Greenville Car Accident Lawyers

Car accidents in South Carolina are a common occurrence. According to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, someone is injured in a motor vehicle collision every 11 minutes. If you’ve been injured due to the negligence or carelessness of another driver, find out if you are due compensation.

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably been seriously injured in a car accident. You’ve likely lost income from being out of work. You may still be in pain. You are probably stressed, trying to find someone to answer your questions about a car accident claim.

We are here to help. Our firm offers free legal advice. Call our Greenville car accident lawyers today.

Don’t wait to get your questions answered because you’re afraid you’ll be asked to pay up-front. Call us as soon as you can and schedule your free legal consultation.

The Most Common Causes of Car Accidents

The following list includes some of the most common reasons a person injured in a car crash may qualify for a car accident claim:

Reckless Driving

Driving recklessly can take many forms, but it always involves disregard for the damage caused by the driver’s actions. As such, it is considered gross misconduct, something that qualifies a claim for punitive damages. A reckless driver may disregard red lights and stop signs. Or, for example, they may tailgate other drivers, switch lanes unpredictably, and drive at excessive speeds.

Distracted Driving

Driving while not paying attention has become increasingly prevalent throughout the United States. Some examples of distracted driving include texting while driving, manipulating a cell phone, navigation, or other device, reading while driving, and eating and drinking while driving. Even having a conversation with someone else inside the car can cause a deadly distraction if the driver is more focused on a passenger than the road.

Drunk Driving

Claims involving drunk drivers may involve more than one responsible party. Clearly, a person driving while intoxicated is liable for the injuries they cause. But according to social host laws, someone who provided alcohol to a driver who was already clearly under the influence before the crash may also be liable for damages.

Defective Automobile

Car manufacturers and distributors have a responsibility to provide safe vehicles to their customers. As such, they can be held accountable when vehicle defects cause injuries or accidents.

Additional Examples of Negligence Involving Car Accident Claims

There are numerous other ways a driver or third party may be held responsible for an auto accident that causes harm. Here are some additional examples:

• Driver fatigue: A driver who falls asleep at the wheel
• Poor judgement: A driver with poor driving ability and/or poor judgement (this often includes a higher percentage of teenage drivers, who may lack driving experience or the maturity to avoid distraction while driving)
• Poor maintenance: A driver who fails to maintain their vehicle, for instance, failing to maintain their brakes or the condition of their tires
• Road maintenance failures: The government, a construction company, or an engineering firm may be held responsible for a stretch of unsafe road, which puts drivers at risk due to problematic design

All motorists have a legal duty to safely operate their vehicles and take reasonable steps that ensure the safety of those around them. Unfortunately, as statistics make clear, numerous drivers fail to uphold this obligation by engaging in negligent acts. When that negligence leads to a preventable auto accident and injuries or death, victims and their families have a right to pursue legal action and recover financial compensation for their damages with Christian & Christian.

What is the Statute of Limitations for Car Accidents in South Carolina?

A statute of limitation is a law that sets the maximum amount of time you have to take legal action after an accident. In South Carolina, at least two people are killed in car crashes daily and more than 13 auto accidents happen every hour. If you sustained injury during an auto accident, the statute of limitations for car accidents in South Carolina is three years in most instances. If you have questions about a potential claim, reach out to Christian & Christian to schedule your free legal consultation as soon as possible.

Why Should I Retain a South Carolina Car Accident Lawyer?

Hiring an experienced trial attorney for your car accident claim will provide you with two large benefits. The first is the ability to rest and recover while giving your claim the very best chance of obtaining full and fair compensation. The second benefit is found in all the ways retaining a car accident lawyer helps protect the value of your claim, resulting in higher compensation than you could get on your own.

How an Attorney Protects the Value of Your Claim

It’s unfortunate that many people think the easiest way to get more from their car accident claim is by skipping the attorney. In truth, most people who take on their accident claims alone receive far less than people with experienced car accident lawyers. Read on to see the many ways hiring an attorney to handle your claim will help you to receive maximum compensation for your car accident damages.

• A car accident lawyer can properly assess your claim’s value, beginning with an accident investigation and then factoring in all your damages, so you don’t get less than you deserve.
• An attorney will be able to avoid the tactics insurance companies use to devalue the claims of accident victims.
• A lawyer can help you evaluate settlement offers and decide if any of them are in your favor. Sometimes an offer is simply not worth considering and must be turned down. This is tough to do when you don’t know what your claim is truly worth, or whether you’ll get another offer if you turn down the one you’ve got.
• Hiring an attorney makes it clear to the insurance company that you’ve got support from professionals who aren’t going to stand for their manipulations. The insurance company will know with certainty that if they fail to offer adequate compensation on a legitimate claim, your lawyer will sue.
• Beyond being able to show the insurance company you’re serious, having the option of filing a lawsuit gives you choices, including the ability to turn down lowball offers and move on to a trial you can win.

Christian & Christian Law assist people with personal injury matters in the following locations: Anderson, Clemson, Easley, Fountain Inn, Greenville County, Greer, Mauldin, Simpsonville, Spartanburg, and Travelers Rest.

