Uninsured Motorist Motorcycle Lawyers in Summerville

The declarations page is the summary sheet at the front of a policy, listing each coverage with its dollar limits. Section 38-77-150 requires the uninsured motorist provision to cover bodily injury and the insured's own property. So the UM entry on a bike's declarations page answers two different losses. The rider's medical bills and the repair estimate show whether each figure covers the loss it answers.

Bodily Injury Limits Under the Uninsured Motorist Provision

The bodily injury limit caps what the insurer pays for the rider's injuries. Section 38-77-30 defines bodily injury to include a death that results from it. A per-person figure applies to one injured rider. The per-accident figure comes into play when a passenger on the back is hurt too, and both people draw from it.

The Bike, Helmet and Jacket as Insured Property

The motorcycle itself, a cracked helmet and a torn jacket are all the rider's property. Section 38-77-150 requires at least $25,000 in uninsured motorist coverage for damage to the insured's property in one accident. A policy may exclude the first $200 of that loss, and the South Carolina Department of Insurance calls a $200 deductible typical. Under Section 38-77-210, the UM provision need not cover property damage that other insurance already paid. If collision coverage fixed the bike, the UM property line does not have to pay that loss again. Which items the property line reaches depends on the policy's wording.

The collision report, the FR-10 and the vehicle's registration each add a piece. Under Section 56-10-10, every owner of a registered vehicle must keep the required security for as long as the registration lasts. To register, an owner must also name the liability insurer and sign a perjury-backed statement that insurance is in place. Frost Law Group can request these records before an adjuster frames the claim.

Collision Report Copies From Summerville Police or SCDMV

The Summerville Police Department, at 108 North Cedar St., directs people to CrashDocs, a private portal, for the collision reports its officers write. SCDMV also releases official copies online, at a branch or through the mail on Form FR-50, and it charges a $10 fee per report. By SCDMV's own description, that report holds more detail than whatever a driver was handed on crash day. SCDMV cannot release it until the officer's report reaches the agency and goes through processing.

Registration Law Since the Uninsured Vehicle Fee Ended

South Carolina once let an owner register an uninsured vehicle by paying a fee. That option ended on July 1, 2024, when 2023 Act No. 51 reserved Section 56-10-510, the section that allowed it. Section 56-10-520 makes it a misdemeanor to drive your own uninsured vehicle or to let someone else drive it. A first conviction brings a fine of $100 to $200 or 30 days in jail. SCDMV also suspends the owner's license, registration and plates on notice of a violation.

A UM claim still turns on fault. Section 38-77-150(B) lets the rider's insurer appear and defend in the uninsured driver's name, so it can dispute fault as any liability carrier would. Under modified comparative negligence, the rider collects nothing if a jury puts more than half the fault on the rider. A smaller share shrinks the award by that percentage.

Frost Law Group also handles left-turn motorcycle crashes in which the car that turned across the rider carried no coverage. There the proof centers on where the bike was when the car started across its lane. How a jury might divide fault depends on evidence a lawyer tests, and no one can predict the split.

Section 56-5-1260 tells a driver in a crash that hurts or kills someone to notify police immediately, by the fastest means. Within town or city limits, the notice goes to the local police department, such as the Summerville Police Department. Outside municipal limits, notice goes either to the county sheriff or to the nearest Highway Patrol office.

Section 38-77-170 measures the report against all the circumstances rather than a set number of hours. Jack C. Frost's roles in fourteen years of law enforcement included corporal at the Summerville Police Department. He also worked as a detective at the Charleston County Sheriff's Office. He knows how an officer's narrative describes contact between vehicles, and that description can shape the choice of proof route.

Physical contact with the unknown vehicle is one route, but a rider who dodges a car and falls may never touch it. The statute also accepts a witness, and the 2024 rewrite added a recording as a third route. Frost Law Group applies the same section in hit and run claims for people in cars. Section 38-77-180, which allows suit against an unknown driver as John Doe, still speaks of injury by physical contact. A lawyer weighs that wording before filing any suit.

