Things you need to know about personal injury lawsuits

by | Nov 21, 2012 | Lawyer

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If you are a resident of South Carolina who has been injured in an automobile accident or some other type of incident that could possibly qualify for a personal injury lawsuit, then there are certain things you need to know. An experienced Charleston personal injury attorney will tell you that in your state of legal residence there is a statute of limitations on filing a personal injury case and that is three years from the date of the initial incident. This is one of the most important things to remember because if you don’t file within this three-year time period, then your case most likely won’t be heard at all.

According to experts of personal injury in Charleston, South Carolina also has what is known as a “shared fault” law. This means that if the person or company you are filing suit against argues that you are partially to blame for the incident that caused your injuries and the court determines you share some of the legal liability, then the amount of compensation you receive from the erring party will be affected. South Carolina’s court system follows what is known as the modified comparative negligence rule. What this means is that the amount of compensation you are entitled to will be reduced by the amount equal to the percentage of your fault as determined by the jury. For example, if the jury or judge determines you are 20% at fault, then your monetary compensation is reduced by 20%. If however, the court determines you are more than 50 % at fault, then you will not be able to collect any type of compensation from the other parties. As this is a state law, many times insurance adjusters and attorneys will raise the issue of comparative negligence during any settlement talks.

What you also need to be made aware of by any personal injury law firm whose services you retain is that South Carolina also has a cap or limit on the amount of monetary compensation they award. For instance, in most cases where medical malpractice is the issue, non-economic damages, i.e. those that are for pain and suffering compensation, the limit is $350,000 per defendant and, on the average, $1.05 million total overall even if there are more than three defendants. These caps apply only to personal injury cases involving medical malpractice. There is a South Carolina damage cap law that applies to all personal injury cases for covering punitive damages. This law is for compensation awarded to an injured plaintiff as a way to punish any defendant for particularly outrageous or especially harmful behavior. The punitive damages in these types of personal injury cases are limited to amounts that are three times larger than actual incurred damages or $500,000.00.

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