Rock Hill Personal Injury Lawyers

A “personal injury” is any type of injury to a person’s body, from a fracture from a slip and fall to more serious injury and harm such as spinal cord damage or traumatic brain injury. Personal injury also includes mental harm and emotional distress that a bodily injury brings on. If someone’s intentional or negligent conduct causes you to suffer injury, or if you suffer harm from a defective product, you may be eligible to recover compensation through a personal injury lawsuit.

If you get into an accident of any kind, you will protect your rights and interests by talking with a lawyer about your case. A lawyer can review what happened to you and give you a frank assessment. If your case involves significant injuries, you will be better off working with an attorney experienced in personal injury law rather than trying to handle the matter on your own. The lawyer will know how to investigate and litigate your case and pursue the maximum amount for you.

Insurance companies are for-profit businesses. They make money by collecting premiums and paying as little as possible in claims. So, if an insurer contacts you after an accident, you need to be cautious. You should speak with a lawyer first before you give a statement or accept a settlement offer of any kind. In fact, once you hire a lawyer, the lawyer will deal with the insurer on your behalf so you can focus on your health.

At McKinney, Tucker & Lemel LLC, we won’t ask you to pay any upfront costs or legal fees in your personal injury case. Instead, we will represent you on a contingency fee basis. This means that you will pay nothing unless we secure compensation for you through a settlement or a judgment. Our legal fees will reflect a percentage of the financial recovery that we obtain for you. We will agree on that percentage at the outset of our representation.

Your health insurance, your auto insurance, or your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance could possibly cover all or some of your medical bills. Of course, our attorneys will seek a recovery of all your past and future medical expenses as part of a settlement or judgment. We can also work with health care providers to delay payment of your bills until we resolve your case. The bottom line: We want you to get the treatment you need. We don’t want you to worry about paying bills.

The statute of limitations is a law that limits the time that you have to file a personal injury claim. Although exceptions apply in certain cases, you generally will have only three years from the date of your injury to bring a personal injury claim in South Carolina. If you miss the statute of limitations deadline, you can lose your right to compensation. So, you should contact a personal injury attorney about your case as soon as possible after an accident.

Not all personal injury claims go to court. In fact, our attorneys resolve most of our clients’ cases through settlements, which avoids the need for a trial. We believe it is important to work with a law firm that will thoroughly investigate and prepare a claim for success at trial. When an insurance company knows what it is up against, the insurer will be more likely to agree to a settlement that provides full and fair compensation.

Many factors go into the time it takes to reach a settlement, including the complexity of the investigation, the other side’s willingness to cooperate with providing information, and how much negotiation must take place. For instance, if the other side accepts liability and agrees to the amount of damages, a case can settle fairly quickly. However, if the other side challenges liability or damages – or both – it will add more time. In some cases, the other side may not agree to settle until after a trial starts or a jury returns a verdict. At McKinney, Tucker & Lemel LLC, we know timing is important to our clients. We will always work as efficiently as possible in your case.

The answer depends on the facts and circumstances in your case. The extent of harm that you have suffered and the amount of available insurance coverage will be two main factors. Rest assured, our personal injury lawyers will pursue the maximum amount for you and identify all sources of compensation available in your case. The damages that we pursue on your behalf may include past and future medical expenses, lost income, reduction in your future earning capacity due to a disability, pain and suffering, and emotional distress. We may also request punitive damages, which mainly serve to punish a party’s egregious misconduct.

Some refer to pain and suffering as a “subjective” category of damages. In other words, the amount is a matter of opinion. However, you can still present evidence that supports the amount sought for pain and suffering. The nature and extent of your injuries, for instance, are important factors. Your own statements or statements from family, friends, and co-workers about how much your injuries have affected your quality of life can also serve as powerful evidence.

South Carolina follows a “modified comparative negligence” rule. Under this rule, you can still recover damages even if your own negligence contributed to your injuries. However, your damages would be reduced in proportion to your degree of fault. For instance, if you were 25 percent at fault, your damages would be reduced by 25 percent. You would be barred from a financial recovery only if your fault exceeds the fault of the other party (or combined fault of the other parties).

As we discussed above, insurance companies will look for ways to deny or reduce your payout. So, anything you say about your case on social media, the insurance can (and likely will) try to use against you. For this reason, you should never discuss your case on Facebook or other social media sites. Because an insurer may try to take a message or photo out of context, you should really avoid social media use altogether until your case ends.

When it comes to filing a successful personal injury claim, the client should always come first. We believe that effective cases are founded on a positive attorney-client relationship. That’s why our lawyers work hard to give clients the best service we can offer.

Our South Carolina personal injury attorneys will zealously represent you throughout your recovery, investigate the facts, and attempt to resolve your case in the way that best suits you. We have experience dealing with insurance companies, negotiating or working out settlements, and going to trial if necessary. We devote our best efforts to getting the result you expect.

As with any case involving injury, it is important that you contact an attorney as soon as possible after you are injured so that evidence and statements can be obtained while events are fresh not only in your mind but in the minds of any witnesses. Evidence-gathering should begin immediately. We take on this responsibility to allow you and your family to focus on recovering.

We can also help counsel you on questions you have about the process, probabilities of success, expected results, etc. Our injury attorneys will work to answer your questions concerning the many issues that arise while working through your recovery. These issues may include:

• Payment for your vehicle or property damage
• Payment and negotiation of medical bills
• Loss of income, both current and future
• The loss of your ability to take care of your family
• The loss of your ability to enjoy time spent with family and friends
• The pain that your injuries are causing you and others

Car accidents, whether involving a tractor-trailer truck or a passenger car, are among the most common causes of personal injury that we encounter. Motorcycle accidents are another common cause of serious injury. Often, a drunk driver or some other type of impaired driver (either sleep deprived or distracted) contributes to the accidents. The emerging evidence of car accidents caused by cell phone use, texting, and social media is both frightening and a sobering reminder of how careless actions by another driver can cause tragic pain to you and your family. The recovery from this pain can takes months and even years to resolve. We also handle bicycle accident cases, nursing home abuse injury cases, construction accident cases, premises liability cases, cases involving pedestrian accidents, and more.

The types of compensation available in a personal injury case are generally either compensatory or punitive. Compensatory damages are for covering the costs of treatment or for the suffering you may have experienced. Punitive damages are an extra amount charged to the negligent party in order to penalize them for their behavior and discourage them from engaging in that behavior in the future.

Compensatory damages could include:

• Medical expenses
• Therapy
• Loss of income
• Property damages
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Loss of consortium