Help Protect Your Claim from the Very Start

Please make sure you read over the points below for how you can protect your claim’s value before and after you’ve retained our Greenville car accident lawyers.

Get a Medical Exam

This one may seem obvious, but that’s not always the case. When people experience a traumatic event, the body goes into fight or flight response. This involves a surge of stress hormones that suppress pain and provide energy and strength. Though temporary, this effect may still last for hours — long enough to walk away from the scene of the accident without realizing how injured you really are. Always err on the safe side and seek out a medical exam to find out whether you are injured.

In addition to protecting your health, getting that exam is going to protect the value of your car accident claim. A medical record of your injuries right after the crash is going to provide powerful evidence connecting the crash to the harm it caused you. Without this proof, the insurance company can try to suggest you weren’t injured in the crash, because you didn’t get treated by a doctor. Don’t give them the chance. Go to the doctor as soon as possible after you’ve been in a car accident.

Take That Treatment Plan Seriously

All too often, people let their treatment plan fall by the wayside after being discharged from the hospital to continue their recovery at home. They think it’s not going to matter one way or another if they forget to stretch or ice their injury, or they skip a dose of medication here or there, or don’t make every physical therapy appointment.

This is unfortunately not the case. Your treatment plan is truly intended as a list of ways you can help yourself recover as efficiently as possible from your car accident injuries. In addition, any shortfall in your adherence to your treatment plan will benefit the insurance company.

If you don’t do all you can to assist in your recovery, the insurance company will very likely try to lower the value of your claim. If you don’t recover all the way back to where you were before the accident, they may suggest it’s not due to the severity of your injuries, but your failure to follow your plan. Any blame that can be shifted from them to you allows them to pay you less for your damages.

This is most often accomplished when an insurance investigator succeeds in obtaining video surveillance of an accident victim doing something they shouldn’t, such as too much physical activity. Take your instructions for rest and recovery very seriously to protect the value of your claim.

Don’t Speak to the Insurance Company

After your accident has been reported, you can expect a call from the insurance company, asking for a recorded statement. You do not have to agree to this, nor should you without guidance from your attorney.

The insurance company is not calling to help you. They are seeking information they can use to suggest that the accident was in some way your fault. They will ask you the same questions repeatedly, trying to confuse you and put you on the defensive. Anything that makes you look like you are mistaken or lying can help them lower the value of their claim by implying you may be exaggerating your injuries or at least partially to blame for the accident. Remember, it’s all about shifting blame.

The easiest way to protect yourself from this is to hand all communications about your claim over to our Greenville car accident lawyers. An experienced car accident trial attorney will know just how much to say — and what not to say — to the insurance company to prevent them from being able to drop the value of your claim. Protect your claim by letting our Greenville car accident lawyers handle communications

Seek Out an Attorney as Soon as You Can

It’s natural to not feel up to looking for a lawyer right after a major accident. The sooner you have an attorney, however, the stronger your claim is going to be. If you are injured to the point that you feel unable to review attorney websites and read reviews, this is a great task to ask a friend or loved one to help with. Chances are, they’ll be relieved to have a way to help you in your time of need. They can go through reviews and attorney websites and bring you their recommendations. You can then ask them to follow up by scheduling a few free consultations. If you’d like to learn about whether you’ve got a claim, we’d be happy to meet you wherever is convenient for you.

Make Sure You Hire the Best Lawyer for Your Car Accident Claim

Like doctors with specializations, not all lawyers can bring you the same results in your car accident claim. Be sure to seek a personal injury attorney with a record of winning car accident claims, both in negotiations and at trial. Though many claims are resolved via settlement, if yours must go to trial to bring you the compensation you deserve, you’ll need someone who can step into a courtroom and win.  That’s why the Greenville car accident lawyers at Christian & Christian are a good choice.

South Carolina Car Accident Client Story

We are providing the client story below to give you additional insight into what to expect in a car accident claim. To protect client privacy, we’ve changed names and details, but the value of the information remains. Please read it through, and then contact us to schedule your free legal consultation.

Early one morning in Greenville not long ago, twenty-nine-year-old elementary school teacher Austin Hayes was heading southeast to Pelham Road to work when a grey SUV pulled out of a convenience store parking lot, cutting across three lanes of traffic for a left turn. It struck Austin’s car almost head-on as it shot toward the northwest bound lane without slowing down.

Austin woke up in the hospital with a fractured vertebra in his neck and a broken left shoulder. He was unable to move from the neck down, and it was unclear if that would change. His doctors told him it was too soon to give up. They assured him his neck would be kept as still as possible until the swelling subsided. He was told he might need surgeries. With luck, they said, he might regain some or all of his mobility below the neck. It was too soon to tell.

Austin’s fiancé Christine sat with him daily, encouraging him and trying to keep his spirits up. They talked a lot about the future and the plans they’d made before their world was upended by the accident. Austin still had school loan debt. They’d sent out wedding invitations. They were in the middle of pre-paying for the honeymoon. She would be out of grad school in eighteen months with her own debt to tackle. They’d planned to get started on a family fairly quickly. Lots of children.

