Little River Personal Injury Lawyer

Little River Personal Injury Attorney

When you suffer from any personal injury, such as a fall or a sudden accident, you likely experience pain and frustration. This frustration can be worsened if the injury was caused because another person was behaving recklessly, negligently, or maliciously. A personal injury, depending on its severity, could force you to miss significant income during your recovery. You will also have to pay expensive healthcare costs for treatment and care. Some injuries can even create emotional and psychological harm.

If you were injured because of the fault of another person or party, you deserve compensation to cover those financial, physical, and psychological damages. In some cases, you can file a claim with an insurance provider. If that claim doesn’t cover your damages, or you are unable to file such a claim, you can file a personal injury claim. This can ensure that all the losses you suffered are compensated, including pain and suffering, lost wages, and medical costs. To maximize the damages you can get from a personal injury claim, it’s important that you work with a personal injury attorney.

Axelrod & Associates: Helping You Recover

It’s nearly impossible to navigate the legal system while recovering from injuries and managing financial costs. At Axelrod & Associates, we understand the overwhelming and frustrating situation you’re in because we’ve represented many such cases in the Little River area. We are proud to serve our community.

If you’ve suffered a personal injury, we can help you:

• Calculate the damages available to you.
• File claims with insurance.
• File a personal injury claim.
• Get a straightforward and complete understanding of your case.

Our attorneys have more than 100 combined years of experience across many types of legal representation. Let us leverage that experience to earn you the most compensation possible, while you take the time you need to recover.

What Is a Personal Injury Claim?

Just because someone suffers an injury doesn’t automatically qualify them for a personal injury case. Personal injury claims are filed when the injury or accident was caused by another person who acted negligently or maliciously. If the person being filed against is determined by the court to be acting with reasonable care, or how anyone would act in the same situation, a personal injury claim is less likely to succeed. Your claim is meant to hold someone responsible who owed you a duty of care and failed in that duty.

Common Personal Injury Claims We Handle in Little River

It’s essential that you work with an attorney who has had experience with cases like yours before. This means that they will have an understanding of the common requirements for evidence, be aware of pitfalls, and be better equipped to guide you through the process. Some of the types of personal injury cases that we handle at Axelrod & Associates include:

Car Accidents

Many of the personal injury cases that we handle involve car accidents. Crashes happen for several reasons, including:

• Distracted driving
• Reckless driving and traffic infractions
• Driving under the influence (DUI)
• Bad road conditions

South Carolina is an at-fault state, meaning that insurance claims are filed with the at-fault driver’s insurance. If a driver is distracted by something in their car, was texting, or is under the influence, this may mean that they were at fault for the accident.

Car accidents can also include motorcyclists, pedestrians, and bicyclists, all of whom are likely to suffer much more significant injuries than those in a car. Conversely, accidents between cars and commercial trucks are often devastating to those in the car.

Slip and Fall Accidents

Slip and fall accidents can result in significant harm to an individual and can happen on either public or private property. Property owners are responsible for the reasonable care and maintenance of their premises. Spills, bad lighting, broken hand railings, and uneven sidewalks are all dangers that require warning signs and repair or cleaning. If these hazards are not taken care of in a reasonable timeframe, those injured can file a personal injury claim.

Medical Malpractice

Healthcare providers have a duty of care towards their patients. Although many providers take this duty seriously, there are some who violate this duty of care and the trust of their patients. If a healthcare provider acts negligently, carelessly, or maliciously while treating a patient, they can be held liable. This may include:

• Misdiagnosis, despite clear contradicting symptoms
• Failing to diagnose a condition, despite clear symptoms
• Surgical errors
• Birth injuries
• Failure to get informed consent
• Filling the incorrect or wrong dose of medication

Dog Bites and Similar Animal Attacks

Under South Carolina statutes, dog owners are held strictly liable for damages caused by their dogs. This means that the owner can’t claim that they had no knowledge of a history of attacks or aggression as a valid defense.