An Eyewitness Other Than the Rider

The witness route needs someone other than the owner or operator of the insured vehicle. On a motorcycle claim, that rules out the rider and the bike's owner. A driver who stopped behind the rider can qualify, and so can a pedestrian. The statute's wording appears to reach a passenger on the back of the bike as well. The statute then asks for one of two kinds of sworn proof.

Sworn Affidavits and the Statutory Warning Line

An affidavit is a written account that the witness swears is true, and this one describes the crash. Section 38-77-170(B) requires a capitalized warning, displayed prominently on its face, that a false statement may bring criminal penalties. Frost Law Group can check the affidavit for that warning before the witness signs.

Court-Ordered Testimony Before Any Lawsuit

Some witnesses talk freely at the roadside and then refuse to sign anything. The statute then lets the insured seek a judge's order to depose that witness before anyone files suit. The procedure comes from Rule 27 of the state's Rules of Civil Procedure, and the witness answers questions under oath. Tara L. Frost held a magistrate judgeship in Dorchester County from July 2022 to August 2025. Those years showed her how a court tests sworn testimony and a witness's credibility.

Recordings Showing the Unknown Vehicle Caused the Fall

A recording can also carry the claim if it shows the unknown vehicle caused the harm, whether captured electronically or by other means. A helmet camera, a following driver's dashcam or a gas station camera may qualify. The clip has to show the unknown car causing the fall, not merely a car passing nearby. Frost Law Group can send nearby businesses a written request to keep that footage.

Section 38-77-160 ties UM or UIM coverage over the basic limits to a particular vehicle. The policy protects the insured only to the extent of the coverage the insured has on the vehicle involved in the accident. If none of the insured's vehicles was involved, the limit is the coverage on any one vehicle that carries the added protection. For a rider, that makes the motorcycle's declarations page the starting point, even when the family car carries higher limits.

Riding the Motorcycle Listed on Your Policy

A rider hurt on his or her own motorcycle is riding the vehicle involved in the accident. Under the statute's wording, the UIM figure on that motorcycle is the reference point for coverage over the basic limits. A rider who bought high UIM limits on a truck and little or no UIM on a bike may discover the difference only after a crash. For a household with several policies, the result depends on the policy language and South Carolina case law, read together.

Riding a Borrowed Motorcycle

A rider on a friend's bike is a permissive user under the friend's policy, and permissive users fall in Class II. Stacking combines the UIM limits listed for two or more vehicles. The 1998 Concrete Services opinion, Opinion No. 24773, states that only Class I insureds may stack. Only the named insured, a spouse and relatives living in the named insured's household belong to Class I. Because the bike belongs to the friend, none of the rider's own vehicles was involved in that crash. Section 38-77-160 has a sentence for crashes that involve none of the insured's vehicles. Under it, the rider's own policy offers UIM only up to the coverage on any one of the rider's vehicles with UIM.

Section 38-77-250 gives a claimant's attorney a way to learn the at-fault driver's limits. The attorney's request is itself sworn, describes the claim and says the attorney is authorized to ask. The statute names two tracked delivery methods for sending it. A copy of the incident report accompanies it. Within 30 days, a corporate officer or claims manager must answer under oath with the insurer's name, each insured and the coverage limits. A copy of the declarations page may take the place of that statement. Fleet policies and umbrella or excess coverage are exempt. The answer helps show whether UIM comes into play.

When the Insurer Says the Request Falls Short

An insurer that finds the request too thin to answer may say so in writing. Section 38-77-250(B) requires that reply to name the specific added information the insurer needs. A reply of that kind counts as compliance, so the next step is a corrected request with the missing details.

Limits Answers That Change or Stay Confidential

Under subsection (D), the insurer must amend its answer if it learns facts that differ from or add to what it reported. Subsection (C) keeps the answer from waiving the insurer's coverage defenses and bars it from evidence. Subsection (F) makes the information confidential, and the attorney must destroy it when the case ends.

A UM or UIM claim that reaches court follows its own service rule. In that suit, Frost Law Group has to serve copies of the pleadings on the insurer that wrote the coverage, as Sections 38-77-150(B) and 38-77-160 require. That insurer gets 30 days from service to enter the case, and it can defend under the uninsured or underinsured driver's name. Both statutes keep the evidence of service on the insurer out of the record.