Personal Injury Attorney in Mount Pleasant, SC

Personal injury cases involve individuals who cause harm to others through more than just a simple mistake. Victims of this harm are usually owed compensation for the damages they suffer. But this compensation is not a given, and it does not automatically reflect the extent of a person’s damages. To truly receive the financial resources they deserve, injury victims typically must hire a personal injury attorney to fight for them.

Lowcountry Law, LLC, believes in holding people responsible for their actions. As a graduate of The Citadel, our founder learned early the importance of integrity and hard work, two values that underlie our dedication to our clients. Those we represent get the time to fully focus on recovering with the peace of mind that we are handling every aspect of their case.  

We always pursue maximum compensation for our clients because we know how much they need valuable resources to cover their damages. If you have been injured because of someone else, call our office today. We can set up a free consultation with a personal injury attorney and give you a case review. 

Types of Injury-Causing Negligence

Personal Injury Attorney in Mount Pleasant, SC Free ConsultationLike other states, South Carolina has a way for injury victims to hold others accountable for the injuries they cause while acting negligently. 

“Negligence” refers to someone’s failure to behave in a way that would keep others safe. This creates a dangerous situation for others. If negligent behavior does cause an injury, then the negligent person may be on the hook for the damages stemming from the injury. 

When you hire a personal injury attorney to represent you, one of the first things they will do is find the negligent parties. Determining negligence requires your personal injury attorney to review the injurious behavior and compare it with acceptable standards to see how it measures up. Hence, negligence is highly contextual.

The following are the types of negligence that most commonly cause injury to others.

Car Accidents

Sadly, negligent and reckless driving are not rare occurrences, are preventable, and contribute to the injury crashes that occur every 16 minutes on South Carolina roadways. Because of the power that motor vehicles generate, accidents typically cause severe injuries and death.

Common forms of negligence that cause car accidents include:

  • Driving a motor vehicle while under the influence (DUI)
  • Driving while texting, rubbernecking, or distracted
  • Driving while fatigued or tired
  • Driving an unsafe vehicle (e.g., one with bald tires or unsecured loads)
  • Excessive speeding 
  • Failure to yield or obey traffic signs and signals

At particular risk in vehicle accidents are motorcyclists. Accidents involving riders are more likely to cause fatalities, as was the case in this accident in the summer of 2022 near Wando Park Boulevard in Mount Pleasant.

Premises Liability

When an owner or tenant fails to maintain a property in a safe condition, they may be responsible to pay for injuries that occur there, and an experienced personal injury attorney can help you obtain compensation. Businesses, homes, schools, and other locations where people may walk or congregate must be kept reasonably safe. Typical examples of unsafe conditions found on premises include:

  • Slippery surfaces, including sidewalks, hallways, and other walkways
  • Cluttered walkways and doorways
  • Poorly lit walkways and areas
  • Broken steps and stairs
  • Missing or faulty handrails
  • Holes in the ground
  • Dangerous animals
  • Absent or inadequate security

Fortunately, homeowners, businesses, and other organizations customarily have insurance policies that cover some or all of the injuries that occur on their properties, making it easier for a personal injury attorney to pursue compensation. 

Medical Malpractice

Healthcare professionals are held to much higher standards of care than the average person. Because they treat the body and the mind directly, their errors can have grave consequences. Whatever the type of treatment, the chance of medical malpractice occurring is always real.

Common medical malpractice situations include:

  • Surgical error (e.g., wrong-site surgery and wrong-limb amputations)
  • Misdiagnosis 
  • Delayed diagnosis
  • Improper training
  • Lack of supervision
  • Prescription errors
  • Failure to treat

Doctors, nurses, technicians, and others directly involved in the treatment of an individual may all be held liable for medical malpractice when negligent. 

Product Liability

Each of the millions of products in the marketplace must be reasonably safe for the people who buy them. However, some of them have flaws that put people’s lives at risk. 

These products are faulty because either they have a design defect; they are manufactured, assembled, or installed erroneously; or they lack adequate warnings, instructions, and other important information about their use and nature. 

Depending on the case, any one of the businesses involved in putting an unreasonably dangerous product into the hands of consumers may face liability for injuries the product causes. These parties include:

  • The designer
  • The manufacturer, assembler, and installer
  • The distributor
  • The marketing firm
  • The retailer

In South Carolina, personal injury attorneys for victims of defective products don’t have to prove negligence. The law makes businesses strictly liable for their roles in selling a dangerous product. 

Workplace Accidents

In 2020, private businesses in South Carolina reported nearly 30,000 workplace injury accidents that did not lead to death. That works out to an average of dozens per day. 

Workers’ compensation covers some of the medical expenses and a percentage of the lost wages these workers experience, but it does not cover other intangible losses. Injury victims cannot sue their employers for these damages. 

However, if the workplace injury was caused by a third party, then the injured worker may file a claim against the third party for compensation for all of their losses. A third party is anyone besides the worker and the employer, such as a delivery driver from a different business or the manufacturer of the ladders a company uses. 

If the driver hits and injures a worker while making a delivery, the worker can sue them and their employer. If the ladder is faulty and leads to a fall, then a claim against the ladder manufacturer might be appropriate. 

Wrongful Death

Tragically, people are killed every day by others. When the death involves negligence, recklessness, or willfulness, then the one who caused it may be held to pay. In each of the personal injury situations listed above, wrongful death is sometimes the result. Other situations include criminally negligent homicide, manslaughter, and murder. 

Compensation for Your Losses

You can claim compensation for your medical bills, hospital stays, and any other expenses you incur because of your injuries, including the cost to hire someone to help maintain your household. You can also claim compensation for non-economic damages, including:

  • Pain
  • Suffering
  • Mental anguish
  • Emotional distress
  • Loss of society and companionship
  • Loss of consortium

In the case of wrongful death, you may also seek compensation for funeral and burial costs and other expenses related to the death of your loved one. 

If you have suffered an injury and are seeking justice for your losses, you deserve to know how much compensation your case should receive. Always remember, however, that insurance company adjusters and healthcare case managers do not have your best interests at heart. Their jobs are to mitigate claim payouts by convincing victims to settle for less. 

You Need An Experienced Personal Injury Attorney to Give You a Fair Evaluation

Attorney Matthew Breen has successfully recovered millions of dollars for his clients by rejecting lowball offers from insurance companies and pursuing the figures he knows to be fair. His dedication to fully serving his client’s needs has earned him the designation of Platinum Client Champion from Martindale-Hubbell. 

Are you in need of a personal injury attorney? You can rely on attorney Matthew Breen and Lowcountry Law, LLC, to fight to get you what you deserve.