If you’ve suffered an injury due to someone else’s negligence in an accident, an expert’s help is highly valuable. The physical, financial, and emotional losses you experience can be difficult to overcome without the compensation you are entitled. In a personal injury claim, you can seek compensation for your full range of legal damages, and working closely with an experienced Greenville, SC, personal injury attorney from the start can make a significant difference in the outcome of your claim.
Common Personal Injury Claims
Personal injury claims are based on negligence, and while no two are identical, some of the most common categories of these claims include the following:
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Bike accidents
- Wrongful death claims
- Slip and fall accidents, dog bites, and other forms of premises liability claims
Traffic Accident Personal Injury Claims
Traffic accidents – like car, truck, motorcycle, and bike accidents – are based on the at-fault driver’s failure to live up to the duty of care they owe everyone else on the road. Driver negligence can take many forms, including the following:
- Distraction
- Excess speed, including failure to adjust speed per the road’s condition
- Aggression
- Failure to follow traffic laws
- Impairment
- Exhaustion
How to Handle Various Types of Traffic Accidents
Traffic accidents are among the most common personal injury claims, and they come in many dangerous varieties.
Car Accidents
Car accidents are as common as they are dangerous. Both excess speed and impairment greatly increase the risk that a car accident will prove deadly. Drivers who fail to take the safety of those with whom they share the road seriously are often the primary cause of serious car accidents.
Truck Accidents
As the number of massive trucks on our roadways continues to rise, so do fatal truck accident statistics. A fully loaded semi-truck can weigh upwards of 80,000 pounds, which puts the occupants of the other vehicles involved in truck accidents at extreme risk of being seriously injured.
Motorcycle Accidents
Those who ride motorcycles are the most vulnerable to being involved in an accident. They have only their helmets to protect them from the profound impact of a crash, and because they take up so little space on the roadway, all the following apply:
- Too many drivers fail to look for and safely accommodate motorcyclists who share the road with them.
- Motorcyclists can easily be lost in other drivers’ blind spots.
- It’s more difficult for other motorists to gauge the speed that motorcyclists are driving and the distance from them that motorcyclists are.
- Motorcyclists can come to a stop at much shorter distances than other motorists can, which leaves them more vulnerable to life-threatening rear-end crashes.
Every driver is, nevertheless, responsible for taking the reasonable measures necessary to help ensure the safe passage of everyone on the road, which includes safely accounting for the vulnerabilities experienced by motorcyclists.
Bicycle Accidents
When you’re on your bike, you’re much smaller than the vehicles around you. You also lack their speed, power, and protective shell. As a result, even a relatively minor bicycle accident can lead to serious injuries and losses.
Dealing with Wrongful Death Claims in SC
In the State of South Carolina, a death that’s caused by another person or entity’s negligence is considered a wrongful death. These claims are similar to personal injury claims, except the person injured by the other party’s negligence didn’t survive the accident and, therefore, can’t file a personal injury claim.
Instead, the victim’s heirs can file a wrongful death claim on behalf of the victim’s legal damages – including their final medical bills and the cost of their funeral and burial. Heirs can also pursue compensation for related losses. It can take the form of financial support provided by the victim, compensation for their pain and suffering, and the loss of companionship they experience.
Understanding SC Premises Liability Claims
Premises liability claims address losses related to a property owner’s failure to take the reasonable precautions necessary to help protect the safety of their guests. One of the most common forms of premises liability claims is the slip and fall accident. Dog bites are also covered under premises liability, and in South Carolina, strict liability is employed, which means there is no so-called one-bite law.
An Experienced Greenville Personal Injury Attorney Can Help
The seasoned Greenville personal injury attorneys at Ryan Beasley Law are committed to helping valued clients like you fully recover compensation for the injuries they suffer due to the negligence of others. We welcome the opportunity to serve you, so please don’t wait to learn more by contacting us online or calling us at 864-679-7777 today.
Get In Touch