Austin had just begun his teaching career. He was done with student teaching, but with less than one year of full-time teaching under his belt, he was far from dreams of tenure. Everything was up in the air.

And now this.

The accident had turned hopes and dreams to anxiety, stress, and worry. They were just starting to get on their feet but still far from having traction. The last thing they could handle was a pile of medical bills.

Ten days into Austin’s hospital stay, they scheduled a free legal consultation with the law offices of Christian & Christian.

South Carolina car accident lawyer Josh Christian sat down with the couple in Austin’s hospital room a few days later to answer their questions. Christine handled most of the questions, so Austin could rest and relax his neck.

How much does it cost to hire a lawyer?

“Before we begin, we need to make sure this meeting is the ‘free legal consultation’ we think it is,” said Christine. “We think Austin has a claim here, but we are so turned around right now, we don’t want to accidentally rack up some big bill before we even know if we should be moving forward.”

“Completely understandable,” said Attorney Christian. “This consultation is, in fact, completely free of charge. It is intended to answer your questions to help you determine whether you want to proceed with a claim.

“In addition, you should know that our firm works on a contingency-fee model. This means that if you do move forward with a car accident claim, the firm fronts all case expenses from beginning to end. When it’s finished, you only pay us if we successfully resolve your claim.”

Austin was surprised. “Really? Your firm covers the expenses as we go?”

“Yes. Don’t let concern over out-of-pocket costs keep you from proceeding. The only things you really need to determine are whether you’ve got a legitimate claim to pursue, and if so, whether you’re going to pursue it.”

How much is my car accident claim worth?

“How much is a claim like Austin’s worth?” Christine asked, making a note to herself as she went through her questions for Attorney Christian.

“That’s going to depend on the information we gather from two specific sources,” said Christian. “The first is the accident investigation. We’ll go through the police report from the scene, but we’ll also want to conduct our own investigation to determine all at-fault parties and connect their actions to your damages. This is the stage in which we really clarify the strength of your claim.

“After that, we’ll need you to reach what is called ‘maximum medical improvement,’” said Christian. “This means you get back to where your health was before the accident, or as close to it as possible. When you get there, the doctors will understand how much of a negative impact the accident is likely to have on your life going forward. Part of getting to this point will involve being done with surgeries as well.”

“So, the doctors would need Austin to be done with procedures on his neck and healed to the point that they will know how much mobility will return before they can declare that he’s reached maximum medical improvement?” Christine asked.

“That’s right. We’ll need to know this information to make sure we pursue all that you deserve in compensation for the damage that’s been done to your life, Austin,” Christian said. “Right now, your only job is to rest and focus all your energy on recovery.

“The beauty of hiring an attorney for your claim is that you do get to focus on healing without worry and stress over moving a claim forward. We’ll take care of everything involved in your claim,” said Attorney Christian.

“When you reach maximum medical improvement, we’ll know your damages. We’ll then combine all that we’ve learned from the investigation with your damages and arrive at an accurate claim value,” he added.

“Speaking of which,” Christine said, holding up a vibrating phone, “the insurance company keeps leaving voicemails. Should we answer their calls? Austin said to wait until we spoke to you, but I’m afraid we’re going to hold up the claims process if we don’t.”

“Austin is right. It is not in your best interests to speak with anyone from the insurance company without an attorney’s guidance,” Attorney Christian said.

“My recommendation is that you get yourself an attorney as soon as possible and turn over all communications with the insurance company to them. This is something we do for our clients. Handling recorded interviews on your behalf prevents the insurance company from twisting your words against you. Trust me, they’ll be trying to trip you up with your own words to discredit your claim. It’s not fair, but the more they can deflect blame away from their client, the less they have to pay you.”

How long does a car accident claim take?

“Sounds good to me,” said Christine, setting the phone on the nightstand. “How long does a claim take?”

“That will depend, first, on how long it takes you to reach maximum medical improvement, Austin,” said Christian, turning to the young man. “Once you are there and we determine the value of your claim, we’ll send a demand letter to the insurance company. That’s when the second factor kicks in on your timeline: whether they’ll agree to our compensation request or fight us.

“If they agree, we’ll wrap up your claim without further delay. If they are unreasonable about compensating you, however, we’ll file a lawsuit.

“Going to trial would extend your timeline, but if that becomes the only way to bring you the compensation you deserve, Austin, that’s where we’ll go.

“Please try not to worry over it, either way. Our firm has a long, successful record of winning car accident claims, both through negotiation and in court. Either way, we’ll be ready to stand up for your rights,” Christian said. “That’s why I urge you to make sure you hire a personal injury trial attorney, no matter which firm you decide on.”

Austin and Christine were comfortable with the information they received in their free legal consultation. Austin retained Christian & Christian, and Attorney Josh Christian got Austin over six times the amount initially offered by the insurance company.

Call Our Greenville Car Accident Lawyers Today

We hope you’ve gained some helpful information from this page. As no two claims are the same, we urge you to reach out to our Greenville car accident lawyers as soon as you can to schedule your free consultation. Let us answer your questions and explain how we can make a difference in your ability to collect the compensation you deserve.