Accidents happen–even in Forest Acres. When these accidents are preventable, and you are hurt because someone else acted negligently or recklessly, it is your right to hold the at-fault party accountable for compensation. The financial, physical, and emotional costs of accident-caused injuries add up quickly and bring serious loss. To recover your losses, connect with a personal injury lawyer from Shelly Leeke Law Firm.
Trust a Forest Acres personal injury attorney from our team to custom-design a case that keeps your best interests at heart. Our goal is to get you the settlement you need to recover and stabilize your financial future.
Types of Personal Injury Claims in Forest Acres
When you are harmed by a preventable accident caused by someone else, you may have grounds for a personal injury lawsuit. It does not matter what type of accident you are involved in. What matters is that someone else caused it through their negligence or intentional act.
That said, many personal injury claims are prompted by:
- Motor-vehicle accidents: cars, trucks, motorcycles, rideshare vehicles
- Slip-and-fall incidents or other premises liability cases
- Pedestrian and bicycle accidents
- Boating accidents
- Medical malpractice
- Defective products
- Intentional acts of violence
- Work accidents
What You Must Prove for a Successful Outcome
To secure a settlement in a personal injury claim, you must prove the four elements of negligence. A Forest Acres personal injury attorney will collect and present the evidence needed to show:
- The at-fault party owed you a duty of care
- The at-fault party failed to fulfill their duty of care
- The failure caused your accident
- The accident caused your damages
A duty of care is a legal obligation to keep others safe. For example, drivers owe all others sharing the roads a duty to practice safe driving behaviors, abide by traffic laws, and avoid unsafe driving practices, such as speeding or driving while fatigued, distracted, or intoxicated. Property owners owe their visitors a duty to keep their premises safe from hazards, such as broken steps or railings, slippery floors, or potentially aggressive pets.
How a Personal Injury Attorney in Forest Acres Will Work Your Case
Your attorney’s resources, connections to experts, knowledge of the law and the legal process, and overall experience will prove invaluable in your personal injury case. Along with providing you with wise counsel, keeping you informed of your case’s progress, and serving as a formidable ally, your attorney will:
- Carry out a comprehensive investigation. Most likely, your attorney will enlist the expertise of accident reconstructionists to determine the cause of the accident and identify the at-fault party.
- Collect evidence to prove negligence. Your lawyer will explore every avenue for evidence, including the accident scene itself, photo or video footage accessed from traffic or security cameras, witness statements, insight from relevant experts, testimonies from your caregivers, and other sources
- File your injury claim on time. South Carolina has a three-year statute of limitations–a legal deadline–for filing your claim. Prompt partnership with a Forest Acres attorney allows time for investigation and evidence collection well before that filing window closes
- Value your losses. It can be difficult for victims to calculate their damages fully. Your attorney will not overlook any areas of loss
- Negotiate your settlement. The insurance companies representing at-fault parties are not quick to release high settlements, even when they know victims deserve them. They will fight to reduce the amount or deny compensation altogether, seizing on South Carolina’s 51% rule. Your attorney will fight to prevent insurance companies from getting away with paying you less than they owe.
- Represent you in court. Most personal injury cases settle out of court, but sometimes the at-fault party’s representatives refuse to play fair. Then, your attorney will discuss your options with you and, if you go to court, will give you effective representation at every proceeding.
Representation from a Personal Injury Lawyer in Forest Acres Is Critical to Your Case
Each type of personal injury case–and each case itself–comes with its own set of nuances. You need a personal injury lawyer in Forest Acres who can navigate those nuances so you do not risk losing a settlement.
For example, truck and other commercial drivers have to abide by more than the extensive “rules of the road” applying to drivers of privately owned vehicles. You need a truck accident attorney who understands these regulations and holds truck companies and drivers accountable for any non-compliance. Rideshare companies have a specific insurance structure determining “who pays” when accidents occur, and you need an attorney who will not let the different insurance companies play the blame game while you suffer.
South Carolina property owners owe their guests different degrees of “duty of care” depending on the type of property they own, private or commercial. When owners have attractive nuisances, such as swimming pools, play equipment, or other structures that may attract children and cause them unintentional harm, they must secure those structures according to government regulations. If they do not, the property owner can be held liable even when children enter the property uninvited, enticed, and then hurt by the attractive nuisance.
You Need a Just Settlement to Be “Made Whole”
Some of your injuries may never fully heal, even with a high settlement. While money cannot solve all of your problems, personal injury settlements work to make you whole–to restore you to your pre-accident condition as much as possible and to acknowledge those losses that cannot be restored.
The amount of your settlement is affected by the specifics of your accident and the extent of your injuries and losses but typically covers:
- Financial losses: Medical bills, costs for future care, lost wages, lost potential earnings and benefits (if applicable), and any other expenses incurred by the accident
- Non-financial losses: Physical suffering, emotional trauma, loss to your overall quality of life
If the at-fault party’s actions were especially appalling, you may be entitled to punitive damages under statute 15-32-510. Punitive damages are additional monies paid by the at-fault party on top of the compensatory amount. They punish the negligent party and provide victims with a sense of justice.
If You Have Been Hurt, We Are Here for You
The team at Shelly Leeke is dedicated to getting justice for accident victims in Forest Acres. Call or send a message to arrange a free consultation with an experienced, caring Forest Acres personal injury lawyer.
We will put all our resources and energy into your injury case so you can look forward to a brighter future and a fuller recovery.
