Goose Creek Personal Injury Attorneys

If you have been involved in a serious personal injury accident, it is crucial that you contact a Goose Creek personal injury lawyer. While South Carolina law provides a way for accident victims to recover for their injuries, the process is complex and adversarial. Insurance companies frequently try to take advantage of often injury victims in the wake of an accident, and it is essential that you have someone advocating on your behalf.

At the Steinberg Law Firm, LLC, we represent accident victims and their families in all types of Goose Creek workers’ compensation and personal injury claims, helping them recover for their injuries. Our knowledgeable and compassionate attorneys have over 170 years of combined legal experience handling Goose Creek injury claims and possess the knowledge and professionalism to handle your case from beginning to end with the utmost care and consideration. We have recovered over $800 million for our clients, and we look forward to helping you pursue the compensation you deserve. While no law firm can win every case, we proudly apply the same level of care and dedication to every client we serve.

Statistics Section

Car Accident Statistics: 

In 2018, there was one South Carolina traffic accident every 3.7 minutes.

• A fatal collision occurred every 9 hours
• A motorist died every 8.5 hours
• Someone was injured every 13.8 minutes

In 2018:

• There were 1,036 people killed in South Carolina car accidents
◦ Approximately half of all accident victims who died in car accidents were not wearing their seatbelts.
• There were 168 pedestrians killed in South Carolina car accidents
• There were 22 pedestrians killed in South Carolina car accidents

Over the past five years, the number of fatal South Carolina car accidents has increased from 756 in 2014 to 969 in 2018.

Slip and Fall Statistics:

• In 2016, about 9.2 million people were treated in hospitals for fall-related injuries.
• Falls are the leading cause of death in older adults.
• Each year, 30 percent of older adults report falling. This amounts to about 30 million falls each year.
• In 2016, 697 workers died in fall-related accidents, and another 48,000 missed at least a day of work after falling on the job.
• One out of five falls results in a serious injury, such as a head injury or broken bones.
• Over 800,000 people are hospitalized each year due to fall-related injuries.
• The most commonly reported type of injuries are head injuries and hip fractures.
• Falls are the most common cause of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs)
• In South Carolina, 67 out of every 100,000 people will die as a result of fall-related injuries. 

Work Injury Statistics:

According to the National Safety Council, the leading causes of non-fatal workplace accidents are:

• Overexertion (280,000 accidents)
• Slips, trips and falls (240,000 accidents)
• Coming into contact with an object or equipment (235,000 accidents)
• Transportation accidents (50,000 accidents)
• Workplace violence (44,000 accidents)
• Exposure to harmful chemicals (40,000 accidents)

The five occupations with the highest rate of annual fatalities:

1. Drivers, sales workers and truck drivers
2. Farmers, ranchers and others in the agricultural industry
3. Grounds maintenance workers
4. Roofers
5. Aircraft pilots and flight engineers

Types of Goose Creek Personal Injury Claims

As the old saying goes, “accidents happen.” However, the reality is that the vast majority of Goose Creek personal injury cases result from one or more parties’ negligence. Accidents can – and often do – happen during the most routine daily activities. Dropping the kids off at school, shopping for groceries, undergoing a routine medical procedure – each of these seemingly mundane activities can result in severe and irreversible injuries when another’s negligence is involved.

At the Steinberg Law Firm, we represent accident victims in a wide range of personal injury cases, including the following:

• Car accidents
• Medical malpractice
• Slip and falls
• Dog bites
• Intentional acts of violence
• Wrongful death claims
• Head and spine injuries
• Amputations
• Nursing home abuse and neglect
• Dog bites
• Defective products
• Workplace injuries

Most personal injury cases are based on the legal theory of negligence. To establish a Goose Creek negligence claim, an accident victim must establish four elements:

1. The other party owed them a duty of care;
2. Through some action or failure to act, the other party violated the duty of care;
3. The breach of the duty resulted in the accident victim’s injuries; and
4. The accident victim suffered some type of legally recognizable harm, such as physical or emotional injury.

While several state and federal laws can work in your favor during a personal injury lawsuit, there is an equal number of rules governing how these claims must be brought. For example, generally, South Carolina gives accident victims three years from the date of injury to file a lawsuit against another party. Additionally, certain types of personal injury claims, such as Goose Creek medical malpractice cases, require an accident victim to comply with additional procedural requirements. To best understand your rights, and what is required of you, it is advised that you work with a dedicated personal injury attorney. The attorneys at the Steinberg Law Firm can help guide you through the process and ensure that your case complies with all applicable laws and court rules.

Damages in a Goose Creek Personal Injury Lawsuit

The compensation available to an accident victim through a Goose Creek personal injury case will vary on a case-by-case basis. However, South Carolina generally provides for two main types of damages, economic and non-economic damages.

Economic damages are those for which a monetary value can easily be determined. For example, common types of economic damages include:

• Past medical bills
• Future medical expenses
• Lost wages
• Decrease in earning capacity

Non-economic damages are less tangible than economic damages in that they require some element of subjectivity determining their value. Common types of South Carolina non-economic damages include:

• Pain and suffering
• Mental anguish
• Humiliation
• Disfigurement
• Loss of reputation
• Emotional distress
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Physical impairment
• Inconvenience
• Loss of consortium (involving a spousal relationship)
• Loss of society and companionship (involving a relationship with others)

Although non-economic damages are less concrete in terms of their value, these damages will often exceed economic damages in many Goose Creek injury lawsuits.

Occasionally, an accident victim will be partially at fault for their injuries. However, those who fear that their own actions played a role in the accident causing their injuries should not be deterred from pursuing a claim. This is because South Carolina uses the “modified comparative fault” doctrine when determining which accident victims can recover for their injuries. Under this doctrine of law, an injured party can recover against other at-fault parties as long as the injured party’s negligence does not exceed the total negligence of the other parties combined. In other words, an accident victim can still bring a claim against another party if they were less than 51 percent at fault. However, if a judge or jury determines that an injury victim is partially at fault, the court will reduce that party’s damages award by their percentage of fault.

In some instances, South Carolina law places a cap on the total amount of damages an accident victim can obtain. Damage caps in South Carolina apply in cases against charitable institutions and government entities. In addition, there are caps on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases, including some cases brought against nursing homes.

The Goose Creek personal injury lawyers at the Steinberg Law Firm will effectively pursue maximum compensation for your injuries, regardless of the type of case or whom it is filed against.

Discuss Your Injuries With an Experienced Goose Creek Personal Injury Attorney Today

If you have been hurt, our Goose Creek personal injury lawyers want to help. We represent clients in all types of injury claims, including those involving slip-and-falls, car accidents, medical malpractice, nursing home abuse, construction defects and wrongful death. Our team of attorneys are skilled negotiators as well as aggressive litigators and can seamlessly switch between those roles, as necessary.

At the Steinberg Law Firm, our attorneys have over 200 years of collective experience handling almost every type of personal injury case imaginable. Given this broad base of experience, chances are, we have handled a case just like yours. To learn more about how we can help you pursue a claim for compensation based on the injuries you or your loved one has sustained, call 843-720-2800, or contact us through our online form.