Store Liability in a Slip and Fall Accident in South Carolina

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Retail stores have an obligation to their customers, vendors, and anyone else who comes on the property to maintain a safe environment. Unfortunately, store staff may get so busy that they neglect this duty or simply forget to remove potential hazards. Neither is a valid reason to put other people in harm’s way.

The following are common types of slip and fall injuries in grocery and retail stores in South Carolina:

  • Fall due to slipping on a recently mopped floor, liquids spilled by other customers, or tracked-in rain water
  • Items left in a walkway such as a pallet of food at a grocery store or tools and equipment used to set up a display in a retail store
  • Merchandise or debris falling from a shelf and striking a customer
  • Improper design, installation, and repair of elevators and escalators
  • Poor lighting in the store or its parking lot causing a fall

If you have been injured in a slip and fall accident in a South Carolina store, you may be entitled to file a personal injury lawsuit. However, you must do so within the three-year statute of limitations. The clock for filing a lawsuit begins from the day of your injury.

Premises Liability and Slip and Fall Accidents in South Carolina

These types of accidents fall under the general category of premises liability, which means that the owner of the property has a legal obligation to keep it safe. Even so, proving the store owner’s liability can be much more challenging than you might think. The store owner might deny that you sustained an injury on his or her property or claim that you caused your own injuries by not paying attention to your surroundings. It can quickly become a legal game of “he said, she said”. To evaluate a slip and fall case properly, South Carolina judges consider the following two rules carefully:

  1. The obligation to keep the property safe lies with the store owner, not the visitor. That means he or she must remove or warn of potential hazards for all visitors, including customers, tenants, personal visitors, and vendors. As an example, the owner of a grocery store must instruct employees to put up a “Slippery When Wet” sign after mopping the floor and a retail manager would be negligent to use shelving known to break.
  2. The store visitor must use the property as intended or a judge could deem him or her responsible for the slip and fall accident. For example, someone visiting the store for the sole purpose of holding it up may have a difficult time finding a judge sympathetic to his or her case if injured.

An important thing to keep in mind with a slip and fall accident at a store is that tracking down the owner of the property could prove challenging. That person could live across the country or even across the world and rent out the property to a local store manager. This is when you need an experienced South Carolina injury law firm like Peake & Fowler working for you.

Potential Compensation from Your Personal Injury Case

When you retain Peake & Fowler for your personal injury case, we first determine who is liable for your injuries and then try to settle the case with that person or organization’s insurance company. Unfortunately, people often fail to take responsibility for their actions or even blame the injured person for the accident, so we are fully prepared to take your case to trial if it gets to that point. Our experienced South Carolina personal injury attorneys work hard to prove the other party’s negligence so you can obtain the financial compensation you deserve. You may receive some or all of the following types of compensation if you win the case:

  • Payment for all medical expenses associated with the accident, including future costs
  • Payment for time missed from work
  • Payment for decreased earning power or permanent disability, if applicable
  • Payment for damage to personal property, if applicable
  • Non-economic damages such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, and mental anguish

Contact an Experienced South Carolina Attorney at Peake & Fowler

At Peake & Fowler, we don’t recover a fee unless we win a personal injury settlement or jury verdict on your behalf. We also offer all new clients a free consultation. If you’re suffering due to someone else’s negligence, we encourage you to contact us immediately for a confidential case review. Contact our compassionate South Carolina slip and fall attorneys today at (803) 788-4370 or online.

Time Limit in South Carolina on Filing an Injury Claim

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If you have been injured in an accident or have an insurance claim in South Carolina, there are some state laws that could impact the outcome of your case. One of the most important laws relates to how long you have to file an injury claim after an accident. This could depend on the circumstances of your accident and the type of injury claim that you have.

What is a Statute of Limitations?

A time limit to file an injury claim is often referred to in legal terms as the “statute of limitations.” This is a legal rule that defines the amount of time that you have to file a lawsuit. If you try to file a lawsuit after the statute of limitations has run, your claim will be barred, and the defendant will automatically win the case. The purpose of the state’s statute of limitations is to limit the number of cases brought before the courts and help defendants with potentially frivolous lawsuits.

Each state has its own statute of limitations for various types of lawsuits, including different types of personal injury cases. A statute of limitations doesn’t necessarily start to run at the moment an accident or injury takes place. Instead, the statute of limitations will begin at the time a person knows or should have known that they suffered from harm as well as the nature of that harm.

Some circumstances may also allow for the statute of limitations to be extended. This is particularly true in accidents involving minors. For example, an injured minor will typically not have their statute of limitations clock begin until they reach the age of 18. Also, if someone was incapacitated or suffered from a severe mental illness, their statute of limitations might be extended due to disability.

How Long You Have to File an Injury Claim in South Carolina

In South Carolina, the statute of limitations for filing any type of personal injury claim is three years, unless the defendant is a government entity, then it is two years, unless a “statement of claim” has been filed within the first year. This time limit is set in the South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 15 Chapter 3. For cases that allege false arrest, slander, libel, false imprisonment, and defamation, the time limit is two years. The statute of limitations is fairly clear cut in most personal injury cases, such as car and truck accidents.

In many cases, South Carolina uses the “discovery rule,” which could extend the time period allowed to file an injury claim. Under the discovery rule, the statute doesn’t begin until the date that an injury party both knows of an injury and that there is the existence of a cause of action against another party.

Time Limits for South Carolina Work-Related Accident Claims

The time limits to report and file suit on a work-related injury are different than those for a personal injury case. These are governed by the state’s workers’ compensation code. For example, employees have just 90 days to report a work-related accident or injury. In the case of an occupational disease, the “accident” date is the time that the employee either becomes aware of the condition or becomes disabled.

There is another time limit for work-related injuries that applies to the formal filing of a workers’ compensation claim. An injured worker has just two years from the date of injury to file a worker’s compensation claim with the state Commission.

South Carolina Wrongful Death Statute of Limitations

The statute of limitations for filing a wrongful death claim in South Carolina is the same as that of a personal injury claim. That means that if you have lost a loved one in a car accident, truck accident, pedestrian accident, products liability or premises liability case, you only have three years to file a lawsuit (two years if the Defendant is a government entity). The discovery date rule also applies here, which means that the statute of limitations won’t begin to run until the date that you were aware that negligence was the cause of a loved one’s death.

Get Help With Your South Carolina Injury Case

Letting your case go past the legal time limits to file an injury claim is one sure way to ensure that your case is dismissed. This is why it’s a good idea to speak with an experienced South Carolina accident attorney as soon as possible after your accident. Giving yourself plenty of time to heal, gather evidence, and build your case is the best way to work towards collecting the compensation you deserve. Contact the personal injury attorneys at Peake & Fowler at (803) 788-4370 now to schedule a free consultation to discuss your case.