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Bluffton Personal Injury Attorneys
Fighting for Fair Compensation in your Bluffton, South Carolina Personal Injury Case
When you get seriously injured in an accident, the last thing you need to be worried about is how you will pay for your medical expenses or how you will financially manage if you need to miss work. If your injuries were the result of another party’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation that can help cover these and other costs.
Handling Your Personal Injury Claim so You Can Focus on Recovery
Our Bluffton personal injury lawyers at Horton & Goldman, LLC have over 15 years of legal experience and have handled hundreds of cases. When you first meet with our team, we will review the facts of your case and help you understand what types of compensation you may be entitled to.
Were you injured in Bluffton, SC? Schedule a free initial consultation by calling (843) 420-1344 or contacting us online. We represent injury victims in Bluffton, Hilton Head, & all of South Carolina.
Types of SC Personal Injury Cases We Represent
Our accomplished legal team can assist you with a variety of personal injury cases. It is important that you seek legal protection as soon as possible following an accident to ensure that you avoid mistakes that can limit your ability to collect compensation.
Our Bluffton personal injury attorneys can assist you with cases such as:
An upsetting number of motorists are not physically or mentally fit to drive, while others drive while under the influence, leading to numerous avoidable accidents. We can help you recover compensation for physical injuries and property damage if a negligent driver causes an accident.
Dog owners can be held liable if their animals bite or attack another party unprovoked. If you were on public property or private property with permission and suffered from a dog attack, you are likely entitled to compensation.
Residential and commercial property owners are legally required to keep their spaces free of hazardous conditions. If you slip and fall due to a hazard that was not sufficiently marked or addressed, you can be compensated for your injuries.
In especially severe instances, serious injuries can result in death. If someone’s untimely passing is the direct result of another party’s negligence, the deceased’s immediate loved ones can recover compensation to help ease the burden of their loss.
How Do I Prove Negligence in a Personal Injury Claim?
To recover damages in a personal injury claim you must be able to demonstrate that the at-fault party or defendant was negligent when they caused your injuries. Proving negligence is not always straightforward, however, but a skilled personal injury lawyer will have the resources necessary to investigate your accident and collect all the proof your need.
There are essentially four elements that must be demonstrated in every personal injury claim:
- Duty of Care - The first step in your personal inury claim is understand what duty of care was owed to you by the negligent party. Every human being has a basic duty to act responsibly and not cause harm to another individual. That duty of care increases with the more legal responsibility you have. As a driver, you are responsible for following the rules of the road. As a property owner, you are responsible for maintaining the safety of your premises. As a dog owner, you are responsible for your dog's behavior.
- Violation of Care - The next step is to show that the negligent party violated the duty of care they owed you by acting negligently. This could be another driver running a red light, a property owner who did not fix a broken walkway, or a doctor who dismissed your symptoms with running proper tests.
- Injury - After proving that the negligent party violated their duty of care to you, the next step is to show that their actions caused you harm; either a physical injury or emotional trauma. Your personal injury attorney can use your medical records and testimony from healthcare experts to demonstrate the full effect of your injuries.
- Damages - The severity of the injury you sustained will determine the amount of damages you can reasonably purse. Whiplash injuries are painful but heal relatively quickly without extensive medical care. A traumatic brain injury, however, does not only require several weeks of treament but can result in permanent disability. In a personal injury claim, you can request damages for loss of wages, the cost of medical treatment, property damage, and more.
The Bluffton personal injury lawyers at Horton & Associates, LLC have years of experience filing personal injury claims for a wide variety of injuries and accidents. We have the knowledge and resources to put together an successful claim that proves liability and effectively demonstrates all the damages you have sustained.
Give our firm a call today at (843) 420-1344 to schedule a free consultation with our team!
Is there a Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury Claims in South Carolina?
There are different statutes of limitations for different types of cases, plaintiffs and defendants. The statute of limitations for a personal injury lawsuit in South Carolina is generally three years, though exceptions may apply.This means that you have a limited window from the date the incident took place to file a personal injury lawsuit with the appropriate court. This is why it's crucial that you contact an attorney immediately after you are injured.
How are Personal Injury Cases Determined in SC?
Many personal injury cases will be decided under comparative negligence rules. The process generally goes as follows:
- This means that the court and jury will evaluate each party’s level of responsibility for causing the accident.
- If you are found to have been less than 51% at fault for the accident, you can be awarded compensation for your injuries.
- However, your total compensation will be reduced by the amount that you were found to be at fault. If you are seeking $30,000 and are assigned 10% of the blame, for example, you can only be awarded $27,000.
Types of Compensation Available in Personal Injury Claims
Personal injury claims allow victims of negligence to recover damages for costs associated with their injuries. This can include:
- Direct costs, like compensation for medical care needed to treat the injuries
- Indirect costs, like future physical pain and suffering caused by the injuries.
Our team at Horton & Associates, LLCcan help you obtain compensation for:
- Medical expenses
- Property damage
- Lost or missed wages
- Physical or emotional suffering
- Punitive damages
Call Our Experienced Personal Injury Lawyers in Bluffton Now!
We are intimately familiar with how South Carolina adjudicates personal injury claims and are committed to helping you recover as much as possible. Let us handle your personal injury claim so that you can focus on recovery. Our team is ready to help you every step of the way, get in touch with us to discuss your legal options!
We can help you seek the maximum possible compensation for your Bluffton personal injury claim. Call (843) 420-1344 or contact us online to start exploring your legal options in a free consultation today.