the injury victim’s side, even if they call and sound compassionate while asking questions. For this reason, an injury victim should direct all communication with the insurance company to their lawyer.
Unlike the insurance adjuster, a pedestrian accident lawyer investigates the accident with their client’s best interest as their primary goal. An attorney from Marc Brown Law Firm will do the following:
- Investigate all aspects of the accident by examining photo and video evidence, speaking to eyewitnesses, and consulting with accident reconstruction experts
- Document compelling evidence of the at-fault driver’s liability for the pedestrian accident
- Carefully calculate your damages and seek the maximum compensation available to you from the driver and any other entity that contributed to the accident
- Send their findings to the appropriate parties
- Begin negotiations with insurers and work tirelessly to obtain the highest possible settlement on your behalf
Over 93% of pedestrian accident claims are resolved with a settlement; however, if the insurance company fails to offer an ample settlement, your trial-ready Columbia pedestrian accident lawyer will execute a personalized legal strategy to argue for a positive jury verdict and a favorable award for your damages.
What You Can Do to Protect Yourself After a Pedestrian Accident In Columbia?
Pedestrians are exposed to direct contact with vehicles and the roadway in the event of a collision. In many cases, a pedestrian accident victim is incapacitated by the severity of their injuries or unconsciousness. However, if a pedestrian is safely able to use their phone—or ask someone else to use it for them—they can take steps to protect their physical and financial future by doing the following:
- First, call 911 to report the accident and request emergency services, unless someone else has already called
- Then, use the phone’s camera to take photos of the accident scene, including the involved vehicle
- Photograph anything relevant to the accident, such as an intersection or crosswalk
- Take photos of any visible injuries
- Add the driver’s contact information
- Add the contact information of any eyewitnesses to the accident
It’s always crucial to go to an emergency room as soon as possible, preferably right from the accident scene in an ambulance or by arranging transportation. Then, an injury victim should ask for a full medical assessment as well as treatment for emergency injuries. This sometimes identifies injuries with delayed symptom onset.
A detailed medical report listing the injuries becomes essential evidence to recover compensation for a pedestrian accident victim’s current and future medical expenses, as well as other damages.
Damages After a Columbia Pedestrian Accident
The word “damages” in a pedestrian accident claim refers to all of the losses and adverse consequences of the accident to the injury victim. Common damages recovered in Columbia pedestrian accident claims include the following:
- Reimbursement for medical expenses
- Future medical expenses for any upcoming procedures or additional care
- Out-of-pocket expenses, such as costs for travel to see specialists
- Lost earnings
- Future income loss or diminished future earning ability due to disability
- Compensation for pain and suffering
Depending on the circumstances, additional compensation may be available for catastrophic injuries such as loss of limb, scarring, disfigurement, loss of vision, hearing loss, the loss of an organ, loss of enjoyment of life, or diminished quality of life. If a loved one died in a pedestrian accident in Columbia, a wrongful death lawyer from Marc Brown Law Firm is ready to help the family obtain wrongful death compensation and a sense of justice for the lost loved one.
Get Legal Help Today – Call Our Columbia Pedestrian Accident Attorney Today
Were you injured in a pedestrian accident in Columbia, SC, or any of the surrounding areas? If so, we want to help you. Contact us today to discuss your case with a Columbia accident lawyer.