Is South Carolina an At-Fault State

The at-fault driver's liability insurer is the main payer for an injury claim, because that policy exists to cover people its driver hurts. Frost Law Group can build the claim around that policy once the evidence shows who caused the collision. Say a driver rolls through a stop sign on Central Avenue and strikes your car. Your medical bills become a claim against that driver's bodily injury coverage, and your car becomes a claim against the property damage coverage.

What if the at-fault driver borrowed the car? Section 38-77-142 requires every liability policy to cover the named insured and anyone driving with the named insured's express or implied consent. So a friend's borrowed SUV usually brings the policy on that SUV into the claim, subject to its terms. Section 38-77-142(B) also limits one coverage defense. When the insurer actually knows someone served its insured with a suit, the insured's failure to forward the papers is no defense for the insurer. That rule holds only if the insured otherwise cooperates and does not prejudice the insurer.

The Department of Insurance lists pain and suffering, lost wages and medical expenses among the losses a bodily injury claim may include. None of that money arrives automatically. An insurer usually weighs the report, the photos and the statements before it accepts fault. The value of any claim depends on evidence a lawyer has to review.

South Carolina's minimum liability limits are $25,000 for bodily injury to one person and $50,000 for bodily injury to two or more people in one accident. The property damage floor is $25,000, so the whole pattern reads 25/50/25. Section 38-77-140 sets those numbers for each insured vehicle, and they also set the floor for the UM coverage on your own policy. Frost Law Group can compare them with the medical bills to see whether one policy can cover the loss.

Nothing stops a driver from buying more, and Section 38-77-140 says so directly. SCDMV also will not register a car until the owner shows the required insurance, under Section 56-10-10. Whether the other driver's limits are enough depends on the injuries and the proof, which a lawyer has to weigh case by case.

When both drivers share the blame, each injured driver's recovery drops by his or her own share of fault. Recovery ends if that share is greater than the fault of the other driver. The test comes from a 1991 South Carolina Supreme Court decision, Nelson v. Concrete Supply Co. Frost Law Group represents people in comparative negligence claims where the split between drivers decides whether anything survives.

In a tort system, the split between two careless drivers also decides which policy pays whom. Two drivers found equally careless in a merge on Interstate 26 may each recover half of their own damages through the other's liability coverage.

A different split would change that result, and the split rests on the evidence. Consider a left turn across oncoming traffic on Bacons Bridge Road. Section 56-5-2320 tells a left-turning driver to yield when an oncoming car is near enough to create an immediate hazard. Even so, a turning driver who broke that rule does not carry all the fault by default if the oncoming car was speeding.

Officers can list up to five contributing factors on a South Carolina collision report. A listed factor records the officer's view of the crash, not a finding of fault. Frost Law Group can check each listed factor against the South Carolina car accident laws that set those duties.

If the at-fault driver has no insurance, your own uninsured motorist coverage pays what you could have recovered from that driver, up to its limits. Section 38-77-150 makes that coverage, called UM, a required part of every auto policy delivered in this state. Section 38-77-30 also counts some insured cars as uninsured, such as one whose insurer successfully denies coverage or goes insolvent. Frost Law Group represents people in uninsured motorist coverage disputes with their own carriers when the other driver had nothing to offer.

UM limits start at the same 25/50/25 floor, with no less than $25,000 of coverage for your damaged property. A policy can leave the first $200 of that loss uncovered. Fault still matters here. Your carrier may answer a lawsuit in the uninsured driver's name and dispute both fault and damages.

A UM lawsuit follows its own procedure. Under Section 38-77-150, copies of the pleadings must reach the UM carrier, and the carrier may appear within 30 days of service. Frost Law Group can serve the carrier, so the UM claim moves forward in the same suit.