South Carolina Car Accident Statute of Limitations

For most injury claims, the three years start on the day of the crash. Section 15-3-535 runs the period from the date a person knew, or with reasonable diligence should have known, that he had a cause of action. In a collision, that knowledge usually arrives the same day. Counting from the crash is the safe course, and Frost Law Group can check whether a later start could apply.

That discovery language reaches only injury claims under subsection (5). A claim for the damaged car falls under subsection (4), so its three years get no later start. Suppose a pickup rear-ends your sedan on Central Avenue and shoulder pain sets in afterward. The repair claim and the injury claim may raise different date questions, and a lawyer should review both. Frost Law Group also handles claims for injuries that appear after the crash, where the start date gets a close look.

Usually yes, though the extra time has a firm end point. Section 15-3-40 says the years a child spends under 18 do not count against the child's own claim. The same section limits that extension to one year after the disability ends. For a minor, the disability ends at 18, so the added time stops one year after that birthday. Section 15-3-50 applies the pause only when the person was under 18 on the day the claim arose.

Take a 12-year-old passenger hurt in a crash on Bacons Bridge Road. The pause runs until age 18, and the extension cannot reach past the 19th birthday. Parents who assume the child has until 21 can miss the real date. For a 17-year-old, the ordinary three years already run past age 19, so the pause adds nothing. Frost Law Group can compare the birth date with the crash date to find which count controls.

Section 15-3-40 also covers suits under the Tort Claims Act, so a child hurt by a government driver keeps the same capped extension. The pause protects only the child's own claim. Whether a parent's separate claim for the child's medical bills gets the same pause is a question to raise early.

A family's wrongful death suit must be filed within three years of the day the person died, under Section 15-3-530(6). The crash date does not start that count. The two dates differ when someone survives the collision and dies later in the hospital, and counting from the crash would give away time the statute allows.

Consider a driver struck on North Main Street who dies after days of treatment. The three years for the family's case run from the death, while other deadlines tied to the crash may run on their own terms. Frost Law Group represents grieving families in wrongful death claims after fatal wrecks. If a government vehicle caused the death, the shorter Tort Claims Act rule controls instead.

When a government vehicle or road caused the crash, the deadline comes from the South Carolina Tort Claims Act, and it runs shorter. Section 15-78-110 generally gives an injured person two years. The count begins on the date the loss came to light, or the date a reasonable person would have spotted it. A three-year window opens only when the injured person first files a verified claim with the government body. Under Section 15-78-80(d), that claim has to land at the agency no later than one year after the same discovery date.

A verified claim is a sworn written account of what happened, when and where, who was involved and the amount of the loss. The state's claims office, or the local government involved, then has 180 days to allow or disallow it. Under Section 15-78-80(e), silence counts as a disallowance. Under Section 15-78-90(b), the claimant must hold off on suing until the earliest of three events. Those are 180 days passing, a disallowance, or the agency's rejection of a settlement offer. Frost Law Group can time the claim so that wait still fits inside the deadline.

No. An open claim with an adjuster does not by itself pause the South Carolina car accident statute of limitations. Sections 15-3-20 through 15-3-50 contain no pause for an insurer's review or an exchange of offers. A filed suit, followed by timely service, is what meets the deadline.

Picture an adjuster who keeps asking for one more set of records as the third anniversary of a Dorchester Road crash approaches. The request may be routine, yet the deadline keeps running. Frost Law Group can explain each stage of a car accident case, from the first demand letter to a jury trial.