Orangeburg Car Accident Lawyers

Orangeburg is the meeting point of many local roads: rt.601, rt. 178, rt. 21, and many more. All these roads see their fair share of accidents each year, especially Calhoun Dr, which runs right through town.

At Peake & Fowler, we fight aggressively to help our clients get the compensation they are owed. Ready to learn more about your legal options? Call us at 803-788-4370 to schedule a consultation.

How Our Team Can Help During This Challenging Time

We’re ready to tackle every aspect of your car accident claim in Orangeburg. Once we’ve sat down and gotten an overview of what happened and how it’s affected you, we’ll begin:

• Investigating the accident and figuring out how we can prove what happened, which may entail looking at security cameras, talking to witnesses, and more
• Collecting relevant evidence like photographs, video footage of the accident scene, eyewitness testimony, and your retelling of the crash
• Using evidence to determine liability so that we can recover compensation from the correct party
• Analyze your injuries and how they have affected you by looking at medical reports, finding out how much work you have missed, looking at your personal injury journal, and learning more about household tasks you have had to outsource
• Draft a demand letter to the liable party’s insurance company, outlining what we are asking for and why
• Work through negotiations with the insurance company, ensuring that we bring solid evidence and reasoning to the table
• Settle your case or go to court, depending on the outcome of negotiations—most cases settle, but we are also ready to go to court if that’s what it takes

Our sole goal in this process is to get you the compensation you’re owed. You can’t rely on the liable party’s insurance company to do what is right. They don’t care if you have suffered because of their client’s negligence—they simply want to limit the damage to their bottom line.

They may feign sympathy in order to get information that they can use against you, twist the details of your accident to make it look like your fault, or cast doubt on the severity of your injuries. By the time you realize your settlement offer is too low to consider, you’ve already done substantial harm to your case. While it’s never too late to bring in an attorney to help, it’s much easier if you hire one from the very beginning.

What You Need to Know About South Carolina Accidents

If you’ve been hurt in a South Carolina car crash, you aren’t alone. The South Carolina Traffic Collision Fact Book reports that South Carolina accidents have been trending in the wrong direction. Between 2019 and 2020, traffic fatalities increased, the number of fatal accidents jumped, and the mileage death rate also saw a sizable increase. In fatal traffic collisions, 82% were caused by the actions of a driver. That number creeps up to 94% for non-fatal crashes.

Some of the most common causes of car accidents in South Carolina include:

• Driving too fast for weather or road conditions
• Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol
• Improper lane changes
• Following too closely
• Failing to yield right of way
• Failing to adhere to signs, traffic signals, and traffic lights

Crashes are more common on U.S. primary routes and South Carolina primary routes than interstates and county roads. This may include local roads like Highway 601, Highway 301, U.S. 178, and State Highway 21.

Accident Laws in South Carolina

If you plan on filing a personal injury claim, it’s important to know the statute of limitations. Simply put, if you wait too long to file a claim, you completely lose your right to compensation. In South Carolina, you generally have three years after the accident to file a lawsuit against the liable party. There are exceptions, though, so you should talk to an attorney as soon as possible. For example, you only have two years to file if the liable party is a government entity.

What if you’re partially to blame for the accident? If you’re holding back on calling an attorney because you’re worried that you may not be able to recover anything, go ahead and call a lawyer now—even if you are partially to blame for a crash, you can still be compensated in South Carolina.

South Carolina follows the rule of comparative negligence. As long as your share of the blame is 50% or less, you are still able to recover damages in court.

Compensation for Car Collisions

If you have never been in a crash before, understanding compensation can be confusing. The goal of an accident settlement or court award is to make you whole for everything you’ve lost. Some types of compensation aim to cover the measurable costs of your crash, including:

• Medical bills
• Transport to and from medical appointments
• Property damage
• Lost wages

Other types of compensation attempt to help with losses that have no clear financial value, including:

• Pain and suffering
• Disability and disfigurement
• Loss of consortium
• Loss of quality of life

There is a third category of compensation known as punitive damages. These are only an option if your case goes to court. Punitive damages may be awarded if you can prove that the liable party acted willfully or with gross misconduct. That is to say, your accident must have been the result of significant negligence—not just a mistake that any person could make while driving.

Contact Our Team Now to Get Started

Seek justice for what you’ve lost with a personal injury claim. Our team is here and ready to help you fight for the compensation you are owed. Let’s start now and set up a free consultation. Give us a call now at 803-788-4370 or fill out our contact form and a team member will contact you directly.