If a dog attack or bite causes significant injuries, was unprovoked, and done to someone who was legally on the premises, the owner can be held liable for damages. Dog bites can cause serious damages and lacerations to a person, and compensation can aid recovery.

Product Liability

Product designers, manufacturers, and distributors have a responsibility to ensure that products are safe for consumers and have adequate safety instructions. If a product is defective, dangerous, or fails to provide enough warning, and causes harm to a consumer, this person or their loved ones can file a claim against the relevant party. This may include the designer, manufacturer, seller, or distributor of the product. A faulty product could include contaminated food, defective car parts, or broken appliances.

Workplace Injuries

A personal injury claim for workplace injuries is different from a workers’ compensation claim. Many employees can get workers’ compensation coverage for medical costs and lost income regardless of whether someone was at fault for the accident.

However, in situations where a third party was the cause of the workplace accident, an employee may also be able to file a personal injury claim against them. These cases could involve any of the following situations:

• The employer may have been willfully negligent or malicious.
• A co-worker may have recklessly caused the accident.
• The injury may have been the result of a faulty product or a distracted driver.

A claim may also be appropriate if working conditions are unsafe or employees did not receive adequate training.

Nursing Home Abuse

The elderly are often more vulnerable, and it is an unfortunate truth that some residents of nursing homes or long-term care facilities are subject to abuse. This may include physical, emotional, psychological, sexual, or financial abuse. Elder abuse can also take the form of neglect, where there is not enough supervision or medical care for an individual. The caregivers at long-term care facilities and nursing homes have a duty of care to the residents, and they can be held responsible when they fail to uphold that duty.

How to Prove Negligence in a Personal Injury Case

To successfully prove a personal injury claim, negligence must be proven. To show that the person was negligent, the following must be proven:

1. Duty of Care: The person at fault owed a duty of care to the victim. Some professions or people automatically owe a duty of care to certain people. In other cases, the duty of care is determined based on the degree of caution a reasonable person would show in a similar situation.
2. Breach of Duty: The at-fault person breached this duty of care, either by industry standard or by reasonably expected duty of care.
3. Causation: Because of this breach of duty, the at-fault person caused an accident. This accident directly led to the injuries or losses that the victim suffered.
4. Damages: The injury or accident led to financial, physical, or emotional damages for the victim.

Personal Injury Lawyer FAQs

Q: What Percentage Do Most Personal Injury Lawyers Take?

A: The percentage a personal injury attorney takes from a settlement or court-awarded compensation is usually between 25% to 40%. When an attorney works on a contingency fee basis, it means that you do not pay costs upfront or an hourly fee. Instead, the attorney only gets paid if they win your case and get your compensation. The percentage varies based on the complexity of your case and whether it enters litigation.

Q: What Are the Damages for Personal Injury in South Carolina?

A: Potential damages available in a personal injury claim include:

• Medical bills
• Lost wages
• Lost future earning capacity
• Property damage
• Loss of consortium
• Disfigurement
• Pain and suffering
• Punitive damages

The exact damages allowed in your case depend on your circumstances. A personal injury claim should cover any expenses directly related to the injury or accident.

Q: What Is the Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury in South Carolina?

A: The statute of limitations, or the time limit to file a personal injury claim, is 3 years from the date of the incident. Filing after this timeframe means that your claim will be denied. It’s important to file a claim as quickly as possible after an incident, or valuable evidence could be lost.

Q: How Long Does It Take to Make a Personal Injury Claim?

A: A personal injury claim could take anywhere from several months to several years. If your claim is fairly straightforward, it may only take a few months. Commonly, South Carolina claims that end up in litigation take about a year from the date of filing to being called to trial. More complex cases, or cases held up by insurance companies, could take up to 2 years or more.

Contact Axelrod & Associates

At Axelrod & Associates, we understand the complexities and requirements of many different personal injury cases. Contact our team today to see how we can help get you the compensation you need.